Covid-19 Top Tip: I saved £70 a month by altering my mileage. Could you?

  • 03 Mar 2021

I'm a big advocate of leasing. After all, I've worked for Leasing.com for more than six years. It's often the most affordable way of getting into a new car. In 2019, I snapped up a bargain Peugeot 508 GT line on a personal lease.

I love it; it's incredible how many comments I get about it ... for a Peugeot. Yes, lots of people always add that caveat. If this fastback rolled out of a German factory bearing an Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz badge, I'm sure there would be people queuing up for miles to drive one.

I snapped it up for a bargain £220.99 a month on a 9+ 23 8k lease deal. This meant just under £2,000 on the initial payment, then £220.99 a month for two years and an 8,000 miles a year allowance.

I was already a bit under the mileage when the pandemic hit, and everyone at Leasing.com has been working from home since April 2020, so my commute is currently non-existent. But I still need my car. Last summer, we went on holiday to North Wales in it and we plan to again this year, when allowed. It has got a massive boot, which helps with family-related tasks, and cool Knight Rider-like rear lights, which just look cool. I have a wife and two kids and we go to countless parks meeting friends in a socially distanced manner, when allowed. I can't live without it. But I'm doing far fewer miles than expected.

So, I did what a lot of people don't do, or knew they could do. In August last year, I contacted my funder (PSA Finance) to change my contract to reflect this. I was just over a year into a two-year deal and had done fewer than 5,000 miles. I requested to change it to 5,000 miles a year. That's 10,000 over the two years.

They reduced my payments to a head-spinningly low £148.73 a month. Bargain.

It took a week or so for them to respond. But when they did I had a massive grin on my face. They reduced my payments to a head-spinningly low £148.73 a month. At the time, the car was around £400 a month on a PCP, with an £8k deposit. So an already bargain lease deal had turned into a finance miracle as far as I'm concerned.

I’ve been paying that reduced rate for months now, and it’s been a massive help. Now it's worth clarifying that any changes to your contract are at the discretion of the finance company. I didn't get this change simply because I work for Leasing.com. I'm no social media influencer. But if you're seriously under your mileage, then it's definitely worth getting in touch.

Spread the word. Every little helps.

For more info, read our annual mileage guide.

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