I would like to recall a tale of terror and trepidation that I would not wish upon my worst enemy. It began with me making the decision to opt for a twelve month car leasing contract on a brand spanking new Land Rover. There are many benefits to car leasing as opposed to buying on finance and as I am a small business owner I felt that the cost effective nature and optional upgrade features of the agreement looked like the way forward.



What unfolded was a comedy of oversights and errors that lead to the whole process being far from cost effective. Having learned from my mistakes I have since changed supplier and found Land Rover car leasing to be an excellent option for my business activities however many people who had shared my initial Land Rover car leasing experience might have been disconcerted to a point where they were put off for life.

This account is intended to help you avoid the same pitfalls that I fell naively into. The first blunder was purely down to my lack of attention to detail and came from the initial selection of the vehicle. I requested a certain model of Land Rover and then was purely focussed on the initial excitement of receiving my new car. This meant that I did not request the details behind the finance company who was backing the agreement.

What I later found out was that I should have requested details of the finance company because what the agent did was to match my vehicle specification and then shopped around for a deal that would earn him the most commission. This affected certain benefits and although I read the initial contact my naivety in the world of Land Rover car leasing was ousted by the lack of maintenance cover and my excess mileage restrictions.

The maintenance cover is an additional policy which was not included in the standard contract of the finance company who was chosen for profiteering purposes by the agent. Maintenance cover should technically absolve the car leaser of any remedial or scheduled maintenance work, however it does not cover accidental or impact damage. This was not the case under the agreement that I rushed into and although I am not assigning blame the Land Rover car leasing agent was not as forthcoming as diligence would have him be.

This meant that when the car required a tyre change and a general inspection I had to foot the bill and as it was not covered in the contract, I did not have a leg to stand on. The other major oversight was the vehicle mileage on my Land Rover car leasing contract. I incurred heavy penalties on this and when I expressed my wish to cancel my agreement, I incurred the full cost and the mileage penalties on top of the maintenance costs I has already incurred.

Luckily I had no accidents while the car was leased however under the Land Rover car leasing contract my insurance cover was less than ideal, I was only covered for third party and this meant that I would have had to incur the entire cost of damage to my leased vehicle in the event of an accident. This would have made the agreement even more expensive, however I eventually found a reputable supplier online and my Land Rover car leasing luck changed.

When leasing any vehicle ensure that you check and verify these three elements in specific detail. Ensure you know the identity of the finance company and ensure that excess mileage and maintenance cover is included in any agreement.