Guide

How do you compare two lease quotes properly?

Updated October 2026 7 min read Performance & Prestige

Put both quotes on the same term and the same mileage first, then compare total commitment rather than the monthly figure: monthly times term, plus everything payable up front. Then check the six figures behind the headline — deposit, excess, per-mile charge, delivery, collection and end-of-term terms — because that is where two similar quotes diverge.

Why the monthly figure tells you least

Because it is the one number on a quote that can be moved by changing something you did not ask about. Lengthen the term, lower the mileage allowance, bring more payments forward, strip out delivery, and the monthly figure falls without the deal improving at all.

That is not necessarily dishonesty. It is the natural consequence of a market that advertises on a single number, and it means two quotes are almost never comparable as they arrive.

So the first job is not comparison. It is normalisation.

Step one: put both on the same basis

Three things have to match before any comparison means anything.

The term. Ask for both quotes on the same number of months, even if one provider would rather quote a longer one.
The mileage allowance. A quote written on a lower allowance and one written on 1,000 miles a month are different products, not different prices.
The payment structure. One month brought forward is not the same as nine, and the monthly figure reflects it.

If a provider will not requote on your basis, that is information in itself. Every figure quoted here is written on a 3-month minimum term with 1,000 miles a month included, which is why it can be compared with anything.

Step two: do the total, not the monthly

Multiply the monthly figure by the term and add everything payable before the car arrives that you do not get back. That is the cost of having the car for the period. Do it for both quotes, on the same term, and the answer is often not the one the headline suggested.

Worked through on a car from our own fleet: the BMW X5 M Sport is quoted on the 3-month minimum, so the total across that term is its monthly figure three times over — the first of the three paid up front, the other two monthly. Double the term and you double the total on the same basis.

Treat refundable money separately. A security deposit is not a cost — it is money held and returned — so it belongs in a cash-flow column rather than in the price comparison. Confusing the two is the most common arithmetic error in this whole exercise.

Step three: the six figures behind the headline

The security deposit, and whether it is refundable. Ours are, and run from £1,500 to £50,000 across the catalogue.
The insurance excess for that specific vehicle: £1,500 to £35,000 here, and £2,000 to £10,000 on our own fleet.
The excess mileage rate, per mile: 95p to £10.
Delivery, and whether it is included or added.
Collection, which is the one people forget entirely.
The end-of-term condition standard, and who assesses it.

Any one of those can outweigh a difference of a hundred pounds a month over a term, and the last two are where an apparently cheaper quote most often turns out not to be.

Step four: what is included, and what is not

Four inclusions move a headline figure more than anything else: insurance, servicing, tyres and mileage. A quote that bundles them is not expensive by comparison; it is a different product with more inside it.

So ask for both quotes to list what is in and what is out, in writing. "Fully inclusive" means nothing until it is itemised, and a provider who will not itemise it has told you something useful.

Fuel or charge is almost never included anywhere and should not be expected. Charges you incur — Congestion Charge, ULEZ, tolls, parking, penalties — are yours on any agreement worth signing.

Step five: who supplies the car?

This determines whose criteria you have to meet, whose terms you are agreeing to and who you call when something happens. It is not a detail.

Ask directly whether the business quoting you holds the vehicle or arranges it. Both are legitimate, and the answer changes what the quote means: a car arranged through a third party carries that party's driver criteria, deposit and excess, and those need confirming in writing rather than assuming.

On this site the distinction is published on every car. A car in our own fleet is one we buy, insure, prepare and deliver, with the agreement directly with us, so its figure on a 3-month minimum term is ours to confirm on enquiry. The rest of the catalogue is arranged through vetted partners and is quoted on request by whoever holds the car — why prestige leases are quoted rather than listed explains why that line exists.

Step six: read the end of the agreement first

The end of a lease is where the money you did not plan for lives, and it is the section people read last.

Check four things. How is the condition of the car assessed at the end, and against what record? Who collects it, from where, and is that charged? How is mileage above the allowance settled? And what happens if you need the car for longer, or need to stop earlier?

The best answer to the condition question is that the car is photographed at both ends by both sides and compared. Anything vaguer than that is a dispute waiting for a date.

The checklist, in one place

Take this to both providers and write the answers side by side.

What term and what mileage allowance is this figure written on, and over what period is the allowance counted?
What is payable before the car arrives, in total, and how much of it comes back?
What is the refundable deposit, and what can be deducted from it?
What is the insurance excess on this specific vehicle, and what is excluded from cover?
What is the charge per mile above the allowance?
Are delivery and collection included, and where can the car go?
Who supplies the car, and whose driver criteria apply?
How is condition assessed at the end, and against what record?

If both providers answer all eight in writing, the comparison is easy. If one will not, the comparison is already over.

Common questions

Is a lower monthly figure ever the wrong choice?

Frequently. A lower figure bought with a longer term, a smaller mileage allowance or a larger initial payment costs more in total for the period you actually need the car. The total on the term you need is the number that decides it.

Should the deposit count as part of the cost?

No, as long as it is genuinely refundable. It belongs in a cash-flow comparison because you have to have it available, but money returned at the end of the term is not a price. Check what can be deducted from it before treating it that way.

What if one quote includes insurance and the other does not?

Then they are not comparable until you price the missing side. Get a realistic figure for cover on the uninsured quote and add it in, and check the excess on both — an included policy with a very high excess is not the same protection as one with a modest one.

Is it worth asking for a better price?

Asking for the quote to be rebuilt on a different term or mileage is worth it, because it changes what is being priced. Asking for the same deal to be cheaper generally is not: a figure that moves because you pushed was not an honest figure to begin with.