Drive Subscribe

About Drive Subscribe

Drive Subscribe is a UK car subscription company with a difference you can check: we're built and run by ACL Automotive, a leasing business that's been putting people in cars for more than twenty years. A short term car subscription gets you the car for one fixed monthly figure, for anything from 1 to 18 months, dropped at your door. This is the page where we tell you who "we" actually are.

Why Drive Subscribe exists

ACL has spent over two decades arranging leases the traditional way, and kept meeting people the traditional way didn't fit. The contractor whose job has an end date. The family whose new car is somewhere on a ship. The new arrival whose UK paperwork is still catching up with them. So we built Drive Subscribe to serve them properly — the same cars and the same standards as a long lease, on terms that start at a single month.

That's the whole story. No venture capital, no mission to disrupt anything — just a leasing business doing short terms as carefully as it does long ones. Plenty of subscription start-ups have come and gone, usually with nothing behind them; ACL has been arranging leases through all of it, and will be here when your term wraps up.

What's inside a short term car subscription

One monthly figure — quoted ex-VAT, the way most of our customers budget — carrying almost everything the car needs: breakdown cover, road tax, servicing and maintenance, the manufacturer's warranty, and delivery and collection to any address on the British mainland outside the Highlands — free both ways. Insurance and fuel are the two jobs that stay yours.

Two straight answers while we're here. Insurance isn't in the price, and that's a choice: a policy written for anyone has to price in everyone, so it would cost most drivers more than their own cover. You run your own policy while the car's with you, end it the day it isn't, and you'll have a plain list of the cover to arrange before the car leaves us. And the car takes 10 to 14 days to reach you once you've ordered — our subscription cars go out washed, looked over and ready from the first mile, which we think beats fast. If you've heard that car subscription in the UK means compromising on one or the other, we'd politely disagree.

Drive Subscribe

Who's behind it

Real people, in a real office in Bournemouth. Drive Subscribe is run by the ACL Automotive team — the same people who've spent over twenty years looking after leasing customers, not a call centre bolted on for a launch. Ring us with something knotty and there's a fair chance the person who can actually decide it picks up, which we consider a feature.

Then three plain panels instead of the photo grid:

  • Where we are — Drive Subscribe, Oxford Point, 9 Oxford Road, Bournemouth BH8 8GS.
  • Who you'll speak to — The ACL Automotive team — the same people who look after our long-lease customers. No call centre, no script.
  • How to reach us — 0333 772 1886, or hello@drivesubscribe.com. A person either way.

 

Drive Subscribe

Short term electric car subscription, for the EV-curious

Thinking about going electric, but not ready to sign three years of your life to it? A short term electric car subscription is the low-stakes way to find out. Run an EV or hybrid for a season or two, charge it where you actually live, learn what your commute really costs — then swap it, keep it longer, or step back to petrol, wiser either way. The fleet includes current electric and hybrid models, from the BMW i4 to the BYD Sealion 7, priced like every subscription here: fixed, quoted ex-VAT, with servicing and breakdown sorted in the same monthly figure. You'll know for sure — without buying the car to find out.

Drive Subscribe

The credentials, in plain English

  • Badges are easy to print, so here's what ours actually mean for you.
  • FCA regulated. ACL Automotive Contracts Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (registration 730720). In practice: there are rules about how we treat you, and a regulator we answer to if we fall short.
  • BVRLA member. The rental and leasing industry's trade body sets independent standards — including what counts as fair wear and tear at return — and provides a free, independent route for settling any dispute. You don't have to take our word for anything.
  • Backed by an established business. Drive Subscribe is a trading style of ACL Automotive Contracts Ltd, registered in England (company no. 06296885) — a business with more than twenty years in the UK leasing trade behind it.
  • Fixed prices. The monthly amount you order at is the amount you’re billed, quoted ex-VAT, and the upfront costs are shown before you commit to anything.

Talk to us

Whether it's one subscription for the summer or subscription cars for a whole team, the quickest way to find out if we fit is to ask. You'll get a person, and an answer you can rely on — including "you'd be better off on a long lease", when that's true.

0333 772 1886 · hello@drivesubscribe.com

Drive Subscribe is ACL Automotive's short term car subscription service — regulated by the FCA, a member of the BVRLA, and built on more than two decades of keeping people on the road.

 

The Benefits of Subscription

Swap when things change


Plans move. If the car no longer fits, talk to us and we'll change it — that's built into how a short term lease works, not a favour.

The car loses value, not you


A new car drops thousands in its first year. That's our problem, not yours. You pay one fixed monthly figure, quoted ex-VAT, and there's nothing to sell at the end.

Apply online, hear back the same day


A short form, then our underwriters look at it — usually with an answer before the day's out. You'll always know where you stand.

A newer car, ready from the first mile


Your car arrives 10 to 14 days after you order, valeted and checked over, free to anywhere on the British mainland outside the Highlands. We take a little longer than a same-day hire because we deliver a car that's properly ready.

 

Pick the term that fits


One month to eighteen. A rolling monthly if you're not sure, a longer term if you are — and the longer you take it, the lower the monthly tends to be.

One job left on your plate


Servicing, road tax, breakdown cover, delivery and collection are all in the monthly price. You insure it, fuel it, and ring us when the dashboard says a service is due.

 
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Want to Know More?

Whether you require a car or van for one or twelve months, Drive Subscribe provide an alternative to traditional car ownership, offering you the convenience to access a vehicle without the long-term commitment.