Thought Leadership:

CTRM vs Car Lease

Why leasing a CTRM is not the same as leasing a car?

Why leasing a CTRM is not the same as leasing a car?

It’s sometimes argued in the commodity trading industry that, since people often lease a car for five years, organisations should likewise commit to a five-year CTRM lease. At Amphora, that has always felt like a flawed comparison as a CTRM isn’t a car, so why try to treat it like one? Yes, a lease can help manage costs over a time period, but you can end up paying more in the longer term. A lease makes sense in many instances but why for five-years? And why the car lease analogy to justify it?

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the analogy, ask whether it still makes sense in 2025, and examine the real reasons why five-year car leases exist, and whether those same factors apply to CTRM licensing.

	CAR	CTRM	Comparison Valid
Warranty	Most manufacturer warranties cover 5 years, so lessees don’t pay for out-of-warranty repairs.	A CTRM system becomes more valuable the longer it is deployed. As the organization grows, the scalable CTRM can expand to manage additional commodities and markets, supporting an increasing number of users. Over time, users often create new templates, such as trade recaps, confirmations, invoices, and credit notes, tailored to specific markets and workflows. Meanwhile, ongoing innovations from the vendor are delivered through free upgrades, ensuring the system continues to evolve without additional cost.	No
Depreciation	Cars lose the most value in the first 5 years, as the vehicle begins to wear out, so leasing companies recover that cost efficiently.	When implemented effectively, a CTRM system will continually add significant business value by improving risk management, operational efficiency, and compliance. It is often suggested that the Return On Investment (ROI) for a CTRM can be realized in approximately 12 months, a topic we explored in a previous article. Once the system is fully implemented, staff are trained, and integrations with other systems are complete, organisational efficiency typically increases noticeably.	No
Resale Value	After 5 years, vehicles still have good resale/trade-in value.	This concept does not apply to a CTRM. The vendor does not resell access to another client once a license expires; each client receives a dedicated, cloud-hosted instance of the system.	No
New Models	Car manufacturers often encourage clients with expiring leases to pay to upgrade to the latest model, highlighting improved efficiency and new innovations. This creates a predictable sales and upgrade cycle for manufacturers.	A CTRM client, using the core branch of the software, always stays on the latest version “model”, with upgrades included at no additional cost.	No

In reality, licensing CTRM software is fundamentally different to leasing a car. Being tied to a five-year contract without a clear reason can be frustrating if you want the flexibility to change vendors. In contrast, rolling one-year contracts provide greater control and helps to mitigate the risks of selecting a CTRM vendor and solution.

In the past, on-premises CTRM implementations were costly and could take years to go live. By 2025, however, vendors offer cloud-based solutions that can be deployed in just weeks. This accelerated timeline makes the case for locking into a five-year commitment even harder to justify.

Conclusion

In the end, it comes down to the fact that you simply cannot compare a car with a CTRM software solution for any number of reasons and locking into such a long lease, rather than bringing benefit, brings many issues.

If you are in the market to purchase a CTRM or if the contract with your current vendor is up for renewal, why get tied into 5 years, when significantly more flexible one year rolling contracts are available?

After all, you are not leasing a car!

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