Taking a lease car to your own garage: when is it allowed and what do you arrange first?
Do you or your partner drive a company lease car from your employer, a private lease car or a lease car through your own business? Then you may wonder whether you can also use a garage near you for servicing. In this article we explain for each situation who decides, what you ask first and when you are welcome at Autobedrijf Willemsbrug in Rotterdam-IJsselmonde. Our team speaks English.
By the team at Autobedrijf Willemsbrug, RDW-approved APK (MOT) test station since 1979 · Updated 7 November 2026
Our score is 4.8 / 5 from 235 reviews. Read what our customers say
The short answer
Your lease contract decides whether you may take a lease car to your own garage. With operational lease and private lease, the lease company usually chooses the garages, and without its approval the costs may be yours to pay. We do not have a contract with lease companies. Do you drive a lease car? Ask your lease company first whether you may choose your own garage. If you may, you are welcome. If the car belongs to you or your company, you choose your own garage.
Who decides which garage your lease car goes to?
Your lease contract decides. What matters is who owns the car and who pays for the maintenance. In the Netherlands you will most often come across three types of lease. The Dutch use the English names for them, but the meaning can differ from what you know from your home country.
A network is a group of dealers and garages that have agreements with the lease company about the work and the prices. According to the ANWB (the Dutch motoring organisation), with private lease through the ANWB you choose where the car goes yourself, but from the dealers and garages in the lease company’s network. With lease that includes servicing, it often works like this: you have a choice, but within a list. What applies to you is in your contract.
Not sure which type you have? Look in the contract or in the lease company’s app. If it includes a maintenance package, the lease company arranges the servicing and in practice the network rule applies. Read the terms and conditions of your lease company for the details.
In which situations are you welcome at our garage?
You are welcome if the car belongs to you or your company, or if your lease company allows you to use your own garage. The table shows what to arrange first in each situation.
| Your situation | Are you welcome at our garage? | What do you arrange first? |
|---|---|---|
| Your own car, privately owned or registered to your company | Are you welcome at our garage?Yes | What do you arrange first?Nothing. You book an appointment. |
| Financial lease | Are you welcome at our garage?Yes, as a rule you choose | What do you arrange first?Check whether your contract includes a maintenance package after all. |
| Self-employed with a lease car or lease van without a maintenance package, with the lease company’s approval | Are you welcome at our garage?Yes | What do you arrange first?Check in the contract whether servicing is at your own cost. |
| Operational lease with servicing (car from your employer) | Are you welcome at our garage?Only with the lease company’s approval | What do you arrange first?Ask, and have the approval confirmed in writing. |
| Private lease | Are you welcome at our garage?Only with the lease company’s approval | What do you arrange first?Ask. Usually the lease company’s network applies. |
| Private lease car taken over at the end of the contract | Are you welcome at our garage?Yes, it is now your own car | What do you arrange first?Nothing. You book an appointment. |
| Second car in the household | Are you welcome at our garage?Yes | What do you arrange first?Nothing. You book an appointment. |
General explanation. What applies to you is in the terms and conditions of your lease company.
Do you drive a company car or a van up to 3,500 kg that belongs to your own business? Then also read our page on servicing company vehicles in Rotterdam. If a company vehicle is off the road, we put it into our schedule as soon as possible.
Which three questions do you ask your lease company?
Call the lease company or ask the question in its app, and have the registration number ready. That is the number on your Dutch number plate (in Dutch: kenteken). With these three questions you know where you stand in one conversation.
- May I choose my own garage for servicing, the APK (MOT) and repairs? Name the garage you want to go to. The APK is the compulsory periodic vehicle inspection in the Netherlands. Also ask whether the rules are different for tyres and windscreen damage.
- Who pays, and how does the garage get approval in advance? Ask whether the lease company covers the costs and whether the garage has to ask for permission first. If the lease company reimburses the costs afterwards, ask which details must be on the invoice.
- Can you confirm that in writing? A message in the app or a letter is enough. Then you have proof later if there is a question about the bill.
Our invoice shows the registration number and the mileage. For a business owner we put the invoice in the company name, with the VAT shown separately. You agree with your lease company in advance who pays the bill. If you pay yourself, you can do that when you collect the car, by debit card or cash.
What about the APK, tyres, windscreen damage and breakdowns?
With a lease car there are often separate arrangements for the APK, tyres, windscreen damage and breakdowns. You will find them in the terms and conditions of your lease company. In short, it usually looks like this.
Have you broken down in your own car in or around Rotterdam? Read what you can do on our page about car breakdowns in Rotterdam.
What if your partner drives the company lease car?
Then the same arrangements apply to you as to your partner. The lease car belongs to the lease company, and the arrangements are in the lease contract and in your partner’s employer’s lease policy. Whether you or your partner arranges the servicing makes no difference to that.
Are you asking on behalf of your partner, for example: my husband has a company lease car, can I bring it to you? Then the answer is the same. First ask the lease company whether your own garage is allowed. Your partner can do that, or you can do it together, with the registration number to hand. Also check the employer’s lease policy to see who may drive the car.
Do you also have a car of your own, for example a second car in the household? That car is not covered by the lease contract. You choose your own garage for it, and you are welcome at our garage for the APK, servicing and repairs.
Do you lose the manufacturer’s warranty with servicing outside the dealer?
No, not under the European rules. The ANWB writes that under European rules you may also go to another garage and keep your manufacturer’s warranty. The garage must then carry out the servicing according to the manufacturer’s rules. Also read the terms and conditions of your manufacturer.
Please note: this is about the manufacturer’s warranty, not about the lease contract. The manufacturer’s warranty says whether a defect is still covered after servicing. The lease contract says who pays for the servicing and where it must be done. So even if the manufacturer’s warranty stays valid, the lease company may still ask you to use its network.
You can read more about warranty and servicing at an independent garage in our article keeping your manufacturer’s warranty with servicing outside the dealer.
What should you have checked before you return the lease car?
Before you return the car, have the points checked that you can still have put right yourself: tyres, lights, fluids, warning messages and the APK date. At the end of the contract, the lease company checks the condition of the car. According to the ANWB, with private lease this is done using return guidelines, and you return the car clean, inside and out.
You can have such a check done at our garage before you return the car. This work falls outside the lease contract, so you pay for it yourself. We tell you the price in advance.
How does an appointment at Autobedrijf Willemsbrug work?
You call us on +31 10 479 00 00 and we book the car in. We work by appointment. We are open Monday to Friday from 8.00 to 17.30 and on Saturday from 9.00 to 15.00. For a quick question or check you can walk in without an appointment.
From Monday to Friday you bring the car between 8.00 and 8.30, on Saturday at 9.00, as agreed with you. Would you rather drop the car off earlier, for example the evening before or before 8.00? That is possible by appointment. Park the car outside our garage at your own risk and put the key in an envelope through our letterbox. Write your name, phone number and registration number on the envelope. Read more on our page drop off your car before work and collect it after work.
For servicing and repairs you receive a quote in advance, and we only carry out repairs with your approval. You get a warranty on our repairs. With the quote, we tell you which warranty you get. We call you when the car is ready. You can collect the car until 17.30, or on Saturday between 9.00 and 15.00. A loan bike is free while one is available.