18 Month Car Lease

Eighteen months is the longest term we write, and it is a business decision more often than a personal one — the lowest monthly cost we offer, without the four year commitment a conventional lease asks for.

All prices exclude VAT, which is the figure a business plans against over eighteen months.

Somewhere between a year and a proper long lease sits eighteen months — and for a lot of people it's the sweet spot. Long enough to settle into a car and stop thinking about it, short enough that you're never signing away three or four years or carrying the risk of what the car's worth at the end. An 18 month car lease gives you a proper car on a fixed monthly price for a year and a half, then hands the choice back to you. It's usually the keenest monthly rate we do, because the longer the term, the lower the monthly.

Drive Subscribe is an ACL Automotive brand — FCA regulated, a BVRLA member, with over 20 years in UK vehicle leasing and fixed prices you can count on.

What an 18 month car lease actually is

It's a short term lease stretched to eighteen months — a fixed monthly price for a car that's ours, not yours, handed back at the end. Think of it as the value end of short-term: the same fixed-cost, everything-handled deal as our shorter terms, just over a longer, steadier run. You're not tied in for years, and you never take on the car's drop in value.

Who takes an 18 month lease

Eighteen months suits people and businesses looking a little further ahead:

Looking further ahead than this, or not quite so far? Drop us a line and we'll be honest about whether eighteen months is your term.

What's included — and what isn't

Everything but insurance and fuel is folded into one monthly price, held steady for the full eighteen months: servicing and maintenance, road tax, breakdown cover, the manufacturer warranty, and free delivery and collection. Delivery and collection are included free across the British mainland, with the Highlands excluded. Fancy a change along the way? You can swap. The two jobs left with you are insuring the car and keeping it fuelled.

One job stays with you beyond insurance and fuel: telling us when a service is due. Eighteen months will usually mean one service, sometimes two. Ring us when the dashboard starts counting down and we’ll book it at an approved service centre and cover the cost. Leave it more than 500 miles past due and the warranty falls away, and there’s a £500 plus VAT fee attached to that. Every other charge that can ever appear on an agreement is listed on our fees and charges page, rather than left in the small print.

Insurance is yours to arrange, and it keeps your costs honest. A policy built to cover any driver would sit higher than one built around you, so you take out your own for the eighteen months and stop it when the car goes back. We'll set out exactly what you need before it arrives.

Getting your car

Delivery and collection are free, wherever you are in the UK. Allow around 10 to 14 days from order to your door. It isn't a same-day service, and that's deliberate — the extra days go into handing over a car that's cleaned, checked and ready to drive from the off.

The price you see is the price you pay

Every car shows its monthly price defaulting to Business, excluding VAT — switch to Personal and VAT is added for you. And because eighteen months is our longest term, it's usually the lowest monthly on a given car.

To get started there's your first month's rental up front, a one-off £95 plus VAT documentation fee, and a refundable deposit from £750, returned once the car's back in good order. From there, it's the fixed monthly price for the term.

Mileage, in plain numbers

Your eighteen month lease comes with 833 miles a month as standard, with higher mileage options available. Anything beyond your contracted mileage is 40p a mile plus VAT, and we only ever bill for the miles over your allowance, at a rate shown up front. Cover a lot of ground? Tell us before you order and we'll build a higher allowance into the price — cheaper than paying excess later.

Leasing for business?

Eighteen months gives a business a low, predictable monthly for a good stretch, with no capital tied up and no multi-year lease sitting on the books — handy for an eighteen-month project or a fixed-term hire.

The VAT and tax treatment on a car differs from a van, so your accountant can tell you what you can claim.

Why eighteen months, not twelve or twenty-four?

It comes down to what you're after. Twelve months keeps you nimble and gets you a fresh car sooner. A two, three or four-year lease trims the monthly a little further, but locks you in for the long haul.

Eighteen months is the middle ground: a longer, calmer stretch of motoring at one of our lowest monthly rates, without the multi-year commitment or the early-exit charges that come with a full lease. If you know you want the car for a good while but “a few years” feels like too much, this is your term.

Cars and vans, same simple terms

Take a car or a van on the same eighteen month terms — from compact hatchbacks through to SUVs, electric models and work vans.

It's the longest short-term run we offer, so it's a natural fit when you want the car settled and the monthly kept low.