Needing a specific type of car for a few weeks - options?
Discussion
The in-laws are planning to stay with us for a few weeks next summer. Our current car is only a five seater which is fine for ferrying two small kids and two parents around but not for transporting six people. We don't want to replace it as it suits us fine most of time. However, we're going to need something bigger ie a six or seven seater people carrier for a couple of months. Not looking to spend a lot (inner city so risk of parking dings, and children so nothing with too smart an interior) but having something comfy for the visitors would be appreciated. Buying anything new or nearly new is obviously a no-no. Thoughts:
- hiring a car for a few weeks is likely to be prohibitively expensive plus risk of scraps and dings. Unless anyone knows where you can hire a 10 year old Ford Galaxy or equivalent?
- buying an old shed risks expensive bills on the assumption that someone is probably selling it because it's knackered and about to throw an expensive fault. Plus trying to sell a barge after you've owned it for a couple of months might raise eyebrows that there must be fault for you to have given up on it so soon.
- private hire - if we planned journeys in advance it might be no more expensive to hire an Uber extra large whenever we needed a car.
Other than asking a friend to lend us an MPV (we don't know anyone at the moment who would have a spare MPV), are there any other ways we could accomplish this, what would be the most cost-effective option and why? What would be doable within an overall loss not exceeding say £1000 (ie I'd be willing to spend £5000 if I could be reasonably sure of getting £4 grand back). A lot more than that and Uber might start to look financially attractive. Obviously fuel and insurance costs would need factoring in too if we bought, and if those come to more than a few hundred pounds, once adding in the difference between buying and selling, again the extra large taxi starts looking attractive.
- hiring a car for a few weeks is likely to be prohibitively expensive plus risk of scraps and dings. Unless anyone knows where you can hire a 10 year old Ford Galaxy or equivalent?
- buying an old shed risks expensive bills on the assumption that someone is probably selling it because it's knackered and about to throw an expensive fault. Plus trying to sell a barge after you've owned it for a couple of months might raise eyebrows that there must be fault for you to have given up on it so soon.
- private hire - if we planned journeys in advance it might be no more expensive to hire an Uber extra large whenever we needed a car.
Other than asking a friend to lend us an MPV (we don't know anyone at the moment who would have a spare MPV), are there any other ways we could accomplish this, what would be the most cost-effective option and why? What would be doable within an overall loss not exceeding say £1000 (ie I'd be willing to spend £5000 if I could be reasonably sure of getting £4 grand back). A lot more than that and Uber might start to look financially attractive. Obviously fuel and insurance costs would need factoring in too if we bought, and if those come to more than a few hundred pounds, once adding in the difference between buying and selling, again the extra large taxi starts looking attractive.
Nissan Elgrand not the fastest seller but you won't lose much after you've finished with it, plus you & the family will be very comfortable in one of these.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nissan-elgrand-2002-3-h...
f:0
Toyota Estima
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toyota-Estima-Auris-200...f:0
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nissan-elgrand-2002-3-h...
f:0Toyota Estima
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toyota-Estima-Auris-200...
f:0Realistically, how many trips are you all going to make as a group, and for what distance?
A combination of the odd taxi for local stuff would be cheap and for further afield stuff, hire a cheapo class A car for the weekends when you do that, I presume its 20 a day ish for that all in excluding fuel.
Buying another car with all the costs and risks of it being a lemon doesn't make sense.
A combination of the odd taxi for local stuff would be cheap and for further afield stuff, hire a cheapo class A car for the weekends when you do that, I presume its 20 a day ish for that all in excluding fuel.
Buying another car with all the costs and risks of it being a lemon doesn't make sense.
Regarding the dings, for the sake of a few days rental here and there, even in a city centre environment, risk will be fairly low. Id rather pay a couple of hundred quid for an unlikely ding than a load of money buying a car, tax, insurance policy, and then risk it has a fault, which may be more likely to materialise and put right than a parking ding on a hire car.
Or are you just looking for an excuse to buy a smelly old bus
Or are you just looking for an excuse to buy a smelly old bus
ilikejam said:
Surely an R Class Merc is the answer?
Plenty sub-£5k, 3.0l, still look half decent, decent interior, 6 seats, shouldn't really lose anything if you're only keeping it for a month or so.
Plenty sub-£5k, 3.0l, still look half decent, decent interior, 6 seats, shouldn't really lose anything if you're only keeping it for a month or so.
defblade said:
The in-laws? Have you considered a trailer? 
Never thought of the R class before but that looks a super option. Comfort factor ++ especially if I can find one with Airmatic, and if I only run it for a couple of months before flogging it on it shouldn't gain too much additional rust during that time. I actually rather like my mother in law (she's a great cook and even irons my shirts) so I think she deserves better than to be stuck in the back of a shed. Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff