Maintaining Your Lease Car

Want to know how to ensure you're maintaining your lease vehicle correctly? Read our guide for all you need to know.

If you’ve included a maintenance package on your lease agreement, this is going to be a really quick guide…call your driverline number and book your car in to a dealer of your choice. This is for anything; a service, a new tyre, a brake pad…it’s all paid for, so you just have to take your car to  there and pick it up when it’s ready.

If you didn’t include maintenance on your lease agreement, then hopefully this guide will help you make sure you’re maintaining your lease car correctly.

Your quick guide to lease vehicle maintenance

1. When/how often do I need to service my car?

Nowadays, brand new cars usually notify you when a service is coming up, usually 1000 miles before its due. However, if your car doesn’t notify you and you’re unsure, you can call any dealership, give them your registration and they can tell you. Normally, it’s once every 12 months or 12,000 miles.

2. Do I need to use a main dealer?

We always recommend you have your vehicle serviced at a main dealer, as some finance providers specify that it must be serviced at a main dealer (like Audi Finance, for example). If you are unsure on who is and isn’t a main dealer, most manufactures have a dealer locator on their website.

However, if you don’t want to use a main dealer, some finance providers will let you use a local garage, as long as they are VAT registered and use genuine parts. Make sure they record the service correctly with the manufacturer, too.

3. Can I give the car back if it's due a service?

Unfortunately, no. If your car is due a service then it must be carried out before it goes back. We’re not saying you must get a service done before it goes back, we’re saying you must get one done if it’s due!

4. Do I need a certain brand of tyre?

When changing your tyres, you need to be sure they are a premium brand, such as Bridgestone, Continental, Pirelli, Michelin, Dunlop etc. If you are unsure if a tyre brand is ‘premium’ enough, you can speak to your finance provider or local dealer and they can advise.

5. Do I need to top up my ad-blue?

Yes, the same as you do with your fuel. Ad-blue is found in diesel vehicles only and helps to maintain the emissions level. It’s not often that you need to top if up, as 1 litre gets you roughly 350-500 miles. It’s not very expensive, either!

6. Maintaining the paint

It’s always a good idea to clean your car every once in a while, especially if you have solid paint. The longer you leave a car dirty, the higher the chance of the paint damaging. This would be classed as neglect, so if the paint did get damaged, you would be charged for the repair at the end of your lease.