Mileage is an important part of car leasing, especially when it comes to choosing the right deal, as it’s the easiest way to measure the wear and tear of a car or van. You will need to select your annual mileage when choosing a lease deal, so it’s important to have a good think about how many miles you will be doing. Once your lease deal comes to an end and you hand back your car, if you have exceeded your mileage limit then you will need to pay a fee to cover this. This guide covers everything you will need to know about annual mileage including what will happen if your mileage is not what you expected and if you need to adjust this during your lease.
How Does Mileage On A Car Lease Work?
With car and van leasing, you will need to select your annual mileage. The differences in mileage will mean a difference in price, so you will want to have a think about how many miles you will actually be doing every year and select the deal that suits you best. This often worries people who have concerns about predicting their annual mileage and getting charged if they go over this. But this isn’t as complicated or costly as it may seem – in fact our leasing partners will go out of their way to help you with selecting and adjusting your mileage.
The reason that mileage is so important is because it influences the depreciation of a vehicle. Car dealers use mileage as a way to measure a vehicle’s age, as opposed to how old the car is, as it’s a great metric to determine the value of the vehicle. Once the lease deal is over, the car dealers will go on to sell the car or van based on the mileage you have done. So, if you have gone over your mileage limit once the lease term is over, you will need to pay an excess mileage charge to cover the difference of the car’s real value against what it was expected to be when returned with your selected mileage.
Due to the average mileage per year in the UK, lease deals usually start from 5k mileage a year to 35k mileage a year. Although, if you are counting on doing more than 35k mileage, this may be something our leasing partners can give you a quote for individually.
How Do You Calculate Mileage On A Car Lease?
You will be the person to select what you think your average miles per year are and select a lease deal that best reflects this. If you have been driving for several years already and believe that your driving habits are unlikely to change, you can check any MOT certificates you may have to give you an idea of the mileage you are doing. Or another way is to consider and calculate how many miles you do in a month on average and multiply this by 12. It’s important to consider this as an average over the year as you may end up doing more miles in certain months and less in others. For example, if you take a holiday in the summer! If you’re a new driver and haven’t had a car before, you may want to work out what you will be using the car for exactly and how many miles it takes to get to these places – simply through an app like Google Maps! Consider all the trips you will be making in a month, and potentially add on around 5% for any unplanned extras. Then multiply this by 12 months to get your average mileage per year.
What Is The Average Mileage On A Car Lease?
The most recent government report by the Department for Transport states that the average miles per year in the UK was 7,400 miles. The report also shared that on a daily basis in the UK, people drive an average of 20 miles a day and 142 miles in a week. While this may be perfect for many, it may not be enough for some and it may be too many for others, which is why it is important to think about how many miles you do before securing a lease deal.
Something else to think about is that if you have a 3-year lease with 10k mileage per annum, the total mileage of 30k mileage is spread across the three years. So, if you do less than 10k in one year, and more in the other, that is perfectly acceptable so long as the total is not over your agreed mileage for the term.
Can I Adjust My Mileage If Needs Be?
You certainly can! And it’s not as scary as people may think. If you’re mid-contract it is straightforward to contact your leasing provider to renegotiate your annual mileage limit if you believe you may go over it. This also works on the other hand if you have overestimated your annual mileage for your lease deal and are looking to reduce your mileage and monthly payments. Our leasing partners understand that when circumstances change, especially in the uncertain current climate, you may need flexibility either way.
What many people have done in the past year due to COVID and multiple lockdowns, is to take a lease deal with a lower mileage than they would normally use to avoid paying for mileage they are not doing, and then increasing this as things return to normal. Either way, our leasing partners are more than happy to adjust your mileage throughout your lease deal as hassle-free as possible.
Feel free to read about how to win on your contract mileage for more information.
How Much Will It Cost If I Go Over My Mileage Allowance?
The cost of excess mileage will vary, however, these mileage penalties on cars often range from 7p – 11p. Of course, there is the potential that they can be more than this so always check your contract with our leasing partners! One way to think about excess mileage charges is that if you go over your mileage allowance by 1,000 miles, you would be charged around £70 – £110. Therefore, you may want to consider the excess mileage cost as it may even be cheaper to opt for the lower mileage option and pay the excess mileage fees than to have bought the mileage upfront in your lease contract.
Now that you have read all about annual mileage with car leasing, you can search and compare the millions of car lease deals available at LeaseLoco to find the perfect deal for you. Once you spot a deal you like, as we are a price comparison site, we make it super easy to contact our leasing partners from the deal page by clicking ‘call’ or ‘message’ to make a free enquiry and they will be happy to help you secure a great deal on a brand-new car (or van)!
Have any additional questions about searching for your perfect lease deal? Give us a message on our available live chat and we will be happy to help.