Frequently Asked Questions

When you have a Personal or Business Contract Hire lease agreement on a car or van, you lease the vehicle for an agreed period of time. This is known as a ‘lease period’. Even though the car is actually in your possession, you do not own it.

The way a car lease agreement is worked out is pretty straightforward:

1. We work out what the value of the vehicle will be by the end of your contract, taking depreciation into account.
2. You set a mileage limit that will best suit your driving needs. (This can be reviewed throughout the lease period and we make it easy for you to increase the mileage in your contract to something more appropriate if necessary.)
3. Our team constantly update our pricing to ensure you are offered the best leasing deals on the market.
4. The vehicle lease quote can be personalised to suit your budget requirements – generally, the more you pay up front, the less your monthly rentals will be.
5. You make fixed monthly rentals for the time period that your contract runs. Once the contract ends, you simply return the vehicle to us and look at which car you want to drive next.

Got a question? We’re here to help. Give us a call on 01628 899727.

With personal leasing / contract hire agreements (PCH) the vehicle needs to be returned at the end of the lease agreement. However we can offer personal contract purchase (PCP) where the option is there. At DriveElectric we give the options and advise on the best deal for your needs.

Yes, although we are based in Marlow, Buckinghamshire we offer car and van lease deals all over the UK including Northern Ireland. With the exception of Tesla cars your vehicle will be delivered to your door no matter where in the UK you are.

If the car/van has been in an accident then it is the same as any other situation – you would need to get in touch with your insurance. The insurance is the driver’s responsibility.
If you are unfortunate enough to have your vehicle stolen or written off, there may be a shortfall between the value of the vehicle and the outstanding finance amount. In these circumstances, optional GAP insurance would cover the difference and would allow you to replace the vehicle without the burden of any shortfall.

New cars don’t need an MOT. For all of the others, we offer a maintenance package which covers all of this.
Once you have taken delivery of your vehicle, our optional maintenance package takes the worry out of vehicle ownership. Maintenance is carried out at the main dealer of your choice leaving you in control of where and when. Most main dealers will offer a courtesy vehicle whilst yours is being serviced or repaired, but if you can’t be without a vehicle you can arrange a relief vehicle as an optional part of the contract, available after 24, 36 or 48 hours.

Yes, as long as you have a valid full UK driving license and credit status it is fine.

As a finance provider, we need to lend responsibly so we only lease to people or organisations that can show proof of income. If you can show us that you have a regular and permanent cash flow we can help, unfortunately, we would not be able to lease to individuals on JSA or benefits

Yes, but you will have to obtain the log book and notify the DVLA. Normally, as the car is the finance company’s property, the log book would be with them, so it is important to make us aware of the personalised registration plates as soon as possible to make the whole process smooth.

We don’t have a forecourt, we provide new cars sourced directly from the manufacturer. We do, however, recommend that you take a test drive to get a feel of the vehicle you’re interested in. We work closely with local manufacturer dealerships around the country and are happy to help you arrange a test drive. Please contact us for more information.

No, insurance is not included in the lease offer price. It is the drivers responsibility to get insurance on the vehicle. By law we are not allowed to recommend an insurance company, so we would suggest using comparison sites to find your insurance provider. You don’t need a registration number to be able to get a quote so there is nothing to stop you from shopping around.

If the vehicle you want is out of stock, or you require something very specific, then we can place a factory order with the manufacturer to have a vehicle built to your specifications.

Our terms and conditions can be found on this page: Terms & Conditions

The ‘initial rental’ payment is how much you can afford to pay in advance, kind of like a deposit as it is then deducted from the full lease amount allowing you to spread what’s left over the lease length. An initial payment is different to a ‘deposit’ because you have a choice of how much you pay up front (3, 6, 9 or 12 months) and it is adjusted depending on the lease length you have selected and the annual mileage you need. The more you pay up front, the less you pay for the following monthly payments, but it results in the same total life cost of the agreement.

It is used as a way for us to make our car leasing deals as flexible as possible, as we know everyone has individual motoring and budget needs.

Very few of us have an exact idea of how many miles we will be driving each year. Of course, your personal circumstances can change from year to year, but we always recommend looking back at the past with either service or MOT documentation to give you the best guess.

The lease cost is dependent on the number of annual miles you state on your agreement so our advisers will always take an impartial approach and help you in the best ways they can. Please feel free to ask us about how mileage can impact the monthly rental or the surcharges that can apply.

Should you find yourself mid-way through your agreement and exceeding the contractual mileage, it’s worth noting that in some circumstances we can make every effort to have your contract re-evaluated. This is a non-guaranteed service.

Simply hand the car back to us and you are free to choose your next car or move on elsewhere. You may be able to extend the contract or buy the car if you wish to do so. Feel free to talk it through with our advisors.

More than 90% of charging is carried out at home, through the night, as it is often the most practical option.  It’s easiest to have an electric car charge-point fitted at your home, but all electric cars can be plugged in with a regular 3-pin socket (though we dont recommend this as a long-term charging solution).

When you’re out and about it’s good to know that more and more public charge-points are adding to the UK’s network all the time, making it possible to charge not only at petrol stations, but also supermarkets, leisure centres and car parks. There are over 12,000 public charging points in the UK*.

A searchable map of the UK’s ever-growing network of public charging points can be found at www.zap-map.com

More information about charging

*MAR 2019

Rapid chargers are available at most motorway service stations and increasingly in hotel, shopping centre and supermarket car parks. These are designed to charge compatible electric vehicles from 0-80% full in around 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of your battery.

Only one vehicle can charge at a time, even if there is more than one connector available on the charging unit.

It costs around 30 pence for each kWh of electricity you use to charge your car at one of these charge points.

If you’re unable to charge your vehicle using the app, you can call the Electric Highway team and pay for your charge manually. You can reach the team by calling 01453 761455 between 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm on Saturday.

Usually around 8 hours for an EV with a 30kWh battery. This is often referred to as ‘trickle charge’. A domestic three pin (UK), 2 pin (EU) will only ever provide 3.7kw of power (10amps). Even if you have a vehicle that will take a much higher rate of charge, it will only ever draw this amount of power, as that’s all that is being offered to the vehicle. For this type of charging you’ll need a portable domestic charging lead (EVSE).

Despite the slow speed, the advantage is the convenience of being able to charge your vehicle anywhere you can find a standard plug socket. Some public electric vehicle charging stations only have three pin domestic plug sockets to plug into. Keeping a portable domestic charger in your vehicle, at all times is a very good idea.

We provide a range of cable lengths up to 10m. Please contact us and we’ll provide you with a price.

This will depend on the vehicle manufacturer. As standard, most vehicles come with a 3-pin charging cable that you plug into a regular domestic plug socket. The majority of new electric cars also come with a Type 2 charging cable that you would might need to charge in public car parks for example.

The 3-pin cable can provide a short term solution to charging if you visit friends or family or if you need to wait a few days or weeks to have your home charger installed, but we do not recommend a 3-pin charging cable as a long term solution for EV charging. It is more efficient to charge on a dedicated electric vehicle wallbox charger.

Our friendly advisors are happy to offer advice and will always talk you through what’s included with your chosen lease package.

The Electric vehicle industry has adopted different types of connectors in different countries. Japan, China and Asian manufacturers generally use Type 1 (J1772), with Europe and America favouring Type 2(62196-2). So a European car using a Charge point in a European country will need a Type 2 to Type 2 lead. A Japanese car using a charge point in Europe will need a Type 1 to Type 2 Connector.

Our flexi-lease services are for business users only. We offer short term rentals for some fleets to help ensure a smooth transition to electric so.

More information about Flexi-lease

If you are looking to lease an electric car or van for 2 or more years then take a look at our latest lease offers to see the range of vehicles available.

We do not provide insurance services. A leased or rented vehicle must be covered by your own fully comprehensive insurance policy. We will need to see evidence of this prior to delivery of the lease/rental vehicle. Please speak to your insurance provider for a quote as prices may vary.

All of our EV Flexi-lease rental vehicles have been registered for the London Congestion Charge discount so you don’t need to do anything, you can travel in and out of London for free! However, if you lease a vehicle from us, it is your responsibility as driver of the vehicle to apply for the exemption discount.

Leasing packages offer a maintenance option that can be tailored to suit your exact requirements, including the cost within your monthly price plan. If you choose to add this option, the following vehicle maintenance is covered; breakdown cover, annual servicing, tyres (worn, not punctured, or side wall damage) and MOT. Damage (smashed lights, exterior damage etc) are not covered and will be recharged along with an admin fee. If you choose not to include the maintenance option then you will need to fund this yourself.

If you’ve taken the maintenance option with us then you can visit any of the manufacturer’ approved UK based dealerships for any servicing or maintenance, taking advantage of their courtesy car and other services offered.

There may be a time when you might need the use of a replacement vehicle, especially when yours is in for a more detailed servicing. Your servicing provider/dealership may be able to offer a courtesy car as an optional ‘relief vehicle’ for you. Speak to your chosen servicing outlet directly. For a replacement van, please contact us on 01628 899720 to see if a short-term rental could be arranged.

Although it is to be expected that nothing major should occur whilst driving your lease car, you still need to carry out maintenance checks to ensure the vehicle’s condition remains as good as possible.
Failure to maintain your vehicle would invalidate the warranty, therefore any problems or damage that would arise from not servicing your lease vehicle would leave you liable for the costs of repair. The vehicle should be returned at the end of lease with a stamped service history book.

As we deal with thousands of cars and vans at any one time, you can appreciate managing individual servicing times is simply an impossible task. However all the information you need on when to service your lease vehicle is located within the instruction manual. As a general guide, servicing should be done annually or every 10,000 miles, whichever comes first.

All manufacturers now offer at least 12 months roadside breakdown assistance, some more than this. When you receive a new car there will be details of this breakdown assistance within the vehicle guide. Alternatively, many insurance policies often cover breakdown assistance too.If you have a maintenance package with your contract, breakdown cover is included. However, if the vehicle runs out of charge, or has a puncture, this is not a manufacturer fault and so you will be recharged for the cost of recovery. If you are unsure please ask your Account Manager.