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What To Do If I Can’t Afford To Make My Rentals?

Whatever the change of circumstances, you may be in a situation where you can no longer afford to pay for your lease car rentals. This guide explains what you need to do if that happens.

Millions of people in the UK are struggling when it comes to the new cost of living crisis. Whether it be because of the crisis, or a change of circumstances due to your career, health or something else beyond your control, you may be in a situation where you can no longer afford to pay for your lease car rentals.

It is easy to get overwhelmed and panic when faced with difficult circumstances like this. However, the most important thing you need to do is make sure that you know what your options are and that you do something about it quickly and sensibly. We recommend you speak to your accountant or a debt advice service for guidance as they will be able to select the best resolution for the issue.

Can I just stop paying?

It may seem tempting to stop paying your rentals and hand the car back, but this is by no means recommended. Stopping your payments will hurt your credit rating or score as you will have multiple missed payments showing on your credit report. You may have to pay even more money due to extra charges because of late payments and car repossession.

Can I terminate my agreement early?

While this is a more viable option than the one above, you cannot just hand the car back and agree to stop making payments when you have financial problems. In most cases, early termination of the contract has a cost; mostly commonly this is 50% of the remaining rentals that you have left to pay. This would be a lot of money, especially for someone in a financial crisis. You will need to think about this carefully.

You can learn more about this on our early termination page. 

Is there anything else I can do?

If terminating the agreement early (and paying the termination charge) isn’t an option that you would be open to, you can see if your car lease price can be negotiated or transferred. This isn’t a guarantee for all lease contracts and highly depends on who your leasing company is.

Steps to Take:

These are our recommended steps to take when you can’t afford your rentals:

  1. Remain calm and be open to the solutions you can take.
  2. Talk directly with your leasing company about what the early termination cost would be.
  3. Ask them if you have any other options available to you – such as negotiating the price or transferring the lease to another person.
  4. Once you have the options open to you, discuss them with your accountant or a financial advice service to find the solution that suits you best.

If you take these steps into account and act before your next payment is due to go out, you should be able to get your worries sorted and move on to the next stage in your life.

Helpful Links:

See below for more of our helpful guides: