A leased car is not yours to plan on your own, and a service contract bought for one can keep running past the point where the car leaves your hands. Before you add any contract to a lease, the question is not only what the contract says. It is whether the dates, the paperwork, and the end of the lease all fit together without leaving a gap.
Line up the lease end and the contract end
Write the lease end date and the contract term end date side by side. If the contract runs past the end of the lease, ask what happens to it when the car is returned, whether it can be cancelled at that point, and whether any refund depends on the car's condition or status when it goes back. If the contract ends well before the lease does, ask what keeps the car under a plan for the rest of the lease, and who decides that.
Check what the lessor already requires
Leases often set their own rules about maintenance, service records, and repairs, and the lessor may hold you to those rules when the car comes back. Read the lease for those rules before you buy a contract. Then ask the lessor in writing whether a third-party service contract is acceptable and whether it changes anything in the lease. Do not assume a contract satisfies the lease just because its name sounds like it covers repairs.
Who is the owner on paper?
Most leases leave the title with the leasing company, which means the car is titled to someone other than the person driving it. Confirm exactly whose name the contract shows as owner, and whether the company selling the contract knows how to handle a car it does not title to. Ask the seller to explain its process, and get the explanation in writing rather than accepting it on the spot.
Who gets the notices and the returns?
If the lessor receives the mail for the car, notices from the provider may go to an address that does not pass them on to you. Name the address for notices on the contract, and make sure it is one you check. Also ask what happens to the contract if the car is returned early, if the lease is bought out, or if the car is transferred to another lessee, and get those answers in writing too.
Questions for the household
Ask who drives the car, who takes it to a shop, and who calls the provider when something goes wrong. If more than one adult uses a leased car, write down the names on the contract and the names on the lease, and check whether they match. If they do not, decide who the contract is for before you sign anything, because a plan that fits one driver may not fit the household that actually uses the car.