The pros and cons of PCH

IF YOU’VE not had a chance to read Brian Rogerson’s excellent piece on Personal Contract Hire: leasing for private people, then I suggest you do.

However, I would like to add a slight health warning.

I’m a big fan of Personal Contract Hire (PCH). It allows you to run a new car – a far better car usually than if you bought it outright with cash or HP – every three years, without the hassle of running it through the business.

Any business mileage can simply be recharged using tax-free AMAP approved business mileage rates.

However, access to PCH deals is becoming harder – something which Martin Brown, managing director of business car solutions provider Fleet Alliance, pointed out in his commentary to Brian’s piece.

The larger funders – predominantly the bank-owned contract hire companies such as Lombard Vehicle Management and Lex Autolease – are not supporting this type of product any more.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t available, of course. As you can see in our road tests, Concept Vehicle Leasing provides PCH as well as contract hire quotations on our tested vehicles.

But it’s not so readily available. Talk to your BVRLA-approved car leasing provider or car dealer for the best options before you dive in.

More on the reduced funding choices for personal contract hire

There’s more background to this in the blog Lombard ditches car leasing brokers; and in our business car news story Business owners face reduced car financing choices.