Reversible decisions
A four-year contract commits you to a headcount forecast nobody can make accurately. Short terms let you be wrong cheaply.
Business pillar
Business leasing and rental, on terms that flex
Fleet decisions are easier when they're reversible. Short-term business agreements let your vehicles track contract wins, headcount and seasonality, instead of locking you in for four years.
In short
Business leasing at London Short Term Cars means short-term contract hire and subscription agreements for cars and vans, taken in a company's name, from 1 to 24 months. Prices are quoted excluding VAT; VAT-registered businesses can normally reclaim 50% of the VAT on a car with private use and 100% on a commercial vehicle used solely for business. There's no minimum fleet size, and agreements of 12 months or less may qualify for the short-term lease exemption under IFRS 16 — check with your accountant.
The commercial case
What short terms actually buy a business
Predictable cost per head
Road tax, warranty and breakdown in one figure, with maintenance included on subscriptions and optional on leases. No surprise garage invoices mid-quarter.
Speed
In-stock vehicles in as little as 3–5 working days from signed order and payment, rather than a factory order measured in months — useful when a start date won't move.
One account, mixed fleet
Directors' cars, pool vehicles and vans on a single account with one invoice and a named contact.
Interim and project staff
Vehicles that end when the assignment ends. No stranded assets, no early termination negotiations.
Staged electrification
Move part of the fleet to electric — and ahead of London's clean air rules — and see what it does to your operations before committing all of it.
Where to go next
Business services
Salary Sacrifice
Give staff an electric car out of gross salary. Employees save income tax and National Insurance; the company saves employer NI. No capital outlay from the business.
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Salary SacrificeNew Business Start-ups
Trading under two years with no filed accounts? Mainstream funders decline these almost automatically. We place them regularly.
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New Business Start-upsOverseas Directors
A UK-registered company whose directors live outside the UK. Workable, with the right funder and the right paperwork.
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Overseas DirectorsOverseas Parent or Shareholders
UK subsidiaries of foreign groups. The credit file often looks thin even when the parent is substantial.
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Overseas Parent or ShareholdersNon-Status Leasing
For applicants outside standard credit criteria who don't have bad credit, CCJs or adverse history. Assessed case by case, not declined by a system.
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Non-Status LeasingVan & Commercial Fleet
Panel vans, crew vans, tippers and pickups on subscriptions or fixed 6 and 12 month contracts.
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Van & Commercial FleetThe finance side
VAT and accounting, briefly
We're not accountants and this isn't accounting advice — but these are the points your finance team will ask about, so here they are.
- VAT on car rentals
- A VAT-registered business can normally reclaim 50% of the VAT on the rental element of a car available for private use, and 100% on the maintenance element.
- VAT on van rentals
- Normally 100% reclaimable where the vehicle is used solely for business purposes.
- Corporation tax
- Rental payments are generally an allowable deduction against profits, subject to a restriction on higher-emission cars.
- Balance sheet
- Under IFRS 16 there's an exemption for leases of 12 months or less, which many of our agreements fall within. FRS 102 treatment differs.
- Benefit in kind
- Applies where a car is available for an employee's private use. Electric vehicles attract a far lower rate, which is why salary sacrifice works so well with EVs.
Please check with your accountant. Treatment depends on your reporting standard, your VAT position and how the vehicle is actually used. We'll give your accountant whatever documentation they need.
Specialist underwriting
If you've been declined elsewhere
A large share of our business comes from companies a mainstream funder has already turned down — not because anything is wrong, but because automated credit scoring can't read the situation.
- A company formed eight months ago with strong contracts but no filed accounts
- A UK subsidiary of a substantial overseas group with a thin standalone file
- A director who's lived abroad for six years with no recent UK credit footprint
- A UK entity of an overseas business, employing London staff who need vehicles
None of these are unusual, and none of them are automatically a no. See what we can do with specialist cases.
Enquiry
Talk to us about your fleet
Business vehicle enquiry
Tell us roughly what you need and we'll come back with real availability and a written quote.
Enquiring about
Answers
Frequently asked questions
A VAT-registered business can usually reclaim 50% of the VAT on the rental of a car with any private use, and 100% on a commercial vehicle used solely for work. Maintenance is typically fully reclaimable. Check your specific position with your accountant.
It depends which accounting standard you report under and how the individual agreement is structured. Short agreements of 12 months or less often qualify for the short-term lease exemption under IFRS 16 — this isn't accounting advice, so confirm the detail with your accountant.
In many cases, yes. Newly formed limited companies with no filed accounts get an automatic decline from most mainstream funders, which is precisely the gap our new business start-up service is built for — usually solved with a larger initial payment or a director's guarantee.
That's one of the situations we deal with regularly. UK-registered companies with overseas directors, and UK companies with an overseas parent or overseas shareholders, are both cases we place routinely — see the dedicated pages for exactly what paperwork is needed.
No. Plenty of our business customers run a single director's car; others run twenty vans across three sites. The service is the same — a named contact, one invoice and terms that flex.
Yes, and most of our business customers do. A single account can carry directors' cars, pool vehicles and commercial vehicles under one invoice and one point of contact.
In-stock vehicles — generally carrying a GL or GPC supplier reference — can be delivered in as little as 3 to 5 working days from a signed order form and payment. With a credit line already in place it can be sooner. Need six vans for a contract starting next month? Tell us the date and we'll be straight with you about whether it's achievable.
Next step
Get a business quote
One vehicle or a whole fleet. Send us the requirement and we'll come back with availability, pricing and lead times.