# What is excess mileage, and how is it charged?

URL: https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/guides/what-is-excess-mileage-and-how-is-it-charged

Last checked: 2026-10-13

**Excess mileage is the charge for driving further than your agreed allowance. The agreement sets a rate per mile, the odometer is read when the car goes back, and the miles above the allowance are billed at that rate. Across our catalogue the rate is 95p to £10 a mile on a 1,000-mile monthly allowance.**

The charge for driving beyond your allowance: how the rate is set, when it is measured, what the invoice is built from, and the ways it can be got wrong.

## Why does mileage cost money at all?

Because the owner gets the car back and its value depends on how far it has been driven. Two identical cars of the same age are worth different amounts if one has done twice the miles, and the difference is real money to whoever is selling it.

So the allowance is not an arbitrary restriction. It is the assumption the price was built on. Drive further and the car is worth less at the end than the agreement assumed, and the charge is the mechanism for correcting that.

It follows that the rate should scale with the car. A mile on a car that depreciates steeply costs more than a mile on one that does not, which is exactly what the figures across this catalogue show.

## How is the rate set, and what is it here?

It is set per vehicle and written into the agreement before you take the car, expressed in pence or pounds per mile.

Across the catalogue the rate runs 95p to £10 a mile, and on cars in our own fleet it runs £1.25 to £3.50. The spread is the depreciation curve made visible: the supercars sit at the top of it, the large SUVs at the bottom.

Every car publishes its own rate on its own page, alongside its allowance, its deposit and its insurance excess. That is on purpose — a charge you can only discover after signing is the thing this sector is most often criticised for, and the allowance and the rate beyond it are two of the numbers most often left off a quote.

## When is the mileage measured?

At collection, from the odometer, and it is photographed as part of the condition report.

There is no monthly reconciliation and no running meter. The allowance is expressed per month and assessed against the total distance the car has covered while you had it, which means a heavy month early on is not a problem if a quiet one follows.

That also means the number is not a surprise if you look at it. The odometer is on the dashboard. Checking it against where you expect to be, a few months in, is the entire technique for never receiving an unexpected excess mileage invoice.

## How is the bill calculated?

Miles above the allowance, multiplied by the rate. That is the whole sum, and it is worth doing yourself before the invoice arrives.

The allowance for the period is the monthly figure multiplied by the months you had the car — at 1,000 miles a month, a three-month minimum term carries 3,000 miles. Subtract that from the distance covered. Multiply the remainder by the rate in your agreement.

Two things to check on any invoice. That the starting odometer reading matches the handover report rather than a figure from the system, and that the rate charged is the rate in your agreement rather than a current price list. Both are ordinary clerical errors and both are worth catching.

## Is it cheaper to buy the miles up front?

Usually, yes, and the difference is the most reliable saving available in leasing.

Miles bought inside the quote are priced into a monthly figure with the rest of the agreement. Miles bought afterwards are priced as a correction to a value that has already been lost. The second is rarely the cheaper of the two.

So if you know the allowance will not be enough, say so at the enquiry stage. Here that means the extra mileage is priced into the quote rather than settled afterwards, which is a different conversation and a different number. It also means it appears on the agreement you sign, rather than as an invoice at the end of the term.

## What if you drive fewer miles than the allowance?

Nothing happens. Unused miles are not refunded and do not carry forward, on any mainstream lease.

That asymmetry is not generosity in one direction and meanness in the other — it reflects how the price was built. The allowance is the assumption behind the residual value, and coming in under it means the car is worth slightly more than assumed, which is the owner’s gain rather than yours.

The practical consequence is that a hugely oversized allowance is money spent for nothing. There is a balance to strike, and [choosing a mileage allowance](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/guides/choosing-a-mileage-allowance) is about how to strike it.

## Can an excess mileage charge be disputed?

Yes, on three grounds, and all three are evidential rather than matters of opinion.

The reading. If the collection odometer does not match the report, or the handover figure was recorded wrongly, the whole calculation is wrong. Your photographs settle it.

The rate. It must be the rate in your agreement. A newer, higher figure applied to an older agreement is simply an error.

The period. The allowance has to be scaled to the time you actually had the car, and an agreement that ran longer or shorter than planned needs the pro-rating to reflect that.

Put the request in writing, attach the two odometer photographs, and ask for the calculation rather than the total.

## Does excess mileage apply to partner-sourced cars?

Yes, and the figures are set by whoever holds the vehicle rather than by us.

Most of the catalogue is arranged through vetted partners. Those cars carry the partner’s allowance and the partner’s rate beyond it, and we confirm both with you in writing before anything is agreed rather than assuming they match our own.

The cars in [our own fleet](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/fleet) publish the allowance and the rate beyond it on their own pages, so you can read both before you enquire. On both sides of that split, the rule is the same: nothing about mileage should be seen for the first time after you have committed.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is excess mileage charged monthly or at the end?

At the end, from the odometer, on any normal lease. There is no running charge through the term, which is why the figure can build quietly if you never look at the dashboard against your expectations.

### Does the charge include VAT?

Check the agreement, because rates are sometimes quoted one way and invoiced the other. It is a simple question to ask before you sign and an irritating one to discover on an invoice.

### What happens if the odometer fails or is replaced?

Tell whoever holds the agreement immediately and keep the evidence — the fault report, the replacement record and the readings either side. A documented instrument change is a solvable problem; an unexplained mileage jump at collection is not.

### Can I increase my allowance part-way through?

It is worth asking rather than assuming, and asking early is what makes it possible. Adjusting the agreement before the miles are driven is a re-price; asking afterwards is just a discussion about an invoice.

### Do delivery and collection miles count against me?

They should not. The car is delivered to you and collected from you, and the distance covered by whoever moves it is not yours. The handover and collection readings are what define your period, which is another reason to photograph both.

*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.*