59 registration plate

If you are thinking about ordering your car or van on contract hire leasing the 1st September registration plate change does seems a long way away. However even if you do not want your vehicle until say the 15th September, you can still order now specifying the delivery date you require. The leasing company will deliver the vehicle on the date you tell them and will instruct their dealer to hold onto the vehicle until you are ready.

Scirocco stock is low

Don’t assume if you order a car or van in a few weeks, that the vehicle of your choice will be available as a stock vehicle. Factory order lead times can range from  8-16 weeks, depending on the make and model. For example there is low stock of Volkswagen Scirocco and Audi A3 hatchback and sportback so you need to place your order as soon as possible, otherwise you may have a long wait.

Golf GTi

You have spent hours looking at different car leasing websites and finally chosen the car you want and the company you want to deal with. But is the car of your choice available now, or is it going to be a pipeline vehicle or full factory order?

You would think there would be plenty of vehicles sitting at dealerships, however the manufacturers have been cutting back on vehicle production due to the fall in demand as has been widely reported. The availability of certain models will always vary depending on your choice of car, colour and specification and your options fall into three categories:

Audi A3 Sportback

1) Vehicles that are in stock at the dealer

There will always be some vehicles that are in stock (or “physical” as it sometimes called) for you to choose from. They may not be your exact specification if you want a car that is packed full of accessories but if you can be flexible you may find a car now.

2) Your second option is “pipeline” vehicles 

Pipeline vehicles are cars that are already in production and work has started at the factory to build the model or it is scheduled to be built. These will normally be available to see on the manufacturer systems that our leasing partners have access to. The vehicle dealerships, who our contract hire leasing partners buy their cars from, will be able to conduct a search (or ”pre-locate”) for your model. However, again if your choice is simple i.e. “I want a Mini diesel in Black or Blue” then you should be able to find a vehicle quite quickly.

3) Your last option is a factory order 

Factory order lead times vary continuously as manufacturers change production schedules due to demand. If a model is particularly popular, a manufacturer may switch production to cope with the demand. However there are usually guidelines that our leasing partners can provide you on how long you will have to wait.

Factory order lead time, when quoted, is usually the time to build your vehicle to the exact colour of your choice and specification. However don’t forget that the lead time quoted is from the date the factory receives the order from the dealer and if the vehicle is built overseas, it has to be shipped to the UK and then prepared for delivery to you, which can add further delay.

So if you are thinking of leasing your next BMW, Audi, Honda, Mercedes or whatever vehicle, the best course of action is to order your vehicle earlier than you think to avoid disappointment. In order to help you with current vehicle availability, the following data is the current state of play for some of the most popular models on the site. The information has been kindly supplied to Comparecontracthire.com by Inchcape Retail, a large dealership group, is intended to be a guide and may be subject to change at any time.

Current Vehicle Availability