Guide

How long does it take to get a leased car delivered?

Updated September 2026 6 min read Performance & Prestige

Two things set it: whether the car is in our fleet or arranged through a partner, and how quickly the driver checks clear. A fleet vehicle needs nobody else’s confirmation; a partner vehicle waits on the partner. You get a date and a time in writing once the car is confirmed, or a straight no early enough to replan.

What decides the date?

Three things, in order of how much they usually matter.

Whether the car is ours. A vehicle in our fleet is ours to answer for, so nobody has to ask anybody else before a date can be committed to. A car arranged through a vetted partner needs their confirmation to come back first, and that is a real step rather than a formality.

How fast the checks clear, which is largely down to how quickly the documents arrive. And how far the car has to travel, which is the smallest of the three but not nothing.

We publish no standard lead time, and that is deliberate: a number on a page that we then have to caveat is worth less than a date in writing for your specific vehicle.

What are the steps between an enquiry and the keys?

You send the car, the start date, the term, the mileage and the driver.
We confirm availability — immediately on a fleet vehicle, after the partner comes back on a sourced one.
A written quote goes out with the whole cost stack on it.
Driver declarations, DVLA check codes, identity and address documents are completed and checked.
The agreement is sent to read in advance and signed.
The deposit is arranged with a person.
A delivery date and time are confirmed in writing.
The car is delivered and handed over at an address you choose.

No step is skippable, and the order is what makes handover fifteen minutes instead of an hour.

Which step do you control?

The documents, and it is the step that most often decides whether a date is comfortable or tight.

Have the driver's licence details, the years held, the endorsements with their codes, photo identity and proof of address ready when you enquire rather than assembling them after the quote. Generate the DVLA check code close to the start date rather than the day you first write to us — it lasts twenty-one days and can be used once.

An address that does not match the licence record, and a card that cannot take the deposit hold, are the two things that reliably cost a day and are entirely avoidable.

There is a third, and it is the one people do not think of as a document at all: deciding who the named driver actually is. An enquiry that says "one of us will drive it" cannot be checked, so it waits until somebody makes the decision. Make it before you write to us.

Which step do we control?

Everything about a car in our own hands: availability, preparation, transport and the delivery slot. On a fleet vehicle there is no third party in the chain, which is why the fleet is the fastest answer to a tight start date.

We also control the honesty of the date. If the day you want cannot be met, you get that answer early enough to do something about it rather than a window we are privately hoping to hit.

The fleet is badged on every card, so you can see at a glance which vehicles fall into this category before you enquire.

Which step does somebody else control?

Confirmation on a partner-arranged car, which is most of the catalogue.

Those vehicles are held by vetted partners rather than by us, so availability, the terms and the driver criteria all have to come back from whoever holds the car — and then be confirmed with you in writing before anything is agreed. That is a strength of the model, because it is what makes the catalogue as wide as it is, but it is a step and it takes the time it takes.

If your date is immovable, say so in the first message. It changes what we put in front of you.

Why will you not just quote a window?

Because a window we cannot stand behind is worth nothing to you, and this sector is full of them.

A date in writing is a commitment. An estimate offered to keep an enquiry warm is a way of finding out on the morning that it was never going to happen, which is the single worst outcome available in this business.

So the rule here is simple: you get a date and a time once the car is confirmed, or you get a straight no in time to make another plan.

It is worth applying the same test to anybody else you ask. A supplier who will commit to a date in writing before taking your documents is telling you they have checked; one who offers a comfortable-sounding range and asks for the paperwork first has not, and the difference usually surfaces on the day you had planned around.

What happens if the date slips?

You hear it from us, early, with what can be done about it — a different start date, a different car, or both.

What we will not do is let a date pass quietly. A delivery that does not happen is a worse problem for you than for us, because you have arranged your week around it.

If the change is at your end instead, tell us the day before rather than on the morning. A handover moved in advance is administration; a handover missed is a transporter and a driver already committed.

What helps if you need a car sooner?

Three things, all within your gift.

Choose from the fleet, where there is no third party in the chain. Have the driver documents ready before you enquire rather than after the quote. And be flexible on specification — a colour and a trim held firm is the most common reason a date moves out.

Then send the enquiry with the date in it rather than asking what is possible in general. A specific date gets a specific answer. Start an enquiry, or read delivery and collection for what happens on the day itself.

Common questions

Can I collect the car myself instead of having it delivered?

There is nowhere to collect it from. We hold no depots, branches or rental counters, so delivery to an address you choose is not an add-on service, it is the only way a car reaches you — and collection at the end of the term works the same way in reverse.

Does distance change the date?

It is one of the three things that decide it, and the smallest of them for most addresses. Availability and the driver checks matter more. Give us the postcode in the first message and the answer you get back accounts for the journey rather than ignoring it.

Can you deliver at a weekend or outside office hours?

Tell us the day and the time you need and we will answer it before you plan around it, rather than publishing a promise here that might not hold for your address or your vehicle. The named driver has to be present in person either way.

Does a longer term get me an earlier date?

Not by itself — availability is availability. What a longer term does is widen what can realistically be arranged, particularly on partner-sourced vehicles, so it is worth telling us the term you actually want at the same time as the date you actually want.

Can the delivery and collection addresses be different?

Yes, and it is a common request rather than an exception. Give us both when you enquire so the collection is planned rather than improvised, particularly if the second address has restricted access or sits inside a controlled zone.