# Leasing a convertible for a summer

URL: https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/guides/leasing-a-convertible-for-the-summer

Last checked: 2026-10-13

**Three months is the shortest agreement we write and it covers the heart of a British summer, June to the end of August. A term reaching from April to the end of September sits above the minimum and is quoted on request, so ask for the months you actually want rather than trimming the season to fit a figure. Enquire well before spring: convertibles are the most seasonal cars in the catalogue and the good ones commit early. Every agreement includes 1,000 miles a month, delivered anywhere in mainland Britain or collected by you.**

How to plan a convertible around the months you would actually use it: start dates, lead time, mileage over a touring summer, and what collection in autumn involves.

## How long a term does a summer actually need?

Three months buys the heart of it. June to the end of August is the stretch when an open car earns its keep, and it is also the shortest agreement we write, so that is the floor to plan from.

A longer term reaches both ends of the season. Start at the beginning of April and run to the end of September and you have the whole of the period anybody in Britain seriously uses a roof-down car; start in May, finish in October, and you catch a decent autumn instead. Terms above the minimum are quoted on request, so give us the months you want.

Either way the argument against a long agreement is the same. A three-year commitment on a convertible means paying for two winters you will spend looking at it, and a car used in January is not the car you leased it for.

The alternative people usually compare it against is buying, and the comparison that matters there is not the monthly figure but what happens once the season closes — the car you own is still yours in the rain.

## When should you enquire?

Earlier than feels necessary. Convertibles are the most seasonal cars on this site and demand for them concentrates into the same few weeks of the year, which means the interesting ones are committed while it is still cold.

Two months ahead of your start date is comfortable. A fortnight ahead, in March, is optimistic. If you are set on a specific car rather than a kind of car, longer again — most convertibles here are arranged through partners, so availability is genuinely vehicle by vehicle rather than a matter of stock.

If your dates have any flexibility at all, say so. A start date that can move by a fortnight opens up considerably more than a fixed one.

## Which convertibles can you lease?

Our own fleet has the [Audi R8 Spyder performance](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/cars/audi-r8-spyder-performance) — a naturally aspirated V10 with a folding fabric roof, which is a combination that is not being made any more. It is ours, so its figure on the 3-month minimum term is confirmed on enquiry rather than waited on.

Beyond that the catalogue runs from the [Porsche 718 Boxster S](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/cars/porsche-718-boxster-s) and the [Mercedes-AMG SL 63](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/cars/mercedes-amg-sl-63) through the [Bentley Continental GTC](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/cars/bentley-continental-gtc) and the [Maserati GranCabrio Trofeo](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/cars/maserati-grancabrio-trofeo) to the [Ferrari Roma Spider](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/cars/ferrari-roma-spider), the [McLaren 750S Spider](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/cars/mclaren-750s-spider) and the [Lamborghini Huracán EVO Spyder](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/cars/lamborghini-huracan-evo-spyder).

Those are arranged through vetted partners and are quoted on request against your term and your dates, with the figure coming back from whoever holds the car.

## How does the mileage behave over a summer?

This is the thing to get right at the quote stage, because a convertible summer is not an average few months of driving. The whole point of the car is long routes on good roads, and a handful of touring trips covers ground quickly.

The included allowance is 1,000 miles a month and excess mileage is charged per mile at the rate on the car's page — 95p to £10 across the catalogue, and the convertible in our own fleet sits at the top of the £1.25 to £3.50 band.

So count the trips you actually intend to make before you agree a mileage. A summer of two long European-style touring routes at home, plus ordinary weekend use, adds up faster than people expect, and mileage agreed in advance is always cheaper than mileage settled at collection.

## What does the roof mean day to day?

More than the pictures suggest, and the differences are worth knowing before the term starts rather than after the first month of it.

A folding fabric roof is lighter, packs smaller and is usually quicker; it is also less soundproof at motorway speed and needs a little care — it should be dry when it is folded away for any length of time, and it does not love being left under a tree for a month. A folding hard top is quieter and more secure and takes more of the boot when it is down.

Then there are the practicalities: boot space with the roof stowed is often a fraction of the figure in the brochure, a wind deflector transforms how usable the car is above fifty, and anything left visible in an open car is an invitation. None of that is a reason not to take one. It is a reason to pack differently.

## Where should a convertible live?

Somewhere covered, if you have it, and particularly with a fabric roof. It is not a requirement — cars live outside all summer perfectly well — but a car parked under a lime tree for a whole season needs washing far more often than one that is not, and sap and bird lime are harder on a soft top than on paint.

Security matters more than it does on a saloon. A folding roof is a fabric door, and the standard advice applies more strictly: nothing visible inside, ever, and a gate, a driveway or a covered space is worth having if the choice exists.

Tell us where the car will normally be kept when we arrange delivery. It is not a condition of anything, but it changes the practical advice we give you about that specific car.

## What happens when the term ends in autumn?

We collect from an address you choose, which does not have to be the one the car was delivered to. The condition check and the photographs from handover are repeated, the mileage is read against the allowance, and the deposit is released on the timing set out in writing once everything matches.

A summer of real use leaves marks that are worth understanding in advance. Stone chips from motorway miles, road film and normal tyre wear are wear and tear. A kerbed rim, a torn roof or a cracked screen are damage, assessed up to the excess on a covered claim.

The simplest protection is the two minutes at handover: photograph the car yourself, including the roof mechanism working, and keep the pictures until the deposit is back.

## What do you need to qualify for one?

The same two tests as any car here, set against the specific vehicle. The convertible in our own fleet asks for a minimum age of 30 and five years of full licence held. The lighter sports convertibles sit lower and the mid-engined ones sit higher, and every car's page carries its own figures.

The criteria are provisional pending final confirmation, and a partner-sourced car carries that partner's criteria, which we confirm in writing rather than assuming they match ours.

The insurance arrangement for your car is confirmed before anything is agreed. Do not plan a summer around an assumption about it.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can the term start on a specific date in spring?

That is exactly what to ask for first, because on a seasonal car the date drives everything else. A fixed date is workable if you enquire early; a date decided in March for an April start is the version that tends not to work.

### Is a convertible more expensive to lease than the coupé?

Not as a rule — it depends on the specific vehicle and on what it costs to hold and to put right, which is why cars are quoted individually rather than by body style. Ask for both and compare the written figures on the same term and mileage.

### What happens if the summer is a washout?

The agreement runs for its term either way, which is the honest answer. It is also the argument for taking the months you need and no more: a bad summer costs you the payments inside it rather than a commitment stretching well past it.

### Can I keep it past September?

Raise it at the enquiry stage rather than in August. An extension depends on what is already committed on that particular car after your window, and a vehicle with nothing booked behind it is a far better candidate than one that is spoken for.

*Pre-launch note: the driver criteria, deposits, excesses and mileage allowances quoted here are read from Performance & Prestige's own catalogue data, which is still being confirmed with the owner and the insurer. Read them as the shape of the figures rather than as a quotation. What binds is your written quote and your agreement.*