To Hire or to Shed?
Discussion
Buy a shed.
I have a £270 Peugeot 205 diesel. I get 250 miles to £20, it costs me £200 a year to insure, I replaced some rear pads for £7 last month. It's done 103k and will probably outlive me. I can park it wherever, it's not completely uncomfortable, it'll do 80 mph fine. Sure it isn't lightning fast and I don't have a few modern creature comforts, but who cares? I go to work in it and dump it for 8 hours.
Simple.
I have a £270 Peugeot 205 diesel. I get 250 miles to £20, it costs me £200 a year to insure, I replaced some rear pads for £7 last month. It's done 103k and will probably outlive me. I can park it wherever, it's not completely uncomfortable, it'll do 80 mph fine. Sure it isn't lightning fast and I don't have a few modern creature comforts, but who cares? I go to work in it and dump it for 8 hours.
Simple.
nonsense said:
Why not hire a shed? Depending on where in the country you are you can hire an ~2001 Honda Accord, Lexus ls400, other reliable jap for ~£35-50 a week. Aimed at American servicemen so loads around bases. ~£600 no risk, no insurance to pay, well serviced, no huge damage issues as with other rentals... Just a thought!
Got a link?Motor auction (Newark)
2006 fiesta 1.4 ghia
Heated front and rear windows
Leather seats
Electric everything
168k miles ford main dealer service history inc cam belt
8 months mot
2 keys
Grand price of £275 + fees £100 ish can't remember exactly.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/10676020@N04/Rb5Ytq
Had it 7 months not a single problem, goes to show that there are lots of bargains out there
2006 fiesta 1.4 ghia
Heated front and rear windows
Leather seats
Electric everything
168k miles ford main dealer service history inc cam belt
8 months mot
2 keys
Grand price of £275 + fees £100 ish can't remember exactly.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/10676020@N04/Rb5Ytq
Had it 7 months not a single problem, goes to show that there are lots of bargains out there
Edited by Markbarry1977 on Wednesday 13th April 20:56
only1ian said:
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:
Hows the divorce going? 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:
After all 3 of my cars packed up at the same time I looked at hiring and after a couple of quotes bought myself a shed instead. A 2001 Skoda Octavia Estate with a pretty simple 110bhp diesel for £500 with 8 months MOT, last owner 10 years. It's been excellent so far, no lower than 40mpg and in the 60's on the motorway. I've decided to keep it as reliable shed, can't really lose anything.
only1ian said:
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:
Yep, brave pills certainly required. Not so much to buy the car, but to jeopardize a marriage!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:
Looks great. My favourite Jag colour, along with BRG.
Glad it all worked out well :-)
[quote=HughS47]You 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.
Great. I hadn't realised this type of thing existed [kudos to PH once again!]. Will definitely explore further.
http://www.norfolkcarclub.com/
But there are others all over the country. Worth investigating if you don't need something everyday.
Great. I hadn't realised this type of thing existed [kudos to PH once again!]. Will definitely explore further.
ducnick said:
Agreed a fine choice. Mine is available with MOT till December. Everything works except alarm system so central locking only. Good service history etc all for £750
Had a look in classifieds, but couldn't see it. Hopefully this means you've sold it!Has promoted another question though: When prepping a car for sale, is it possible to get a new MOT? Been years since I sold a car privately, but vaguely recall I did this.
phil121081 said:
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
Any details appreciated via PM Phil - thanks.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
tjlazer said:
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.
One owner, 70k miles BMW for 400? Yes, I'd take one of those every day of the week! I guess there are gems out there if one looks hard enough.QuickQuack said:
Hiring would be money down the drain and very expensive.
A shed might be abit too tatty and need some work.
What you need then, is a barge
Plenty of inspiration, toys and speed here http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Yes, a barge would fit the bill, particularly as I'm a bit older now and can't deal with boneshakers anymore. My current M3 hasn't helped my lower back over the last few years [then again, neither did the M3 before this one!].A shed might be abit too tatty and need some work.
What you need then, is a barge
Plenty of inspiration, toys and speed here http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Love the XJ12 - interior is truly outstanding! As for the engine... :-)
[quote=white_goodman] I would go down the shed route personally. When I emigrated to Canada a few years ago, I had found a buyer for my Impreza WRX but he didn't want to wait the 6 weeks until I moved. I bought myself 700 pounds worth of Mercedes Estate.
It was a C250TD with 218k but 12 months MOT. The picture is rather flattering! Pretty much every panel was corroded and the bonnet stood a bit proud of the bodywork for some reason but it was faultlessly reliable for 6 weeks, only burned through one tank of fuel and it turned out to be a really useful car for moving out junk and stuff from our old house. I wasn't specifically looking for a Mercedes (anything half decent with a full MOT would have done) but it worked really well and was actually very pleasant and comfortable to drive. I sold it to a trader for 350 notes the day before we flew out. I would have liked to have got my money back but ran out of time to sell it and so what, I only "lost" 350 pounds and you will have more time to move your shed on privately. Also quite liberating, not having to worry about damaging a hire car.
When we used to come back for 3 weeks at a time and hire a standard hatchback (Astra or similar) from Avis that would normally cost around 500 pounds with the standard 1000 pound excess and the Mercedes drove much nicer. Should have kept it!
Alternatively, I believe this company (started by a PHer) may do longer term rentals depending on what area you will be in.
http://drivesouthwest.co.uk/
but I would still go down the shed route.
Interestingly, the only Mercedes I ever owned was a W202. It was SO bad, that ever since I've been determined to give Merc another try one day, as this thing must have been a one-off!
I remember the Drivesouthwest thread - inspirational to anyone with a drop of entrepreneurship flowing through their veins. Well done that man!
It was a C250TD with 218k but 12 months MOT. The picture is rather flattering! Pretty much every panel was corroded and the bonnet stood a bit proud of the bodywork for some reason but it was faultlessly reliable for 6 weeks, only burned through one tank of fuel and it turned out to be a really useful car for moving out junk and stuff from our old house. I wasn't specifically looking for a Mercedes (anything half decent with a full MOT would have done) but it worked really well and was actually very pleasant and comfortable to drive. I sold it to a trader for 350 notes the day before we flew out. I would have liked to have got my money back but ran out of time to sell it and so what, I only "lost" 350 pounds and you will have more time to move your shed on privately. Also quite liberating, not having to worry about damaging a hire car.
When we used to come back for 3 weeks at a time and hire a standard hatchback (Astra or similar) from Avis that would normally cost around 500 pounds with the standard 1000 pound excess and the Mercedes drove much nicer. Should have kept it!
Alternatively, I believe this company (started by a PHer) may do longer term rentals depending on what area you will be in.
http://drivesouthwest.co.uk/
but I would still go down the shed route.
Interestingly, the only Mercedes I ever owned was a W202. It was SO bad, that ever since I've been determined to give Merc another try one day, as this thing must have been a one-off!
I remember the Drivesouthwest thread - inspirational to anyone with a drop of entrepreneurship flowing through their veins. Well done that man!
battered said:
Shed. I run 2. A 2003 Mondeo 1.8, cost £300 and a knackered Saab 2 years ago, and a Mazda MX-5, cost much less than £1k in November. No horrors with either. A mate has 3, all bought for under £500. A Honda Prelude auto, a Suzuki Ignis sport and a Tigra. Great fun, and each one gets a test for £not much. With insurance/VED they are ~£1k pa each, and you can sell them when you get bored.
1k per year all-in is not to be sniffed at! MX-5 and Prelude among the best in their eras.JD2329 said:
One factor might be the amount of time you have to spend looking at a fairly high ratio of duffers before hitting gold (well hopefully silver at least)
And herein lies part of the challenge. Back in the day before company cars and main dealership purchases came my way, looking for a car was an adventure. Waiting for Autotrader to hit the shelves on Thursday, frantic phone calls, then off to view Sat / Sun. Or alternatively off to Canterbury Car Auctions Tue / Thur [I can still smell the hot dog / petrol fume concoction!] None of my pals or I were experts, but between us we generally figured right from wrong. Nowadays everyone has kids, so time is the enemy!Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff