What is a pickup truck?
A pickup truck is a vehicle that has a rear cargo bed with an open top. It is usually bigger than most cars, and is a popular option for those who want the flexibility of 2 front and 2/3 rear seats and a spacious load lugger.
Here are a few things to consider if you’re thinking of leasing a double-cab.
Storage space
A pickup truck is different to a van, SUV or other car, in that the back half of the vehicle is a storage bed. This is ‘open’ (you can get covers for them of course) and is long, flat and easily accessible which is seen as an advantage for people work in construction, for example.
Economy
The average pickup truck gets only about 23 miles per gallon. Compare that to modern hybrid vehicles, which get over 50 mpg and this might be a tick in ‘negative’ column when weighing up your options.
Seating
The Mitsubishi L200 is a spacious 5-seater double-cab pick-up so works well for the person who wants the flexibility of the open flatbed without compromising on space for passengers. It can certainly double up as a family vehicle if needed. Check the passenger space in your desired pickup before you sign that lease agreement though - some are smaller than others.
Remember - people should never travel in the bed of a truck!
Durability
Pickup trucks rear beds are separated from the cab, allowing for chassis flex that enables these vehicles to withstand, carry and pull heavier loads than any other type of passenger vehicles.
Many are four-wheel drive, enabling them to drive through more hazardous terrain.
Safety
The high seating position in a pickup offers good visibility, but they can be hard to manoeuver as they are sizeable vehicles! Due to their rugged nature, if you are involved in an accident, the damage that will be done to the truck may be less than that of any other type of car.
Tax
To take advantage of the HMRC tax rules for double-cab pick-ups, you need to choose a pick-up with a payload of at least one tonne. That’s the benchmark figure the HMRC has decreed any double-cab must meet in order to be classified as a Light Commercial Vehicle.
If you pick a pickup with a removable hardtop cover, make sure the weight of the top doesn’t take your chosen truck’s cargo capacity beneath the magic 1,000kgs, or the vehicle will be taxed as a regular company car. Two seat pick-ups, and other trucks and vans are classified as LCVs automatically, as they’re not thought to offer the same ‘non-business’ benefits to their drivers.
Read more about tax rules here.
Ready to lease? Check out our current Best Buy*
One of Vans4Lease current best buys is the Mitsubishi L200 Double Cab Pick Up. With leasing prices starting at just under £210/month this is a fantastic offer - have a look here.
Read what CarBuyer had to say about the L200….it’s pretty glowing!
“After over 30 years of fine-tuning and fettling, the Mitsubishi L200 is better than it’s ever been. Beyond their traditional rough-and-ready abilities, pickups these days need to look good, too. The L200 delivers on that, combining rugged toughness with some neat detailing. Add to that the fact it’s well equipped inside and has an impressively strong 2.4-litre four-cylinder diesel engine that allows you to tow over three tonnes and the L200 starts to make a certain amount of sense. It’s also enormously capable off-road – if not that refined on it (a problem common to many models on this list) – thanks to four-wheel drive, a low-range gearbox and chunky tyres. Despite all this, the Mitsubishi is actually one of the most efficient pickups you can buy, returning over 40mpg. Like all the pickups on this list, it’s classed as a light commercial vehicle (or LCV) for road-tax purposes, so you pay a flat rate of £230 a year, which isn’t linked to CO2 emissions.”
To find out more about leasing a van with Vans4Lease please take a look at our FAQs.
* prices are correct at the time of publishing