Arval UK Reviews 

I recently returned my leased vehicle to Arval and had a concerning experience with the mileage calculation.

The vehicle was inspected by a third-party collection company, and the final mileage was recorded as 25,807 KM on the inspection report.

Arval subsequently sent me an invoice for £224.45 for 3,340 excess miles.

I checked the figures and disputed the charge, as 25,807 KM is approximately 16,033 miles, which is below my contractual allowance of 20,000 miles.

It took almost three weeks of emails and a formal complaint before Arval eventually confirmed that the mileage had been incorrectly recorded on the inspection report. They ultimately approved a £224.45 credit, so the disputed charge was cancelled.

Although the matter was eventually resolved fairly, the process was frustrating and time-consuming. During the three-week dispute, I was also concerned that the disputed amount might still be taken by Direct Debit before the complaint was resolved.

My advice to other Arval customers: Make sure the third-party collection/inspection company records the mileage in MILES, not KM. Take a clear photo of your odometer immediately before handing the car back, showing the mileage and whether it is in miles or KM, and carefully check the inspection report before signing it.

A simple photo could save you a lot of time, stress and potentially hundreds of pounds.

Unfortunately, my experience with Arval has been extremely disappointing.

The Polestar 2 supplied to me had a fault from the outset. The air conditioning was not working when the vehicle was delivered, something Arval subsequently acknowledged and apologised for. Arval even confirmed that they were investigating how the vehicle had been released in that condition without the issue being identified during inspection.

What initially appeared to be an air-conditioning problem then became a much wider concern.

The vehicle required investigation by Volvo/Polestar, a replacement part was placed on back order, and when the eventual repair was carried out it did not resolve the problem. The vehicle subsequently had to return to the workshop again, with several technicians involved in trying to establish why the system still wasn't functioning correctly.

I also carried out an independent diagnostic scan while the problems were ongoing. That report recorded 32 diagnostic trouble codes across 12 of the 40 vehicle systems scanned, including the Climate Control Module, Central Electrical Module, Vehicle Control Unit, On-Board Charger, power steering and active-safety related systems.

More concerningly, the diagnostic report recorded several faults specifically connected with the air-conditioning/refrigerant system, including the refrigerant cutoff valve, refrigerant pressure sensor and A/C filling, as well as other vehicle communication and coolant-related codes.

I appreciate that diagnostic codes can sometimes be historical or intermittent, but seeing that number of recorded faults on a vehicle supplied to me relatively recently did very little to give me confidence in how thoroughly the vehicle had been checked before delivery.

Throughout all of this, the full monthly rental continued to be charged.

Arval did offer a temporary hire vehicle, but despite being clearly told that I travel extensively throughout the UK for work, spend long periods driving and require a suitable vehicle for that purpose, the eventual options offered were B or C Group vehicles – effectively Fiesta or Astra size.

At 6'3", and regularly travelling significant distances for business, these were simply not appropriate for what I had already explained I needed. I had previously confirmed in writing that I was happy to accept a temporary vehicle, provided it was reasonably suitable for my business use.

What I find particularly disappointing is that this has since been presented as though I simply rejected Arval's attempt to help. I didn't reject the principle of a replacement vehicle; I declined the specific small vehicles eventually offered because they were unsuitable for the purpose I had repeatedly explained.

The real issue seems to have been lost along the way:

Arval supplied me with a vehicle with a fault already present at delivery, acknowledged that fact, the repair process became prolonged, the first repair was unsuccessful, further diagnostic issues were identified and the full rental continued throughout.

Despite all of this, there has been no meaningful rental adjustment or compensation offered.

I deal with customers myself professionally, and problems do happen. What matters is how a company responds when they do. Unfortunately, I don't feel Arval's handling of this situation has reflected the level of service I would expect from a major fleet and vehicle-leasing provider.

The vehicle has now hopefully finally been repaired, but based on the overall experience, the repeated inconvenience and the way the complaint has been handled, I would find it very difficult to recommend Arval.

Very disappointed by the Arval finance team Very disappointing end-of-contract experience with Arval.

After four years as a customer, I expected the return process to be straightforward and handled fairly. Instead, I have been left dealing with unresolved charges, poor communication from the finance team and a dispute that still remains outstanding.

The vehicle collection failed on three separate occasions, despite arrangements having been made. Each time I had to make myself available and effectively wait around for the whole day. Despite these failures being outside my control, there has been little acknowledgement of the inconvenience caused.

I am also disputing end-of-contract damage charges relating to alloy wheels on a four-year-old vehicle that had covered approximately 70,000 miles. Rather than receiving a clear, itemised explanation showing exactly how each charge exceeds the BVRLA Fair Wear and Tear guidelines, the response so far has largely been that the charges remain payable.

The finance/customer service experience has been particularly disappointing. It feels as though the focus is on collecting outstanding amounts rather than properly investigating the circumstances and resolving a genuine customer complaint.

A company's customer experience should not deteriorate simply because the contract is ending. After being a customer for four years, I expected a much more balanced, responsive and professional approach.Have been on the phone for over an hour 3 times and yet this matter remains unresolved since July 2026

The matter is still unresolved, and I will update this review depending on how Arval handles the complaint from here.

I have been trying for 4 months to get my monthly Direct Debit payment date changed to the 1st of the month. I have contacted Arval repeatedly and have been told on multiple occasions that this had been changed and would be actioned.

Despite these repeated assurances, nothing has actually been actioned.

My September payment of £417 was due to be taken on 1 September, but it wasn’t. I was then told that the payment would be taken on 1 October. I was subsequently told that they intended to take £834 on 1 October to cover both September and October, despite me not being given prior notification of this change.

I called Arval again today for an update, only to find that once again nothing had been actioned. After months of calls, promises and being repeatedly told that the issue had been resolved, I am still in exactly the same position.

What makes this even more frustrating is that I submitted a DSAR (Data Subject Access Request) to obtain records of my communications with Arval. The information provided was missing around half of the calls I had made, and there were no transcripts of the calls provided, despite the fact that these calls are central to the issue and include multiple occasions where I was told the payment date had been changed.

I have repeatedly done what I was asked to do and have relied on Arval’s assurances, yet the issue continues to go unresolved. I am now left having to repeatedly chase Arval to correct an issue that I raised months ago.

I understand that administrative errors can happen, but months of repeated promises, conflicting information and no actual action is completely unacceptable.

I now have very little confidence in Arval’s ability to manage my account correctly.

I would strongly encourage Arval to properly investigate this, review all relevant call recordings and records, explain why calls were missing from my DSAR response, and provide an actual resolution rather than another empty promise.

Returned my brilliant Ford Fiesta 4 weeks ago. The service I had was excellent throughout that time and they were always there when I needed them. In fairness though, they did get back a car as good as new with 4 brand new Michelins they didn't pay for! The only small gripe is that I have yet to receive my 45 pound road tax increase sundy back when I paid for 12 months and only used one month of it

If your new car provider are using Arval, I'd seriously recommend asking them to use someone else. I took out a 3 year lease on a car and Arval failed at pretty much every step, besides taking the money of course.
Firstly, car wasn't delivered on the day it was meant to be, I received a phone call at 5pm asking me how delivery went, so they didn't even know that delivery had failed! I told them the car wasn't here, to which they panicked and found that the delivery company had issues that day.
Then came the collection; I booked my collection in a month in advance (after trying to get hold of Arval for weeks to find out when it could be booked in, no reply)
On the day of collection, I am told that they cannot collect, no reason given. I then extend my insurance to cover the additional days I will have the car. I ask the woman on the phone to clarify I won't be charged for the additional days, she says I won't.
On the new collection day, guess what? YEP! failed collection again due to 'lorry broken down', at this point my driveway is being used as Arval storage. Insurance extended again.
3rd time is the charm and a lovely man called Brian came and collected my car, Brian was probably a highlight of this whole nightmare. absolute angel man.

I have tried to complain 3 times and only when I have threatened the ombudsman have I actually had a complaint logged. I just want the money back I paid to insure THEIR car.

Anyway. I've woken up this morning to find Arval have tried to charge me for the additional days that they left the car with me, after telling me I wouldn't be charged.

Absolute cowboys. 0/10 service considering how much I've paid to you over the years. Cannot wait to be rid of you.

I’m in the process of ordering a car through my company’s Arval ignition scheme and have been so impressed by our company’s account manager Claire. Safe to say I have bombarded her with emails containing all sorts of questions, and she has always got back to me so quickly and been so helpful and friendly, guiding me through the process. Thanks Claire!!

The communication with their customers is excellent. I recently had a PCN which was erroneously issued by the hospital parking contractor but was immediately cancelled by them. Arval were made aware of this and issued an admin fee which they are entitled to do under their contract. This fee, however was refunded straight away, thanks to the efficiency of the Fines Team. Well done.

I had to send my car back early because we were going to be away when collection was due. I was charged for a full month even though I only had the car for only 2 days into my last month of rental period. I was also not notified that this charge would take place until I noticed it took out of my bank account. Where do these firms get these rules from. I have been a good customer for 2 years and now after all this they rip me off for 28 days or lease. Never again will I trust anyone, no where through all the phone calls did any one tell me this would happen.

This review is regarding a purchase of a used car!
Saw a car I liked, no previous service history but Arval had carried out a full service. I requested a copy of that service for my records.

Car arrived, no stamp in the log book & no paperwork, just a photograph of the paperwork emailed to me.
According to the sales process, Arval are supposed to contact me to see if everything is in order as I can return the car within 14 days if not happy. No contact was ever made!

I have sent them countless emails asking for a copy of the service that they did, had one reply from someone who clearly hadn’t read my email saying “it wasn’t serviced by last owner”
And the rest of my emails have just been ignored.

Lastly I discovered that the vehicle had actually been reduced by £400 on the date that I paid for the vehicle. Arval failed to tell me the revised price & charged me the original advertised price.

I have made official complaints with them regarding the two matters but no response.
It seems once they have your money, that’s it, not interested.
Appalling after sales care, stay well away!

Update 01/10 - received an email today containing the same photograph of the service history!! No mention of not contacting me & no mention of the overpayment I made. You just couldn’t write it

Arval are a broker for my finance and my experience so far has been dreadful, beyond frustrating! Communication takes weeks, teams don’t speak to each other and errors are made. Setting up my initial payment took weeks and it involved me chasing with daily phone calls and emails. My DD date was wrong after multiple phone calls and I’ve recently received a parking fine which Arval have paid despite it being cancelled so that’s me constantly chasing again to get it sorted. I’ve had lots of cars on lease with finance brokers and this company has by far been the worst!! There are some lovely staff but the communication is very, very poor!

I would like to thanks Jane Hitchin for a great service through a difficult leasing of a Polestar. Original order was cancelled by Polestar doe to the MY27 change over, but Jane was able to secure me a "Available" car as soon as the new portal opened. Many thanks

I paid £180 for early termination of my car finance, expecting this to allow the agreement to be ended a month early. However, because the car was only collected one day into the following month, I was still charged the full monthly car payment for that month, despite having paid the £180 early termination fee.
I understand there may be processes around vehicle collection, but it seems unreasonable to charge an early termination fee and then also require a full additional monthly payment because the car could not be collected until one day into the new month.

I’ve had a really positive customer service experience with Arval when arranging my new lease car. The whole process was straightforward and well organised, with clear communication throughout. Everyone I dealt with was helpful, professional and quick to respond to any questions I had. Overall, it was a smooth and hassle-free experience, and I’d happily recommend Arval to others looking for a lease car.

Jaqui has always been amazing. On the rare cases of any issues, she is good at coming with solutions when needed
Definitely recommended

Car was great and never missed a beat (Cupra Leon). The only thing that was poor was the follow up to my request to amend the contract mileage allowance. I’d made the arrangements over the phone with Arval and quickly received an email confirming the change that I needed to reply to accordingly. I replied within minutes however my payments didn’t change for a couple of months. When I telephoned again the agent confirmed I had sent email acceptance but unfortunately it had not been actioned at their end. I was assured that their error would not affect me financially, but with my payment still not changing for a couple more months I fail to see how this was true. Even basic mathematics would show that 4 reduced payments instead of 8 is bound to leave me out of pocket. Rather soured an otherwise decent experience.

Can only comment on interaction.
No response to emails even though they've been acknowledged.Always have to phone.
I needed to terminate early due to my wife's mobility.She couldn't get in or out of the car.Even though a full explanation and doctors letter supplied I was still charged £1904.

This review is not a review of Arval in general as the service I generally receive is pretty poor every time I ring in and try to get hold of someone, or a certain department. It's purely on the basis of one member of staff at Arval due to the amazing service they provided which to be honest is not the norm.
I rang Arval to find out what the situation was with regards to an update on a new car delivery. As there are no options for this in the Arval multi choices phone options I just guessed at one and ended up with Rebecca, and I'm glad I did!
Rebecca was like a breath of fresh air compared to all of my other interactions with Arval over the years. Nothing was too much for her and despite not having a way of initially finding out the state of where my order was at, she said she could find out another way to find out and proceeded to do so and gave me the update I needed.
At the same time I had also had an issue with a an emergency tyre replacement the previous day and needed to find out the process for reimbursement to my company for it and she found that out as well and sent me over to a link to do this.
I really wish that every interaction with Arval could be as smooth as this one was but generally that is not the case and I told Rebecca as much. She is genuinely an asset to the company and hopefully one that Arval take notice of where customer service is concerned. Thank you

So far so good. Excellent communication, easy to follow instructions. No complains. Can find no faults at this stage. Looking forward to our car being delivered at the end of the week!

Nearing the end of my second car with Arval and will probably get a third, customer service is pretty spot on, the only minor grievance I have is when my car is in for service/tires etc is waiting for Arval to approve even when I’ve booked through Arval themselves. The time it took for my second car to arrive was also a bit painful. It was due in March but wasn’t delivered until July. Overall through the experience has been great.