Contract hire is the most well-liked type of automobile leasing, although one still sometimes hears criticisms. It's of course only prudent to look at some of these criticisms objectively. Car lease payments can work out far less costly than shopping for an automobile on finance, however some critics object that the terms of the contract hire ties them in too long to a specific automobile, with costly penalties should they try to quit the agreement. This is only normally the case, though, when a client signs up for a long vehicle leasing contract, it is typically recommended that a contract hire agreement ought to be no longer than 4 years.

A second criticism of car leasing is that the restrictions on mileage are too severe and the penalties for exceeding them too large. Permitted mileage restrictions however are approved with the shopper at the outset, with full flexibility given where the customer feels a vehicle will end up doing more miles than the average.

A remaining criticism concerns the fact that with contract hire the car won't ever be owned by the consumer. This ironically however is thought to be contract hire's greatest advantage, possession brings with it accountability for maintaining a car in its old age, or conversely the hassle and expense of attempting to offload the vehicle. With contract hire however the car is collected at the finish of the term with the choice of taking command of a totally new model at a similar monthly rate.

There is a large number of impartial motoring specialists who are baffled as to why more persons are not going down the automotive lease route; it is almost as if the many advantages of a automotive lease remain the motor trade's greatest secret.

Rather than requiring the customer to pay the acquisition price of a automobile, either in full or via high interest finance payments, a car lease agreement requires only set month-to-month payments primarily based on the depreciation of the car during the period during which the automotive lease is taken out. Since devaluation over the usual two to 4 yr automobile lease period will almost definitely be far lower than the purchase price, the customer will virtually always save cash.

With a car lease it can immediately therefore become financially prudent to run a brand new automobile, a car the client can order to his or her preferred specification. Gone are the days of feeling pushed into shopping for a second-hand car without any real idea as to its reliability. With a automobile lease the client can have delivered to the door a car with no preceding ownership history, covered by a full factory warranty. A car leasing customer is naturally free to make use of the automobile as if it were his or her own, subject of course to some moderate mileage restrictions and stipulations on maintaining the automobile in good order.