In the UK for a year - Cheapest/Easiest Way to have a car?

We will be north of London for 1 year. Not close enough to London/train however to not need a car for my husband to get to work. It seems people in the Elstree/Borehamwood area drive their cars to the train station to get to London which we can also do... It seems the area we will be living is very car friendly and every flat we've looked at also comes with parking. That being said... his work is not providing us a car (but they are providing some housing allowance thankfully.)

Could we rent a car long term? I've seen some places like Thrifty do 3 and 6 month rentals but for around 400£ a month. Is it possible to instead lease a car short term? In the US a lease is typically no shorter than 3 years (last time we leased a car!).

Mathematically we could save money living further from town and renting a car, rather than paying the in-town flat rental rates. Lots to consider! What am I not thinking of?

What you are for getting is that you won't have UK credit so you'll need to work with cash.  I would honestly push for a car to be included in your husbands package.  It's very standard for an expat package.  Otherwise you'll probably need to buy/sell something.

Also keep in mind that you can drive on your US licenses for one year but not one year and a day.  Insurance will be harder and more expensive to obtain without a UK license.

For the type of industry and job he is doing a car won't be included unfortunately. Totally fine working with cash. Are you saying we would also need UK credit established in order to rent a car? How do visitors flying in do it? Could we logistically rent a car that way? Thanks!

Buy Autotrader magazine or go on their website and save up for a used car to buy in cash. Don't forget to get your international driving licence, if it's for a year. After a year, you can no longer legally drive and will have to get a UK learner's licence and do the test.