Thank you to our car rental partners, Enterprise at Leigh, Greater Manchester for allowing us to photograph and review one of the newest fleet additions – the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross SUV.
So would this Mitsubishi SUV form part of new car consideration? Would you select this leasing option? Or would a VW Tiguan, Ford Kuga, Nissan Qashqai or Peugeot 3008 be your choice?
Need a short/flexible car solution?
It’s important to make a distinction between car rental and contract hire, the latter being the product which the CarLease team offer. Some customers approach us about cars for a month or needing an agreement where you can swap/return/upgrade without any cost. Unfortunately, this is not something which we can offer directly using our main finance products.
We offer long-term and fixed contract solutions, which means you have a vehicle for 2, 3 or 4 years and cannot return it without entering into a process called “Early Termination”.
But when I am half-way through, isn’t there a rule which lets me hand the vehicle back without cost?
This is something customer get confused about on a regular basis; there is some idea that you can return a vehicle back to a finance company after covering a certain time period. This is actually a reference to something called voluntary termination, a process where a customer in a Personal Contract Purchase agreement volunteers to return the vehicle having paid half of the total amount payable (including all initial payments, monthly payments and balloon/GFVs).
In this scenario the car will be appraised for damage and mileage and then the car will be collected by a representative from an auction house.
So is rental the way to go? For a personal or business customer needing a vehicle for a day/week/month, the car rental route is very much the way to go. With car hire not requiring a credit check or unwrite, you don’t need to have your personal credit or business credit reviewed. With contract hire, this isn’t suitable if you have poor credit or if you have a newly incorporated company (and no information).
You, or the directors, will have to provide us with a series of key information pertaining to you, your home address, employment history, banking details, accounts and income/expenditure.
There is a full analysis and review of your personal circumstances to make sure that you can afford the proposition being presented to you.
Don’t presume that by paying a large initial rental/deposit you will be accepted automatically.
Unless you go through a formal process, we can’t offer you any vehicles. In contrast, you pay a holding deposit with car hire and they will ask for some proofs of identity/driving licence. They will not perform a credit check on you in most cases.
With car rental, you also have the option of ordering and driving the car away on the same-day.
Businesses, like Enterprise, will have a number of vehicles in stock at any time and these often cover most categories ranging from small cheap cars to automatic estates to larger luxury 4x4s. You could call in the morning and collect the vehicle in the afternoon if required. In contrast, the process element of our industry means that delivery in under 7-10 days is very difficult. Add to that the cooling-off period for regulated customers, being 14 days beginning on the day after the order was signed, and you have longer process.
Leasing a car is not suitable if you need to get a car in an emergency. Speed is one of its weaknesses.
Where car rental works very well is for those businesses with a new start employee who is on a 3 – 6 month probationary period. With contract hire, you are committing to a long-term contract and you will have to pay an amount equivalent to half the remaining rentals, or more, if you wish to return the vehicle should the employee not be successful. Rather than put your business under pressure, car rental is a more flexible solution for you to procure a car quickly and flexibly for an indefinite period.
You could commit to a month to month contract, so that if the employee terminates their employment or they do not fulfil your criteria you can return the vehicle without any additional costs involved.
So why are we not all renting our cars? Cost is the main reason. With the flexibility being offered, the price you pay is considerably more than if you were to undertake a long-term contract hire agreement. You could be 3 or 4 times more per month for the same vehicle. It is very much a question of Cost vs Flexibility and choosing a product which meets your needs and requirements. Don’t select a “cheap” contract hire rental for 4 years if you need a car for a week!
In terms of the car shown here, the Mitsubishi ECLIPSE CROSS HATCHBACK 1.5 3 5dr (Petrol) (Manual), this is based on the following configuration:
Metallic – Sterling silver
Fabric – Black
18″ black/silver alloy wheels
As standard the car includes automatic rain sensing wipers, active city braking, active stability, brake assist, emergency stop signalling system, forward collision mitigation system, active yaw control, android auto/Apple Carplay, cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, lane departure warning system, rear view camera, automatic start/stop, head up display, smartphone link, auto dimming rear view mirror, lectic heated folding mirrors, DAB radio, front and rear skid plates, climate control, auto high beam assist, front fog lamps, LED daytime running lights, LED interior lights, 60/40 split folding seats, heated front seats, keyless entry and start, 18” alloys, immobiliser and a Thatcham Cat 1 alarm.
Like other manufacturers, you cannot add any options you can only decrease to a “2” or increase to a “4”. The new MY 2020 models have moved away from the numbering system.
On the technical-side, company car and business users can note the P11d at £23,465.00 and CO2 at 159g/km. The 1499CC 6 speed manual petrol engine delivers 40.4 combined MPG (EC), 36.2 (WLTP), 163ps and 0-62 times of 9.7 seconds. The service intervals are every 12 months or 12,500 miles whichever lands sooner.
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