To Hire or to Shed?
Discussion
GoneToLA said:
Yes - car rental is what I meant. 2-3 months approx.
Nobody has suggested this would be a decent option yet, so I assume long-ish term rental isn't sought after business for the big UK companies.
There are companies that do 6 month lease options... They are only used by other companies, not individuals, as they're a very expensive way of having a base model car for 6 months. Nobody has suggested this would be a decent option yet, so I assume long-ish term rental isn't sought after business for the big UK companies.
For example it would cost £5200 to lease a 2.0 diesel A3 for 7 months from these people:
https://www.carsondemand.co.uk/short-term-car-leas...
I faced a similar situation in reverse - we went to Canada for 3 months and had to decide whether to rent or own something. I ended up owning an F-150 for 3 months:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
When it all came back to $$$'s we ended up spending more on buying the car and re-selling (dealer to dealer sales). But we formed an emotional bond and had way more fun because we had something more ludicrous than you would even hire or actually want to own full time.
Buy.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
When it all came back to $$$'s we ended up spending more on buying the car and re-selling (dealer to dealer sales). But we formed an emotional bond and had way more fun because we had something more ludicrous than you would even hire or actually want to own full time.
Buy.
For what it's worth, I've bought many sheds over the years; more recently for friends know I can spot a good ' un.
Part of my checklist is:
New MOT
Low owners (having been moved through a family is ideal)
At least some service history
Private sale
What's the state of the sellers home? People that don't look after houses don;t look after cars!
Ideally, from a reliability point of view, I'd generally always buy Japanese at the low end of the market. Honda, ideally. They just run & run, and if you get one that's been maintained, you can skimp on it off you wish.
The last find was this Civic. Family owned, £60k, Honda S/history, working aircon - £1050
Part of my checklist is:
New MOT
Low owners (having been moved through a family is ideal)
At least some service history
Private sale
What's the state of the sellers home? People that don't look after houses don;t look after cars!
Ideally, from a reliability point of view, I'd generally always buy Japanese at the low end of the market. Honda, ideally. They just run & run, and if you get one that's been maintained, you can skimp on it off you wish.
The last find was this Civic. Family owned, £60k, Honda S/history, working aircon - £1050
I was in a similar situation recently, new lease due but wasn't going to be built until previous one had to go back. I probably needed 4-6 weeks, but potentially longer.
I looked at short term rental which would have been cheaper and carried less risk if I only needed it for a few weeks so plumped for an Ebay/Gumtree banger.
I ended up buying a 2006 Ford Ka with a 5 month MOT, unseen for £390. How bad could it be, huh?
The answer is; pretty bad! Bodywork a mess, interior looked like it had been hosting a family of baboons, juddery brakes and a scratched windscreen on account of the fact there was almost zero rubber left on the blades.
However, other than the brakes it seemed mechanically sound, so £20 on new wipers and a good clean up later it happily trundled around for the six weeks I needed it for before I punted it on.
Result? £450. Decent! The insurance was pennies and although the car tax was £130, I'll get most of that back now it's been sold on. All in it won't have cost me a penny apart from petrol.
A hire car, even a s
tty micromini thing, would probably have cost me about £4-600 and if I'd bent it there would some hellish excess to cover. Plus, if the new car had been delayed another few weeks (eminently possible) then I would've been out another £1-200.
I really wanted to keep things bargain basement, but there are some lovely unusual cars around the £1-2k mark that I'd be looking at if I were in the OP's position and not overly concerned with MPG or insurance costs.
I recall trying to convince Mrs LLA that a LS430, A8 or X300 Jag was 'just the thing', but realistically the effort to move something like that on would have been more than the Ka.
I looked at short term rental which would have been cheaper and carried less risk if I only needed it for a few weeks so plumped for an Ebay/Gumtree banger.
I ended up buying a 2006 Ford Ka with a 5 month MOT, unseen for £390. How bad could it be, huh?
The answer is; pretty bad! Bodywork a mess, interior looked like it had been hosting a family of baboons, juddery brakes and a scratched windscreen on account of the fact there was almost zero rubber left on the blades.
However, other than the brakes it seemed mechanically sound, so £20 on new wipers and a good clean up later it happily trundled around for the six weeks I needed it for before I punted it on.
Result? £450. Decent! The insurance was pennies and although the car tax was £130, I'll get most of that back now it's been sold on. All in it won't have cost me a penny apart from petrol.
A hire car, even a s
tty micromini thing, would probably have cost me about £4-600 and if I'd bent it there would some hellish excess to cover. Plus, if the new car had been delayed another few weeks (eminently possible) then I would've been out another £1-200.I really wanted to keep things bargain basement, but there are some lovely unusual cars around the £1-2k mark that I'd be looking at if I were in the OP's position and not overly concerned with MPG or insurance costs.
I recall trying to convince Mrs LLA that a LS430, A8 or X300 Jag was 'just the thing', but realistically the effort to move something like that on would have been more than the Ka.
Just get a shed, my brother does when he comes to the UK in the summer. Buy something cheap to repair, plentiful and very reliable. It doesn't matter if you can't sell it after and you are not keeping it so not looking for status. I would recommend a Nissan Micra K11:-
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/n...
They don't break down are tough as nails and easy to sell. We have an 18 year old auto we use for driving into London and leaving at dodgy tube stations / car parks when I don't want to take my McLaren. Have had it 2 years now and use it loads. I even rocked up in the Micra to test drive my McLaren.
Renting would costs loads and you would need to pay for every scratch, kerbed alloy and micro-dent.
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/n...
They don't break down are tough as nails and easy to sell. We have an 18 year old auto we use for driving into London and leaving at dodgy tube stations / car parks when I don't want to take my McLaren. Have had it 2 years now and use it loads. I even rocked up in the Micra to test drive my McLaren.
Renting would costs loads and you would need to pay for every scratch, kerbed alloy and micro-dent.
Rob175kks said:
Shed! E39 5 series! (528/530)
Too expensive to repair, you can easily throw away £5,000 into a bad one that needs repairs, £700 for a caliper, £2,500 for an engine management module, £800 for an auxiliary fan, £150 for each tyre, £160 for each maff sensor and so on... been there and done that, hence I would suggest a cheap Micra or Ka and keep the money for something better when you find it. Not saying E39's are bad, they are very nice cars, but in context of this thread it could work out cheaper to rent a Porsche Boxster for 8 weeks!I took brave pills and bought a "shed" unseen and in secret off ebay for my 2 weeks honeymoon in Scotland. £5400 for a 2000 xkr convertible with 90000miles!
Spent £2000 on cosmetics a big service and a gearbox oil change but seemed to work out ok! Honeymooned in reliable style and sold it for £9500 paying for honeymoon in the process! Here is me introducing the wife to the idea at the airport:
Spent £2000 on cosmetics a big service and a gearbox oil change but seemed to work out ok! Honeymooned in reliable style and sold it for £9500 paying for honeymoon in the process! Here is me introducing the wife to the idea at the airport:
Bispal said:
Rob175kks said:
Shed! E39 5 series! (528/530)
Too expensive to repair, you can easily throw away £5,000 into a bad one that needs repairs, £700 for a caliper, £2,500 for an engine management module, £800 for an auxiliary fan, £150 for each tyre, £160 for each maff sensor and so on... been there and done thatYou could always use a car club scheme if you don't need a car everyday all the time for those 2-3 months. In Norwich we have this one:
http://www.norfolkcarclub.com/
But there are others all over the country. Worth investigating if you don't need something everyday.
From your original two options, i'd buy a shed, something sensible and insure if for a couple of months, then you can always cancel the insurance and get a refund on the tax when you find the car you want to keep long term. Or buy something LPG'd if you wan't to pretend you're still paying US prices...
http://www.norfolkcarclub.com/
But there are others all over the country. Worth investigating if you don't need something everyday.
From your original two options, i'd buy a shed, something sensible and insure if for a couple of months, then you can always cancel the insurance and get a refund on the tax when you find the car you want to keep long term. Or buy something LPG'd if you wan't to pretend you're still paying US prices...
You can reasonably hire for under £300 a month, sure it'll be a little fiat 500 or something but personally, the ease of this route would be a no brainer for me, use it for as long as you like, no worries about tax / insurance / repairs etc, just drive it and give it back when you find what you want.
Rent a month, or a fortnight at a time. A shed will only need one or 2 mechanical 'hiccups' and you're in trouble.
I can help with a decent car hire broker
Rent a month, or a fortnight at a time. A shed will only need one or 2 mechanical 'hiccups' and you're in trouble.
I can help with a decent car hire broker
I was in your exact position last year and bought a £400, one owner, 70k BMW 318ti with the original sales invoice from 1997 (£17.5k!). I gave it an oil service for fun and chucked on some new budget tyres so all in about £600. Absolutely nothing went wrong, it was a beauty and I worked its little engine pretty hard up and down the M25 for about 4 months in the end. Sold it on Gumtree for £500 cash. Go for it.
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