Leasing a Tesla in the UK: Model 3 and Model Y lease costs

A Tesla personal lease in the UK costs from £337 a month for a Model 3 and £472 a month for a Model Y in November 2026, before an upfront payment of around a year’s rentals. Over three years, our sums put a Model Y lease about £3,800 cheaper than handing the same car back at the end of a typical PCP.

Leasing, or personal contract hire, means you pay to use the car for a fixed term and mileage, then return it. You never own it, and you carry no risk on its resale value. That matters with Tesla, whose price changes have moved used values sharply in the past. The entry Model Y alone rose £3,000 to £44,990 on 1 October 2026, according to EV Industry News; our October price guide has the full list.

How much does it cost to lease a Tesla Model Y?

The cheapest Model Y lease is £472 a month for the entry Rear-Wheel Drive (listed by lessors as the Standard RWD), over 60 months. These are Autotrader Leasing prices checked on 1 November 2026, including VAT, at 5,000 miles a year.

Model Y version	List price (Oct 2026)	36 months, 8,000 miles	60 months, 5,000 miles
Rear-Wheel Drive (Standard)	£44,990	£602 a month, £3,857 upfront	£472 a month, £5,904 upfront
Premium Long Range RWD	£49,990	£625 a month, £3,990 upfront	£493 a month, £6,154 upfront
Premium Long Range AWD	£52,990	£770 a month, £4,862 upfront	£616 a month, £7,627 upfront
Performance	£61,990	Not listed	£840 a month, £10,317 upfront

Upfront payments include a £245 processing fee. The 36-month deals use a six-month initial rental and the 60-month deals roughly 12 months. Carwow quotes the Model Y from £495 a month on 48 months and 8,000 miles a year, with nine months paid upfront.

The Premium Long Range RWD is the standout. Over a 36-month lease it costs £938 more in total than the entry car (£25,865 against £24,927), and Autotrader lists it with 378 miles of range against 309. If you lease a Model Y, that is the version we would price first.

How much does it cost to lease a Tesla Model 3?

The Model 3 Standard is the cheapest Tesla to lease, at £337 a month over 48 months with £4,284 upfront and 5,000 miles a year on Autotrader. That is £20,123 over four years, or £5,031 a year. Carwow lists the Model 3 from £370 a month over 48 months at a more useful 8,000 miles a year.

The Model 3 Premium Long Range costs £499 a month over 60 months with £6,225 upfront, and the Performance £658 a month with £8,139 upfront. Not sure whether the saloon or the SUV suits you? Our Model 3 vs Model Y comparison covers space, range and price.

Is it cheaper to lease or buy a Tesla on PCP over three years?

On our numbers, leasing is cheaper unless the PCP lender sets a generous final payment. Tesla’s own current PCP terms were not published anywhere we could open, so we built a PCP with sourced inputs: a 10% deposit, which Kandoo calls typical, and the 8.9% APR from its Model Y example. Kandoo also notes that 0% APR deals on Teslas are rare in the UK.

The final payment, or guaranteed future value, decides the result. We ran two cases. The low case uses Autovista’s finding that a Model Y kept 55% of its list price after three years and 40,000 miles. The high case uses EVTrader’s 2026 curve, which puts a three-year-old Model Y at 74% at about 9,000 miles a year.

Method: Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive at £44,990, £4,499 deposit, 36 monthly payments at 8.9% APR on the balance, final payment not paid (car handed back); lease = £3,857 upfront plus 35 rentals of £602.

Three years in a Model Y RWD	Monthly	Upfront	Total if you hand it back
Lease, 36 months, 8,000 miles	£602	£3,857	£24,927
PCP, 55% final payment (£24,745)	£674	£4,499	£28,760
PCP, 74% final payment (£33,293)	£465	£4,499	£21,232

With a 55% final payment, the PCP costs £3,833 more than the lease. Most of that is interest: you pay 8.9% on a balance that only falls from £40,491 to £24,745 over the term, which adds up to about £8,500. With a 74% final payment the PCP is £3,695 cheaper than the lease, because you are paying off far less of the car.

So the question to ask a dealer is not the monthly payment but the final payment and the APR. A lender that assumes a strong resale value, or a manufacturer offer that cuts the APR, can make PCP the better deal. The general lease vs PCP guide explains how the guaranteed future value protects you if used prices fall.

Is a longer Tesla lease better value?

Yes, per year. The Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive costs £24,927 over 36 months, or £8,309 a year. The 60-month deal costs £33,724 in total (£5,904 upfront plus 59 rentals of £472), which is £6,745 a year.

The trade-off is commitment. Ending a lease early usually costs a large share of the remaining rentals, and five years is a long time to commit to one car while Tesla’s range and prices keep moving. The 60-month deals also allow 5,000 miles a year, against 8,000 on the 36-month deals, so check your real mileage before you pick the lower monthly figure.

What does the upfront payment really cost?

The upfront payment is not a deposit; it is rent paid in advance, and you do not get it back. On the 60-month Model Y deal it is £5,904, and adding it to the monthly rentals turns a £472 headline into £562 a month across the term. Always divide the total cost by the number of months to compare deals fairly.

Who pays road tax and charging on a leased Tesla?

The leasing company pays the vehicle tax as registered keeper, and the cost is built into the rental. Electric cars pay the £200 standard rate, but cars listed above £50,000 add £440 a year for five years from the second year of tax. The Model Y Long Range AWD (£52,990) and Performance (£61,990) are over the line; the Premium Long Range RWD at £49,990 sits just under it.

Charging is down to you. At 8,000 miles a year and 4.5 miles per kWh, an entry Model Y uses about 1,780 kWh; on Intelligent Octopus Go at 8p/kWh that is £142 a year, or £468 at the 26.32p/kWh price cap (8,000 ÷ 4.5 × tariff). Our guide to the cost of charging a Tesla covers Superchargers and public rapid charging too.

Should you lease a Tesla personally or through work?

If your employer runs a salary sacrifice scheme, it will usually beat a personal lease, because you pay from gross salary and only 4% benefit-in-kind in 2026/27. Our Tesla company car tax guide works through the figures for each model, and salary sacrifice vs personal leasing explains when each wins.

What this means for you

If you want a new Tesla for three years and have no plan to keep it, lease it, and look hard at the Model Y Premium Long Range RWD, which costs barely more than the entry car. If you are offered a PCP, ask for the APR and the final payment in writing and run the same sums: deposit plus all monthly payments. If that total is below the lease total for the same mileage, the PCP is the better deal and leaves you the option to buy. Still choosing a model? Start with which Tesla to buy.