How it works

How to subscribe to a car with elmo

By subscribing to an electric car on elmo (rather than leasing or buying), you enjoy all the benefits of using your own personal car without the risk and hassle of actually owning it.

There’s no high upfront cost to pay – like when you buy or put down a deposit on a lease – and all the insurance, maintenance and breakdown costs are covered in the price.

And the best bit? You can choose your contract term from our flexible monthly subscription (just a 60-day minimum term), or our 12-month option for a reduced rate.

Making a booking

Choosing a car

We have the UK’s largest range of electric cars on subscription to cater for all budgets and lifestyles. You can view all our available cars here.

We recommend choosing a car which fits your budget, range and size requirements. Our Suitability Tool can help you decide which is the best fit for you.

Top tip: if you see a car listed as ‘coming soon’, you can register interest and we’ll let you know as soon as it is back in stock. 

What you’ll need

Once you’ve selected a car, you’re ready to make the booking. It only takes 5 minutes or so, but to save time, make sure you have the following to hand:

  • Driving licence. We need three clearly legible photos of your licence (front, back and front held by your face)
  • Proof of address. We need this in the form of an online bank statement or utility bill dated within 3 months
  • Additional driver details. If you want to add other drivers to your subscription, you’ll need to invite them with their name, email address and date of birth.

Top tip: before you book, make sure that you’re eligible by reading our eligibility criteria. Sadly, we’ll have to reject your booking if you don’t meet them.

Creating your subscription

Just follow the steps online to build your subscription and make the booking request. On top of the our standard subscription package, you’ll be asked to customise with the following options:

  • Choose a package. Pick the subscription package that best fits your needs. elmoSave – commit for a little longer to unlock better value. You can stop or swap any time after the first 12 months. Or elmoFlex – enjoy ultimate flexibility. You can choose to end your subscription or swap cars after the first 60 days.
  • Mileage. Our standard package includes 800 miles a month, but you can increase this up to 1,200 a month if you need. 
  • Delivery date. Select when you’d like the car delivered – we’ll confirm this date with you once your booking is approved. 
  • Additional drivers. You can add up to two additional drivers for £10 per month per driver. 
  • Optional extras. We offer a number of extras which you can choose to include in your monthly package including a home charge point and public charging access.

Making the initial payment

You’ll be asked for your first month of subscription upfront in order to request the booking. This payment includes a flat delivery fee of £119*, plus any installation charges as well as your subscription cost. More information on how we treat this payment can be found in our Payments Policy. Subsequent monthly payments are made by Direct Debit from the start of your second month of subscription. We’ll ask you to set up a Direct Debit from your profile once you’ve made the booking.

*Cars delivered to Scotland will pay an extra delivery fee.

    Getting approved

    Once you’ve made the initial payment to request your subscription, we’ll carry out the following checks to approve your booking:

    • Driving licence. We’ll make sure your licence meets our insurer’s requirements and we’ll use the DVLA check code you provided to look up your Driving history with the DVLA.
    • Eligibility. We’ll make sure you meet all our eligibility criteria to drive the car you’ve selected.
    • Credit check. We’ll run a soft search on you to make sure your credit profile is acceptable. N.B. we won’t accept you if you have any County Court Judgements.

    You can expect to hear back within 1 working day.

    If we can’t accept your booking, you will receive an email notification and your initial payment will be returned as per our Payments Policy.

    If you pass, you’ll receive an email asking you to confirm the delivery date, time and address.

    Once we’ve confirmed this is okay with our logistics team, we will issue your Subscription Agreement for review and e-signing. We cannot deliver the car to you until this agreement is signed, so please complete this as soon as possible when you receive it.

    Delivery

    Pre-delivery

    On the day of the delivery, you’ll receive updates from the delivery driver.

    Inspection

    When the driver has arrived, they will inspect the car for any damage and ask you to sign the inspection report. (When you hand back the car, a similar inspection will take place to assess for any damage that falls ouside of Fair Wear & Tear).

    Handover

    Please have your driving licence or other ID to hand so the driver can confirm they are giving the car to the correct person.

    The driver will show you around the car, explaining its key features and how it works. Once you’ve got the key, you’re all set to start driving.

    During a subscription

    Contact

    For all general enquiries, please email the elmo team on hello@elmodrive.com or call us on 0330 165 4945 (Monday to Friday 9am-5pm).

    Charging

    Read our guide or contact us if you have any questions or concerns about charging. 

    Accidents & breakdowns

    If you find yourself in an emergency situation, please follow the guidance in our Emergency Guide.

    Reporting an incident

    Please download the elmo Claims App from the Apple App Store (iPhone) or Google Play Store (Android). You should then submit a report following the on-screen instructions.

    The app will prompt you for all the details we need; it’s the easiest way for you to get us all the necessary information quickly. You’ll also find guidance on what to do after the incident. Once you and the vehicle are safe, you should view our Emergency Guide and follow the instructions there.

    This includes details on how to submit the information through the elmo Claims App, as well as how to inform our insurance company of the incident or get your vehicle recovered out of office hours.

    Maintenance, servicing & tyres

    Our Maintenance Guide has information on what to do to maintain your elmo car. 

    While on subscription with us, servicing and tyre fair wear and tear is covered as part of your monthly payment. This means, when your car needs a service, you should book through the Service Booking Portal. This also includes if your vehicle requires an MOT. 

    If your elmo car has a puncture, you should look to replace the tyre as soon as possible at your nearest tyre centre. This will need to be a like-for-like premium tyre or be the same as other tyres on the vehicle. If there is a local supplier you’d prefer to use, please let us know first.

    If your tyre is worn and needs replacing due to low tread depth, you should call us on 0330 165 4945, in office hours, and press the option for tyres. This will take you through to our supplier, Nationwide Fleet Services, who will assist you. There’s more information available on our Knowledge hub.

    Our Fleet team will be available to assist with any questions. 

    Mileage bolt ons

    Our monthly package includes 800 miles as standard – plus they are rolled over and averaged out over your subscription term. We do also offer mileage bolt ons if you need to drive more miles. View our packages, plus our over mileage fees on our how mileage works page. 

    Referral

    For every friend you successfully refer to elmo, you’ll get £50 credited from your subscription (your friend will get £50 off too). More info here.

    Ending a subscription

    Giving notice

    When you decide to end your subscription, you’ll need to give us 30 days’ notice in line with your minimum contract period:

    • elmoFlex – there’s just a 60-day minimum term so you can give us 30 days’ notice after your first month
    • elmoSave – with a 12-month minimum, the soonest you can give notice is month 11.

    To end your subscription, login to the elmo dashboard, head to subscriptions, then ‘end subscription’. You’ll be asked to confirm a convenient date for your collection.

    To swap to a different car, please email us at hello@elmodrive.com.

    Collection

    The collection driver will arrive on the agreed date and, just like on your delivery day, they will carry out an inspection of the vehicle which they will ask you to sign.

    If you are swapping cars, the driver will handover the new car before inspecting the car being returned.

    Before returning your car, please clear any personal data from to avoid a £15 admin fee. This includes Bluetooth mobile connections, saved contacts, saved map locations in the car’s sat nav and any other personal information you’ve stored in the car.

    Final invoice

    If there is any damage that falls outside our Fair Wear & Tear policy or excess mileage, we will let you know and issue an invoice to recover the costs from you.

    Home Charge Point

    Why get a home charger?

    The cheapest and most convenient way to charge your electric car is at home.

    You can do this using a normal 3-pin plug. But it is much faster and safer to use a specially designed home charging unit.

    Once installed, you only pay for the electricity you use; you can charge at a time that suits you (like when you’re asleep!); and, if you have the right energy tariff, you can ‘smart charge’ to save money when the cost of electricity is cheaper. 

    If you’re lucky enough to have private, off-street parking at home – getting a home charge point is a no-brainer. That’s why we’ve teamed up with charge point manufacturer Easee and expert installer AES to make getting a smart and stylish home charger easy. 

    Red Easee One unit on brick wall

    How much does it cost?

    Thanks to our partnership with Easee and AES, you can buy an Easee One unit and have it fully installed at your home in just a few weeks from £949 including standard installation (RRP is £999)*. 

    You can also choose payment options to spread the cost.  

    * If your home doesn’t quality for standard installation, AES will quote for the additional labour and materials required; you can then decide whether you wish to proceed.  

    How it Works

    It’s easy to get set up and the AES expert team will be on hand to help you every step of the way.  

    1. Head over to our AES partner page and complete a short installation survey 
    2. Select any additional options you’d like to include, like extra cables or a new coloured front (to match your car!) 
    3. AES will review and send you a quote via email 
    4. Choose a payment option 
    5. Once happy, arrange a convenient time for installation with AES 
    6. Enjoy convenient and fast charging from your very own driveway! 

    About Easee

    Founded in Norway, the world’s most advanced electric car market, Easee is a market-leader when it comes to car charging.  

    The Easee One unit is one of the best value chargers currently available on the market. Its benefits include: 

    1. Efficient charging for all types of electric cars
    2. Sleek, attractive design which is weatherproof 
    3. Smart charging from wherever you are via the Easee App 
    4. 3-year warranty and continuous software updates 

      About AES

      AES is one of the UK’s leading installers of renewable technologies, devoted to providing a best-in-class service, with safety a top priority.  

      For more information about our elmo Home Charge offering, check out our guide here.  

      If you have any questions, drop us a quick email and we’ll help as soon as we can: hello@elmodrive.com

      Public Charging

      Why might you need this?

      The best way to charge your electric car is through your home charge point. But depending on your driving habits, you will likely need to charge on the road too, every now and again. Just like stopping for petrol or diesel, but much cheaper and cleaner!

      How do you access public charge points?

      Public charge points are owned and managed by different operators. To access each, you need the permission of the operator i.e. you need to be a member of their app or own an access fob (though you can now access newer charge points with your contactless bank card).

      It’s actually quite annoying that there’s no universal system! Your next best option however could be elmoCharge (see below!) 

      What’s the elmo option? 

      elmoCharge is our public charging solution. We’ve partnered with Paua (the UK’s leading public charging network provider) to provide subscribers with one card with access to over 20,000 charge points across mainland Britain via over 20 networks. We’ll deliver a new card with every subscription; all you need to do is activate it (if you wish!) and then enjoy pay-as-you-go charging.Â