Rental Profiles
The historically standard profile in a ‘lease’ agreement, over say 3yrs, is 3+33. That means in month one, 3 rentals are payable in advance as a form of security. This is followed by 33 months monthly rentals starting in month 2, taking you to month 34. Having paid all of the rentals there are still 2 months left in the agreement - this is commonly known as a holiday period, or technically a ‘Terminal Pause’. A variation might be 6+30 which will provide a 5 month Terminal Pause.
Latterly a ‘spread rental’ pattern has emerged, and the rental profile would be described as 3+35 or ‘3 Spread’. This means that month one is still 3 advance rentals, followed by 35 monthly rentals staring in month 2, and therefore taking you to the end of the agreement. Each of the rentals are smaller because there are 2 extra rentals to pay. The overall total amount payable though is about the same.
There is also 6+35, meaning that there are 41 rentals payable in a 36 month period. There is nothing inherently wrong in this provided you are aware of it, and that the number of rentals payable is reflected in a lower rental. It is another way of meeting the monthly budget.
It is very important that you compare like with like when obtaining quotations. Even then it is not always easy to compare directly, simply because the Terms of any Contract are different from one funder to another.
But watch out for the sneaky 3+36, or even 6+36, especially if they ask for a Documentation/Admin Fee as well!