My PCP balloon payment is due — what are my options?

The simplest option. You return the car to the lender, walk away with nothing further to pay, and the balloon is settled by the lender selling the car on. The car will get a fair-wear-and-tear inspection at return, so anything worse than typical alloys-and-parking-scuffs may be chargeable.

Best if: the car's market value is at or below the balloon (a common scenario), you're happy to move on, and you don't mind arranging replacement transport.

Pay the exact balloon figure and the car becomes fully yours. It's the shortest paperwork route to ownership and makes sense if the car has held its value well, you know the vehicle and want to keep it long term.

Best if: you have the cash and the car is worth clearly more than the balloon, so you're effectively "buying" £1,000+ of equity in one payment.

This is the option most drivers wish they'd known about earlier. Instead of paying the balloon in one lump, refinance it onto a 24–48 month HP-style agreement. You keep the car, the payments are similar in size to your original PCP monthlies, and once the new agreement finishes, the car is yours with no balloon.

Best if: you want to keep the car but don't have — or don't want to spend — the balloon in one hit. We can source a refinance quote in 2 minutes with no impact on your credit.

The lesser-known fourth option. If the car is worth more than the balloon, the difference is your equity. You can use it as a deposit on a fresh PCP for a new (or newer) car, sometimes with a very small physical top-up. This is how many drivers stay in a rolling upgrade cycle.

Best if: you liked the flexibility of PCP, want to change car every 2-4 years, and the current car has positive equity to roll forward.

Get a written settlement figure and a current CAP HPI valuation on your car (dealerships and most brokers do this free). Once you know the actual gap between what's owed and what the car is worth, all four options fall into a clear order.