Invoicing and payments
Your questions answered
When you lease a vehicle, you agree to pay an initial rental payment, followed by fixed monthly payments for the duration of the lease term you have chosen.
Money worries
Missing payments or making late payments may affect your credit rating, which could make it more difficult for you to get credit in the future.
We may recover the vehicle from you and you will be liable for any costs we incur in doing this. If we have to take legal action against you to recover missed payments, you might incur additional legal costs.
If you’re worried about your payments, we’re here to explain your options and help you find a way forward so you can keep enjoying your vehicle. It is important that you let us know at the earliest opportunity by contacting our friendly team.
Find out more about what to do and how we may be able to help.
Your monthly payments, including the initial payment, will need to be paid via Direct Debit. When you place an order, we’ll send you a Direct Debit instruction where you’ll be able to choose your preferred payment date.
Once we have confirmation that your vehicle has been delivered and that you have signed to accept the vehicle, your initial payment will be taken within 10 working days.
Your monthly payments will then be taken on the preferred date you gave us on the Direct Debit instruction. If you haven’t given us a date preference, we will take payment based on your delivery date. For example, if your vehicle was delivered on the 7th of the month, you will be charged on or after the 7th of each following month.
Depending on your delivery date and preferred payment date, you may find that your first two payments could be taken close together, and sometimes both in the same month.
Yes, you can change your Direct Debit date. Simply contact us on 0345 266 5228, and let us know which date you’d prefer.
The cost of vehicle road tax is included in your contract as part of your monthly payments, based on the applicable road tax rate at the time your quote was issued.
The Government typically reviews and adjusts road tax rates annually. If the cost of your vehicle's road tax increases or decreases during your contract term, we will apply the difference—either as an additional charge or a refund—on an annual basis. If you have been charged any increases in road tax, when the vehicle is returned, we will pro-rate any refunds and return whole unused months to you within a few weeks of the return of your vehicle.
Road tax is a mandatory part of the lease rental and cannot be excluded. As a result, it is subject to VAT. Any changes to this are treated as adjustments to the lease rental and will also be subject to VAT accordingly.
Electric vehicles (EVs)
The Government announced that as of 1 April 2025, electric vehicles will need to pay road tax. This means that any EVs quoted before April 2024 do not have road tax built into the rental. This amount will be billed annually when the road tax is due.
For EVs quoted after April 2024, the standard road tax is included in your monthly payments. Any tax increases will still be charged.
Expensive car road tax
For cars with a list price of over £40,000, DVLA charges an additional rate of road tax as well as the standard rates due on all cars. The additional rate applies from the first anniversary of the car being registered.
If we know that the list price of the car is over £40,000 when we quote, the expensive car tax will be built into your rental. If the list price increases to over £40,000 during the order process and this charge is then due, this additional amount will be invoiced to us by the DVLA and then recharged to you.
We will send you a separate invoice every year in the month before the anniversary of your vehicle’s registration. You can find out when that is by putting your vehicle’s registration into this page https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/.
Additional charges outside of your monthly payments may apply in some cases, including administration fees, maintenance and repair costs (depending on the products taken), returning your vehicle early, and end of contract damage or excess mileage charges.
| Fee Type | Fee value inc VAT (where applicable) | Commentary |
|---|---|---|
| Fine admin fee | £15 |
Just under 50% of our PCH customers receive a fine over the life of the vehicle. We receive the fine as the registered keeper and where possible will transfer liability to you. However, increasingly authorities and private parking companies require us to pay the fine. In this instance we will pay and invoice you for the cost. In both cases we will invoice you an administration fee, for processing the fine/intended prosecution. If you are likely to incur a lot of fines, you should consider whether this product will be suitable for you. |
| Going abroad (Vehicle on Hire - VE103) | £18 |
You must notify us if you are taking our vehicle outside the UK. It is a legal requirement to take the registration document or a document called a VE103 with you to demonstrate you have permission. If you take the vehicle outside the UK without this legal document, the vehicle could be impounded. Provided you tell us you are taking the vehicle to Europe, we will automatically provide European Breakdown cover. |
| Personalised (cherished) plates | £24 | We will support your application via the DVLA by completing any necessary paperwork. You are still liable to pay the DVLAs fees directly to them. |
| Vehicle road tax increases | Variable | The rental you pay is calculated based on the vehicle excise duty at the time of the quote. If the DVLA increase this cost, these increases are passed on to you the month before the anniversary of delivery when the following years tax is purchased. VAT is charged on this. |
| Late payment fees | £12 + 4% over the Bank of England Base Rate | Arval reserves the right to charge customers for late payment. In the event that these fees are charged, our collections team will discuss this with the you. |
| Fee Type | Fee value inc VAT (where applicable) | Commentary |
|---|---|---|
| Aborted collections | £120-£200 | This fee is charged by our supplier when collection has been arranged and is cancelled within 24 hours or if there was no one present to hand the vehicle over. This is to cover the costs of sending a driver to collect the vehicle. If you need to cancel the collection at the end of the lease, please do so in sufficient time to prevent this fee. |
| Early Termination charge | Variable |
Our PCH agreement is for a fixed length of time. It is possible to exit the contract and return the vehicle early but there is a charge for doing so. Our current default Early Termination charge is 50% of outstanding monthly payments. You can request an Early Termination quote here. In addition, your account shouldn't have any outstanding monthly payments due and you may potentially face the other fees listed below. |
| End of contract damage | Variable |
Approximately 20% of vehicles receive an EOC damage charge. Arval have a comprehensive suite of documents, including a video, to help support you with the process, explaining what is acceptable damage and what is likely to get recharged. It is possible to get the vehicle repaired before it is returned to us, but this must be done by a reputable business who will warranty the work and may be more expensive than the charge from Arval. |
| Excess mileage | Variable |
Approximately 22% of our PCH vehicles receive a charge for being over their contracted mileage. If you are driving more or less miles than you expected, please recontract the vehicle during the term to remove the risk of an excess mileage bill at the end of contract, or overpaying on rentals if your vehicle is under mileage. |
You can view your monthly invoices online here.
If you don’t already have an online account, please email us at customerservices@arval.co.uk (including your account number, vehicle registration number and preferred email address) and we’ll get you set up.
You can also find your monthly payment amount on the first page of your contract.
You can view full details of any additional charges online here.
Your monthly rental payments are due from the point the vehicle is delivered until it is returned. If your vehicle is returned early, the monthly payment is not pro-rated.
If your final contracted monthly invoice has been issued, vehicle collection can be arranged and your final payment should be paid.
If the vehicle is returned after the contract end date, you will need to pay for any additional days. You will be billed in arrears for the number of days between contract end date and vehicle collection.
We don’t automatically collect the vehicle at the end of your contract - you have to contact us to arrange collection. You can request a vehicle collection online here.
This is likely to be because you paid an initial payment when you took delivery of your vehicle. This payment was divided across the payments due over the agreed length of the contract and reduced your monthly cost.
Once your initial term has finished, the total value of this payment will have been used up, so your monthly payment will increase to the “true monthly rental”.
NEED MORE HELP?
