Maintained Or Not?
When taking out a vehicle leasing contract you have an obligation to maintain that vehicle in accordance to the manufacturers recommendations in order to maximise the residual value of that car. This means servicing within the guidelines, mileages and timeframes stipulated by the service manual.
So when taking out car lease you are normally given the choice to include maintenance within the monthly premium or not. Including maintenance can spread the cost over the period of the lease and take away any worry of large bills at certain time through this period. But as most of this maintenance will occur through dealerships and convenience sometimes comes with a cost, you may find that you can do things cheaper yourself.
The good news is the law has changed about who can actually service your car (2004 OFT Service Ties Removed). Not so long ago, dealerships would void any warranty if servicing was done by anyone else but the local dealership. Now European law states this is illegal and serving can be done by a third party, but this does not mean that anyone can still do this. So before deciding maintained or not, speak to your broker to establish where servicing and maintenance can be done, then ring these service agents up to establish prices.
In better words make sure you can fulfil the maintenance obligations before you take out any leasing contract.
There may be other obligations above servicing that may be included within your maintenance agreement, but also some that are not covered, for example tyre and exhaust wear. Clearly you cannot hand back a vehicle with illegal tyres, so take into account what maintenance covers and what it does not.
