What Car? Q&A - Can I lease a car rather than buy it?

Q: Would I be able to lease a car rather than buying it? For example, how much would it cost per month to lease a new Mercedes C-Class 220 CDI Sport?
John Stephenson

A: Contract hire and leasing is becoming more and more popular with private buyers and is readily available.

We list the monthly leasing costs for every model online in the data section of our road tests, and in the data section at the back of the magazine each month.

The Mercedes you're looking at has a figure of £580 a month over three years and a mileage cap of 60,000.

Maintenance is included in that price, but VAT isn't, so as a private buyer you'd have to add that on.

Be sure to add VAT onto the monthly figures, as most companies will print the figure without tax for business users.