Car lease statistics

Car lease statistics at a glance

• The total size of the UK’s fleet of leased vehicles is 1,931,417
• 73% of these are cars; the rest are vans
• 75% of car leases in the UK are business leases; the rest are consumer leases
• The most commonly leased make of vehicle overall is Volkswagen
• The most commonly leased car in the UK is the Nissan Qashqai
• 32% of new vehicle leases are for battery electric vehicles
• The most popular lease contract length is 36 months (47% of all leases)
• The average car lease has a mileage limit of 10,888 miles
• Virtually all (99%) drivers choose to lease a new car
• The car leasing industry contributes around £49bn to the UK economy each year, according to the industry body, the British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association (BVRLA)

How many cars are leased in the UK every year?

It's estimated that between 500,000 and 750,000 cars are leased in the UK each year. That’s based on estimates indicating that around 20-30% of all new vehicles registered in the UK each year are leased.

The total number of vehicles registered in the UK for the first time in 2023 was 2,535,000, according to the Department for Transport. The portion of drivers who choose leasing versus buying is higher for businesses than it is for consumers.

What's the size of the UK's vehicle lease fleet overall?

The UK's fleet of leased vehicles now stands at 1,931,417 cars and vans, according to the BVRLA, the main industry body for car leasing providers. That number is made up of 1,417,479 car leases and 513,938 van leases.

Car leasing has grown steadily in the last few years following a lull in activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The total number of car leases is now at a six-year high.

Car leasing statistics by fuel type

The popularity of electric vehicle leases has surged in the years since 2019 when the UK government announced sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles would be phased out and ultimately banned by 2030.

The date the ban will come into effect has since been moved out to 2035, but the popularity of electric cars as an option for drivers who lease a vehicle continues to grow.

Drivers who lease a vehicle are almost twice as likely to choose a battery electric car (BEV) – 32% of drivers – compared to UK drivers on the whole (around 16%, according to the Department for Transport). The industry body for car leasing providers, the BVRLA, says this is because a high proportion of car leases are for vehicles used as company cars.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) continue to rise in popularity, albeit at a more modest pace compared to BEVs. The three most popular PHEV models are the Hyundai Tucson, Volkswagen Tiguan and Volkswagen Golf.

Did you know? 80,608 cars are leased in the UK through a salary sacrifice agreement, where payments for a car are deducted directly from an employee’s salary. There are extra tax incentives for EVs when leased in this way.

What’s the most commonly leased car brand in the UK?

According to exclusive industry data analysed by CarLease.co.uk, Volkswagen is the most commonly leased car manufacturer, with 18.5% market share. Nissan (10%) and Audi (8.6%) are the other manufacturers in the top three.

Interestingly, some brands that are among the best sellers in the UK overall (Toyota, Vauxhall and Mercedes-Benz) don’t make the top 10 for car leasing. Peugeot, Tesla and Skoda made the top 10 for car leasing, but are not in the top 10 overall.

There are no British-owned manufacturers in the top 10.

What’s the most popular car model to lease?

The Nissan Qashqai is the most commonly leased car in the UK, followed by the Volkswagen Tiguan and Peugeot 208. Nissan and Volkswagen are the only manufacturers with more than one model in the top 10.

Lease volumes for the Nissan Qashqai (and some other top-performing models) are helped considerably by the fact that it’s available with various engine options (mild, hybrid, e-power etc).

What’s the most popular EV model to lease?

Looking at battery electric vehicles, Tesla’s Model Y is the only EV model to make the top 10 car leasing overall and tops the list of most-leased EVs.

Business car lease statistics

Roughly 75% of car leases in the UK are taken out by business customers. Leasing a vehicle offers various advantages for businesses and is a popular choice for employers who offer employees a company car, for example. Business owners looking for flexibility and potential tax savings often look to leasing as a solution for the vehicle they drive themselves if it’s used at least partially for business purposes.

Looking at the most popular models among business car lease customers, there is a greater spread of battery electric vehicles.

What’s the average car lease contract term?

Turning our attention to the typical car lease terms drivers choose, our analysis of thousands of leases shows the average is a three-year term (36 months). This is by far the most popular option, with nearly half of all leases taken out for that duration. This is the case for both business and personal lease customers and across all vehicle types.

What’s the most common initial payment chosen?

Overall, the most popular choice of initial payment on a car lease is three months. In other words, drivers choose to pay what is essentially a deposit (non-refundable) that’s the equivalent of three months payment when they take out their lease.

Interestingly, when we drill down to different types of lease customers, the most popular initial payment for private leases is only one month. Relatively few drivers choose (or have the option to) a no-deposit car lease.

What’s the average annual mileage requested on a car lease?

The average car lease in the UK has a built-in mileage limit of 10,888 miles. Unsurprisingly, business leases have a higher mileage limit than private leases on average, with van drivers in particular racking up the mileage.

Mileage limits are often a perceived drawback for drivers weighing up the pros and cons of car leasing, but drivers generally have the flexibility to set the limit as high as they need. For example, spare a thought for the one driver our analysis found requested an annual limit of 60,000 miles.

Looking at different vehicle types, drivers tend to choose a slightly higher annual mileage on car leases for a petrol or diesel vehicle, compared to battery electric vehicles. 

What portion of car leases have maintenance included?

For after-sale options like maintenance as an inclusion in the lease, preferences among car lease customers differ massively when comparing business and personal leases.

A large majority of drivers with a business lease (72.7%) choose to include maintenance, whereas only 29.1% of private lease customers take up the option to include ongoing maintenance. That’s according to BVRLA data.

Drivers of electric vehicles and traditional internal combustion engine vehicles tend to choose or not choose maintenance in roughly similar proportions, CarLease.co.uk's analysis found.