Is your car lease approaching the end of its contract?  Are you wondering when you need to start thinking about replacing it with a new car lease?

Times are changing and this means that you shouldn’t leave renewing your car lease to the last minute - Particularly if you want a vehicle in a specific colour, with a particular specification.

Vesource receives a large number of enquiries from customers who want a specific vehicle and they need it straight away.  This is fine if you are not fussy about the spec and colour, but if you are – then you must leave enough time for a potential factory order.

Kevin Cavanagh, Sales Director of Vesource comments "Many people wrongly assume that their preferred vehicle will be in stock - more frequently this isn't the case,

"Customers who leave it to the last minute often have to compromise on the colour/spec - or wait for a factory order, which could mean incurring vehicle hire costs in the interim period."

This problem has increased in the last year.  Due to the economic climate all vehicle manufacturers have scaled back production – this has resulted in less stock being readily available.  In some extreme circumstances, manufacturers have stopped production completely.

Vesource always recommends allowing at least 4 months to renew a car lease. This will give you a few weeks to do some research into what vehicle you want, get some quotes and be approved for credit. You will also have enough time for a factory order, in case it's needed, which can take anything from 8 - 12 weeks.

Many people ask this question because they are unsure of the difference between car leasing and Contract Hire.

On the face of it, it can be confusing. However, this question all comes down to terminology. Contract Hire is actually just a type of car leasing. So maybe a better question to ask would be Which car leasing option is right for me?

In this article, we’ll outline the main leasing options and discuss Contract Hire in more detail.

There are six main car leasing options; four available to businesses and two available to private individuals.

Car leasing options available to businesses:

• Contract Hire
• Finance Lease
• Lease Purchase

• Contract Purchase

Car leasing options available to private individuals:

• Personal Contract Purchase (PCP)
• Personal Contract Hire (PCH)

As you can see, Contract Hire is simply one of the six options available to someone who wants to lease a car.

Contract Hire is however the most popular method of financing a car lease. People like it because it offers a hassle free approach to running a vehicle.

The main benefit of Contract Hire is that you pay a fixed monthly cost. This enables you budget and forecast accurately.

It also eliminates the financial risk associated with the disposal of your vehicle. This is because you simply hand the vehicle back to the leasing company at the end of the contract.

Throughout the duration of your contract, you will receive road tax each year meaning you will not have to remember to renew your road tax and will not have any more trips to the post office!

Contract Hire is only available to businesses. PCH is the equivalent option available to private individuals. They both offer exactly the same benefits.