When is The Best Time to Lease a Car? And When is the Worst?

Leasing a new car in the UK is a bit like shopping for Easter eggs – timing is everything. Catch the market at just the right moment, and you could drive away with a cracking deal. Get it wrong, and you might find yourself paying more than you need to for the same shiny metal box. So, when exactly is the best time to lease a car? And when should you wait it out?

At cars2buy, we scour the internet for the best lease deals in the UK right now from trusted leasers, so there are always eye-grabbing deals to compare. But the car dealership calendar is, in many ways, split into two mirrored halves because of the deeply-rooted effects of the registration plate system in the UK, which renews to a new number every March and September. So if you have missed your window, the good news is that the opportunity comes around twice as fast. Let’s break it down by month, so you can secure the sort of deal that only comes once or twice a year.

The Best Times to Lease a Car

March and September: The Big Events

If you’re wondering when the best time of year to lease a car is, circle March and September on your calendar. These are the months when the new registration plates roll over (e.g., “74” into “25”; “25” into “75”), and many car manufacturers plan to release new models to coincide with this time, so it’s a double whammy of newness. It’s a simple knock-on effect that makes a fruitful equation for those looking to lease: new plates = new models = more stock = competitive pricing.

Leasing companies look to offload their older models around this time, too, so there’s even more opportunity to grab a deal.

February and August: The Sneaky Sweet Spots

February and August are the calm before the reg-plate storm, and often the cheapest time of year to lease a car. You may find special offers on cars that are due to be succeeded by an updated model in March and September. Cars registered just before the plate change might be discounted and still have the new car smell. Win-win.

Winter Period: Dealership Fire Sale

While December and January are full of mince pies and snow, it’s also a great time to lease a car. Showrooms can be a ghost town through the winter, so keep a keen eye out during December and January for some slump-saving sales and deals Since people have usually got other expenses to focus on, and with dealerships scrambling to make sales and fill their quotas, you may see a few price cuts that pique your interest.

July and October: Model Year-End Sales

Even before the February and August sweet spots, manufacturers are looking to make room for their incoming fleet of new models. So, you can often grab a bargain on the outgoing version of a car that still looks and drives like it’s just come out of the factory.

So, What is the Cheapest Time of Year to Lease a Car?

If we pinpoint a single cheapest time of year to start a new car lease in the UK, February and August are the ideal times to browse. These months consistently offer strong deals as stock gets cleared ahead of the March and September registration changes.

The Worst Time to Lease a Car

To dispel a falsehood about leasing: there is no truly terrible time to lease a car, just times without many special offers. This typically falls during the months of January and April, the start of the calendar and financial year. These signify refreshes in dealership quotas, so they are generally less inclined to offer discounts early on. However, January still falls during the slow winter months, so there may still be sales. It depends on the unknowable flow of the market, so the best plan of action is to start looking for yourself.

Full Calendar

Find out what you can expect, whatever month you’re in, with this month-by-month breakdown of what the lease market typically looks like:

• January – New quotas = fewer deals, but less buyer competition post-Christmas
• February – Dealers begin to clear stock ahead of the March plate change = Bargains galore
• March – new registration plates/model releases = competitive leasing market
• April – new financial year =  potentially fewer discounts
• May – Mid-season lull – worth watching
• June – End of Q2, potentially a fruitful time for deals
• July – Year-end model clearances begin
• August – Dealers begin to clear stock ahead of the September plate change = Bargains galore
• September – new registration plates/model releases = competitive leasing market
• October – Mid-season lull – worth watching
• November – Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals
• December – Market slowdown, potential deal goldmine

Choose the Right Lease Deal with cars2buy

You shouldn’t have to wait or time it right to get the perfect lease deal for you, and at cars2buy, we make car leasing transparent. We’ve done the hard work of scouring the internet for the best personal lease deals across trusted UK providers, so you can compare, filter, sort and search through them all to find an ideal offer. No matter if you’re hunting for the best time of month to lease a car or just want to avoid the worst time to lease a car, we give you the full scope of what’s out there, and don’t charge a single penny for doing so. Browse our latest lease offers today, and drive away in a brand-new model knowing you timed it just right.