# What actually drives the monthly figure on a prestige lease?

URL: https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/guides/what-drives-the-monthly-figure-on-a-prestige-lease

Last checked: 2026-10-13

**Four things set the monthly figure on a prestige lease: what the car loses in value over your term, how long that term is, how many miles you cover, and what the car costs to hold, insure and repair. Depreciation is the largest single component, and a shorter term concentrates it into fewer payments.**

Why one car is double another that looks much like it, why a shorter term costs more per month, and which parts of the figure you can actually move.

## What is being priced?

Not the car. What you are paying for is the use of it for a defined period, which in cost terms is mostly the value the car loses while you have it, plus what it costs to hold, prepare, deliver and put back into service.

That single idea explains almost every surprise in leasing. It is why a car worth twice as much is not necessarily twice the monthly figure, and why two cars at similar prices can be nowhere near each other.

The rest of the figure is the practical cost of the agreement — preparation, delivery, collection, the inspection at both ends — spread across however many payments the term contains.

## Why does depreciation dominate?

Because it is the biggest number in the calculation and it is heaviest early in a car's life. A car that holds its value strongly costs less to lease than one that does not, even if the two have similar list prices, because the gap between what it is worth at the start of your term and what it is worth at the end is smaller.

This is where reputation and rarity genuinely show up in the price rather than in the marketing. Cars with strong demand behind them hold value; cars that are plentiful do not.

It is also why the same model in different specifications can differ. A specification the next buyer wants protects value; one that narrows the audience does not.

## How much does the term move the figure?

A great deal, and always in the same direction: the shorter the term, the higher the monthly figure on the same car.

The reason is arithmetic rather than policy. The value lost and the fixed work of the agreement are divided by the number of payments, so three payments each carry more than twenty-four do. A three-month agreement is the most expensive way to buy a month of a car and the cheapest way to buy three months of one.

If the monthly figure is the constraint, lengthening the term is the lever that moves it most. If the total is the constraint, shortening it is. [Three months or longer](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/guides/choosing-a-lease-term-three-months-or-longer) works through which of those you are actually solving for.

## How does mileage feed into it?

Every agreement includes 1,000 miles a month, and mileage above that is charged per mile at a rate published on each car's page: 95p to £10 across the catalogue, with our own fleet covering £1.25 to £3.50 of that band.

Miles matter because they are value coming off the car. A higher agreed allowance raises the monthly figure; a lower one does not always lower it, because the fixed costs of the agreement do not shrink.

The practical advice is the same on every car: agree the mileage you will really do. Mileage bought in advance is priced into the figure, and mileage discovered at collection is settled per mile, which is always the expensive way round.

## What about the car itself?

Three things about a specific vehicle move the number beyond its value: what it costs to insure, what it costs to repair, and what it costs to keep in a condition fit to hand to the next customer.

Repair cost is the one people underestimate. Carbon panels, large-diameter wheels, ceramic brakes and complex lighting are expensive to put right, and that risk is priced in. It is the same reason the insurance excess climbs with the car: £1,500 to £35,000 across the catalogue, and £2,000 to £10,000 on our own fleet.

Consumables count too. A set of tyres for a mid-engined car and a set for a fast saloon are not comparable purchases, and even a term of three months is long enough for that to be a real cost rather than a theoretical one.

## Why can two similar cars be priced so differently?

The clearest example is in our own fleet. The [BMW X5 M Competition](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/cars/bmw-x5-m-competition) is a materially higher monthly figure than the [BMW X5 M Sport](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/cars/bmw-x5-m-sport) on the same 3-month minimum term. Same badge, same body, very different cars underneath — and the Competition carries a higher excess and a higher per-mile charge as well, both of which are published on its page.

The same pattern repeats higher up. The [Lamborghini Urus](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/cars/lamborghini-urus) and the [Urus Performante](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/cars/lamborghini-urus-performante) are two versions of one car and are not quoted as one, with the Performante carrying the highest deposit and excess in the fleet.

So a comparison between two cars is only meaningful at the level of the specific vehicle. Model names are not prices, and the differences that matter are usually invisible in a badge.

## What is not in the monthly figure?

Four things, and knowing them is the difference between a budget and a surprise.


Fuel or charge. Yours throughout, and returned at the level it went out at.
The security deposit. Separate, refundable money held against a card in your own name, £1,500 to £50,000 across the catalogue.
Insurance. Not assumed either way here — the arrangement for your car is confirmed with you in writing before anything is agreed.
Charges you incur. Congestion Charge, ULEZ, tolls, parking and any penalty issued while the car is with you.


[What a prestige lease includes and what it does not](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/guides/what-a-prestige-lease-includes-and-excludes) sets the full scope out line by line.

## Which parts of the figure can you move?

Three, in descending order of effect. The term is the biggest lever: lengthening it lowers the monthly figure and raises the total. The car is the second: a different specification or a near neighbour in the same segment can change the number substantially without changing the experience much. The mileage is the third, and it is the one to set accurately rather than to game.

What does not move it is asking. Prestige lease figures are not built with a margin for haggling, and a quote that drops when challenged was not an honest quote to begin with.

The useful version of the conversation is to give us the constraint — a monthly ceiling, a total, a date — and let the quote be built against it, rather than negotiating against a number after the fact.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does a bigger deposit reduce the monthly figure?

No. The security deposit is refundable money held against the condition of the car and the terms of the agreement; it is not a payment towards the monthly figure and it does not buy the figure down. The month paid at the start is the monthly figure, brought forward.

### Is VAT included in the figure you quote?

Yes. Every figure on this site and in a quote from it is inclusive of VAT. If you are leasing through a business, ask for the quote to be set out the way your finance team needs it, and take the accounting treatment up with your accountant rather than with us.

### Why is there no price on the cars?

Because a monthly figure is only true of a specific car on a specific term with a specific mileage, and none of those exist until you tell us. On a car arranged through a vetted partner there is the further reason that it is not ours to price. Every car reads "on request" and is quoted against what you actually want.

### Does the figure change once it is quoted?

What a car costs to hold moves over time, so the same car can be quoted differently six months apart. A figure quoted to you in writing for a specific car, term and mileage is the one that applies to your agreement, and it does not move afterwards.

*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.*