The difference is how you pay. Compare cash, PCP, HP and leasing on real UK data.
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| Option | True cost | Per month | Per mile |
|---|
True cost: everything you pay minus resale, in today's money. Lower is better. Curves assume typical annual mileage, used cars only; the shaded band is roughly an 80% confidence range.
| Model year | Median asking price | Listings sampled |
|---|
True cost converts everything you pay, minus resale, to today's money at your investment rate. Resale depends on channel: part-exchange typically pays ~12% under asking, private sale ~5%. The PCP balloon is the lender's contracted figure.
Each model's value curve is fitted from a July 2026 snapshot of ~33,000 UK asking prices across 180 models, cross-checked against manufacturer PCP residual forecasts.
Cash: pay now, sell at the end. HP: deposit plus a loan at your APR, same exit. PCP: deposit, lower monthlies, balloon at term. Lease: initial rental plus monthlies, hand it back. Enter a real quote and we use its numbers instead.
The headline: a 2023 Golf at its £19,616 market median, kept 4 years at 8,000 miles a year, 9.9% APR, sold by part-exchange, against our lease estimate. These are estimates, not quotes. Full method: How it works.
The four ways to pay
No interest, no fees. Money tied up in a car can't earn a return elsewhere, and that cost is real.
Deposit, fixed monthlies, then the car is yours. You pay all the depreciation plus interest.
Lower monthlies because a slice of the price is parked in an optional final balloon payment. Whether it's a good deal depends on the APR and the balloon.
You pay the depreciation the leasing company expects, plus their margin. When a manufacturer subsidises that, a lease can beat buying. Enter a real quote and the tool spots it.
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