The new way to drive

For most of the last century, there were two ways to run a nice car: buy it, or lease it for three years and hope your life didn't change in the meantime. Increasingly, it does change — jobs, cities, families, priorities — and a 36-month contract has started to feel less like a commitment and more like a bet.

Flexible subscription is the third way. One monthly payment covers the car, comprehensive insurance, servicing, maintenance, road tax and breakdown cover. Keep the car as long as it suits you — three months or three years — and switch when life does. No deposit negotiations, no balloon payments, no selling a depreciating asset at the end.

The model has grown quickly in the UK precisely because the maths is honest. Add up insurance, servicing, tax, breakdown cover and depreciation on a privately owned premium SUV and the gap to a subscription is far smaller than the headline figures suggest — before you count the hours spent arranging any of it.

We started Fast Rent Club because we wanted this to feel like membership of something, not a transaction. Fifteen cars, five levels, one payment — and the freedom to change your mind. That, we think, is the new way to drive.