Cheapest way to hire a car

[Jock Strap]

Due to poor planning on my behalf, I'm going to be without a car for about 2 months - my new car arrives mid May, but my current car is being collected this Friday.

Is it cheaper to buy on ebay for a couple of hundred pounds, hire a car for just the days I need it (weekdays), or any other options?

Cheers,
Jock Strap

[Scott330ci]

Buy a banger for £500 - sell for £500 in two months time.

[Jock Strap]

That was myu first thought - off to look around ebay.

[Mattt]

Scott330ci said:

Buy a bargain barge for £500 - sell for £500 in two months time.

EFA

[Odie]

You could also consider (if you can afford it) buying something for a little bit more thats classic or quirky for the 2 months for a bit of a change. (mk1 mx5, an old beetle, an old shape mini, morris minor, MGB loads of options really)

Or perhaps (if you can afford it) get an old (series III etc) land rover (or an old estate diesel could also be an option) to keep as a 2nd car for winter (thick snow, ice etc) and for the dirty jobs (going to the tip, garden waste, collecting large items.

[Jock Strap]

Scott330ci said:

Buy a bargain barge for £500 - probably end up keeping it.

EFFA

[Mr Will]

Raise your budget a little if you can and buy a convertible (either a classic or something like an MX5). Convertibles always sell for more during the summer months, so you'll be able to have some fun in the spring sunshine and then sell it for a little profit when your new car turns up.

[falkster]

Scott330ci said:

Buy a banger for £500 - sell for £500 in two months time.

Bang on!

[Jock Strap]

Mr Will said:

Raise your budget a little if you can and buy a convertible (either a classic or something like an MX5). Convertibles always sell for more during the summer months, so you'll be able to have some fun in the spring sunshine and then sell it for a little profit when your new car turns up.

Good plan, but budget is pretty tight - about £2-300.

Next time, I'll learn from my mistake and not sell until delivery dates are confirmed!

[Famous Graham]

Don't spose you're in Edinburgh are you?

Their City Car Club thing is pretty good.

[Jock Strap]

Famous Graham said:

Don't spose you're in Edinburgh are you?

Their City Car Club thing is pretty good.

Unfortunately not - Will check if anything similar in London though

[Big Rod]

Buy a banger.

I work away during the week and fly at weekends. Due to the times of my flights it's not convenient for Mrs Rod to pick me up and the distance I work form the airport at the other end means I really need a car at both sides.

Brought my daily with me to work as it's a 4x4 and needed something robust in case of cancelled flights/bad weather etc and bought a stty little Volvo 440 with 10 Months MOT and 6 Months rent for £400 to get me to and from the airport at home. I reckon it's almost paid for itself in how much I save on taxis and living in digs a little way from my office as opposed to staying in a hotel M-F walking distance from work. Plus there's the freedom to be able to explore a bit of an evening rather than being stuck in one place. But then that's just my situation.

It really is a st-heap, but it's quite comical and fun to drive. I did buy it in a bit of a hurry mind you, and somewhat predictably many much better cars have been advertised for sale around the same price since I bought it. (Think Volvo 7/8/940s, Jaguars, Omegas, Subaru Legacys. It's amazing what you can pick up.). It's especially good fun 'cos the back box blew up last weekend so it sounds like a Barry Corsa. (Must fix that this weekend before I annoy the neighbours again at 4am!!)

I am a great proponent of 'Bangernomics'.

[Jock Strap]

Big Rod said:

Buy a banger.

I work away during the week and fly at weekends. Due to the times of my flights it's not convenient for Mrs Rod to pick me up and the distance I work form the airport at the other end means I really need a car at both sides.

Brought my daily with me to work as it's a 4x4 and needed something robust in case of cancelled flights/bad weather etc and bought a stty little Volvo 440 with 10 Months MOT and 6 Months rent for £400 to get me to and from the airport at home. I reckon it's almost paid for itself in how much I save on taxis and living in digs a little way from my office as opposed to staying in a hotel M-F walking distance from work. Plus there's the freedom to be able to explore a bit of an evening rather than being stuck in one place. But then that's just my situation.

It really is a st-heap, but it's quite comical and fun to drive. I did buy it in a bit of a hurry mind you, and somewhat predictably many much better cars have been advertised for sale around the same price since I bought it. (Think Volvo 7/8/940s, Jaguars, Omegas, Subaru Legacys. It's amazing what you can pick up.). It's especially good fun 'cos the back box blew up last weekend so it sounds like a Barry Corsa. (Must fix that this weekend before I annoy the neighbours again at 4am!!)

I am a great proponent of 'Bangernomics'.

This is definately the way to go - Have looked on Ebay and found a few (Volvo S40, Golfs etc) so will place a few bids later today. Have also checked Autotrader, but found nothing, and now searching the classics sites.

Where did you find yours?

[mcflurry]

Jock Strap said:

Famous Graham said:

Don't spose you're in Edinburgh are you?

Their City Car Club thing is pretty good.

Unfortunately not - Will check if anything similar in London though

There is - it's called streetcar - you hire the cars from £5 an hour when you actually need them

[eltax91]

Jock Strap said:

Big Rod said:

Buy a banger.

I work away during the week and fly at weekends. Due to the times of my flights it's not convenient for Mrs Rod to pick me up and the distance I work form the airport at the other end means I really need a car at both sides.

Brought my daily with me to work as it's a 4x4 and needed something robust in case of cancelled flights/bad weather etc and bought a stty little Volvo 440 with 10 Months MOT and 6 Months rent for £400 to get me to and from the airport at home. I reckon it's almost paid for itself in how much I save on taxis and living in digs a little way from my office as opposed to staying in a hotel M-F walking distance from work. Plus there's the freedom to be able to explore a bit of an evening rather than being stuck in one place. But then that's just my situation.

It really is a st-heap, but it's quite comical and fun to drive. I did buy it in a bit of a hurry mind you, and somewhat predictably many much better cars have been advertised for sale around the same price since I bought it. (Think Volvo 7/8/940s, Jaguars, Omegas, Subaru Legacys. It's amazing what you can pick up.). It's especially good fun 'cos the back box blew up last weekend so it sounds like a Barry Corsa. (Must fix that this weekend before I annoy the neighbours again at 4am!!)

I am a great proponent of 'Bangernomics'.

This is definately the way to go - Have looked on Ebay and found a few (Volvo S40, Golfs etc) so will place a few bids later today. Have also checked Autotrader, but found nothing, and now searching the classics sites.

Where did you find yours?

At this price range Gumtree and eBay are the way forward. AT is too expensive to advertise on (fixed fee) whereas eBay charge you alisting fee, then another one based on selling price, if it doesn't sell, you don't pay the extra fee.

Don't forget your local paper either. My current daily grinder (Octavia TDi) was a one owner FDSH bargain that was advertised at £50 above the trade-in price in the sat paper as it was off for trade-in on the Monday. The guy wanted to get more than his trade-in price, then use the fact he now had cash to try and negotiate further, knowing he was in a no-lose situation.

[Munter]

If you don't want to buy a banger.

http://www.rentabanger.com/

Insure it yourself or buy theirs you chose. Keep in mind though it is a banger AND a rental. It may feel a bit used.

[Big Rod]

Jock Strap said:

This is definately the way to go - Have looked on Ebay and found a few (Volvo S40, Golfs etc) so will place a few bids later today. Have also checked Autotrader, but found nothing, and now searching the classics sites.

Where did you find yours?

Well, I did the same as you but had a short time to find one, (2-3 days!), and couldn't find quite what I was looking for through the usual channels.

Upshot was that I went to pick up my 4x4 from it's service and asked the friendly local grease monkey if he knew of any stboxes for sale. One phone call later turned up the little Volvo which had been MOT'd then left for two months in the garage. It was covered in about two feet of snow and ice. I dug it out, defrosted the locks and eventually managed to open the door. Got in and it fired up first time. Sold right there and then. Offered him £400 with 6 months tax on it, shook on it and picked it up the next day.

Of course the following weeks I found loads of other better cars for sale around the same value! But the little Volvo does it's job admirably. I'll probably either scrap it or use it on a banger rally when I finish with it. (Might even thrash it round Knockhill for a laugh!!)

Check.......

Gumtree,

www.swapz.co.uk, (Some people will sell rather than swap.)

Retro Rides has a for sale section on the forum which throws up some doozies from time to time, (I think there's a nice 2.9 Granada Ghia on there at the moment!!)

www.Staples2Naples.co.uk forum has a couple of threads listing really cheap cars some in useable condition, some not.

eBay,

Adtrader,

free ad's papers,

Freecycle, (you never know!)

Local garages, (even Main dealers have some trade-ins they just want off their hands)

Local pub, (Nearly got a Golf at mine but the owner changed his mind the following day)

Keep your eyes peeled for 'For Sale' signs on cars at the side of the road.

HTH.

[Harry Flashman]

I've just bought a 1999 Volvo V70R AWD for £1500 as a snotter, as I couldn't bring myself to spend much on something that will probably do 2000 miles a year, always in horrid weather (I'm in the other car whenever it's dry or I don't have to lug stuff, you see). Electric everything, leather/Alcantara, amazing sound system, comedically horrible colour combination. OK, a bit out of the budget you've set yourself, but the point is that practical and vaguely interesting stuff is out there for relatively little money (could have had a non-turbo one for half the price; but the madness set in and I wanted the R version with big wheels and nice sound system 'n stuff).

[Big Rod]

ETA additional info.

Check it out.

http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=FS...

there's a fair few on there taxed and tested around your budget!!

Let us know how you get on.

And I'm with Flashman, there's some great 'off the wall' bargains to be had! Volvo T5's are dirt cheap just now!

[Nish]

Harry Flashman said:

I've just bought a 1999 Volvo V70R AWD for £1500 as a snotter, as I couldn't bring myself to spend much on something that will probably do 2000 miles a year, always in horrid weather (I'm in the other car whenever it's dry or I don't have to lug stuff, you see). Electric everything, leather/Alcantara, amazing sound system, comedically horrible colour combination. OK, a bit out of the budget you've set yourself, but the point is that practical and vaguely interesting stuff is out there for relatively little money (could have had a non-turbo one for half the price; but the madness set in and I wanted the R version with big wheels and nice sound system 'n stuff).

I did almost exactly the same thing, needed a daily snotter to avoid using my car in the snow.

Volvo C70 T5 Turbo (oooh yeah!) GT spec, thats right - GT spec.

More speakers and leather then you can handle!

Comical handling, far too much power for the chassis but I actually really like it, uber comfortable and still feels rock solid.