Renting instead of buying or pcp

Treppen

Read an article (although it was a couple of years ago) before about some wan who just rented a car every day!! Zero maintenance NCT road tax, anything wrong and she just swaps it.

Cost a few grand a year but she said she'd be spending that on a car she owned anyway, also factoring in depreciation!!

What do ye think of that?

Irishphotodesk

Treppen wrote: »

Read an article (although it was a couple of years ago) before about some wan who just rented a car every day!! Zero maintenance NCT road tax, anything wrong and she just swaps it.

Cost a few grand a year but she said she'd be spending that on a car she owned anyway, also factoring in depreciation!!

What do ye think of that?

It works for some people, others enjoy purchasing and keeping their money for other things.

Personally, I would prefer to purchase, pay it off over 3-5yrs then after that just keep driving.

There is also a pay as you go type system (in Dublin I think) gocar I think it's called, you pay by the hour and free parking in Dublin .

Depending on your needs a car can be an essential tool or it can be a luxury.

I may be incorrect but I believe the difference between rent Vs loan/PCP is 15/20% (pretty sure I looked into it around the time of the article you mention, I believe it was an irishtimes article) ... Some people would be happy to pay over the odds to avoid the "hassle" - pretty sure you still need to bring it in for a "service" when renting long term.

Another option would be hire purchase.

trellheim

gocar is wogious expensive for the extra km beware

Insurance would be an interesting cost to work out for that, you sure OP's renter wasn't in the UK ?

It does not cost much to have a used beater on your drive with a year's NCT and a rock solid brand and four good tyres and cheap road tax , you should be able to get away easy < 1000 for something that wont break down or give trouble for two years

depends on what you want to do with your cash, can't see how you can beat those economics.

trellheim

I did not know that ! . Typing in 1200 as value into chill.ie returns quotes though.

gypsy79

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Best of luck getting insurance on a sub 1k beater. Insurance is making bangernomics less and less worth it these days

it is actually a bump in insurance for cars more than 15 years old car (presumably most cars <1k are in this category)

Ninap

I’m renting at the moment and in no rush to buy. Even in August I’m paying only 20 quid a day for a Superb. Will be less, I reckon, come Sept. No other bills bar fuel. Key thing is to use a comparison site to get the best deal, and the avoid the complete rip off additional insurance (which is where the rental companies make their money).

Vestiapx

Ninap wrote: »

I’m renting at the moment and in no rush to buy. Even in August I’m paying only 20 quid a day for a Superb. Will be less, I reckon, come Sept. No other bills bar fuel. Key thing is to use a comparison site to get the best deal, and the avoid the complete rip off additional insurance (which is where the rental companies make their money).

That's 7 grand, are you able to write it off? I thought that since you can write off rental it might be an idea. Is that price normal or has covid shortened it ?

Charles Babbage

Rentals are cheap at the moment with no tourists. But the problem with rentals is that there isn't a proper insurance market, some of the people who rent cars are inexperienced, foreign or just plain irresponsible and they do have more accidents. You may not be in one of these categories but the price you pay will not usually reflect that.

Akrasia

Vestiapx wrote: »

That's 7 grand, are you able to write it off? I thought that since you can write off rental it might be an idea. Is that price normal or has covid shortened it ?

I just paid 1300 for a really nice Saab. I doubt it’s gonna cost me 5700 this year in tax, tires and maintenance and it’s probably a much nicer place to be than a new superb

It’s also much better for the environment to keep an older vehicle on the road than to buy a new or nearly new ICE car that will continue to pollute for more than a decade

Ninap

Akrasia wrote: »

I just paid 1300 for a really nice Saab. I doubt it’s gonna cost me 5700 this year in tax, tires and maintenance and it’s probably a much nicer place to be than a new superb

It’s also much better for the environment to keep an older vehicle on the road than to buy a new or nearly new ICE car that will continue to pollute for more than a decade

I like older cars too, and agree that they’re better for the environment. But the tax is often a killer. And just purely financially, renting at the moment can be a better deal than buying. Certainly if one is driving anything newish, where depreciation is going to be about 5k a year. As for insurance, it’s easy to insure the excess for about 80 euros for a year with a third party company rather than paying 20 euro a day to the car hire company.