gocar versus your own car

thebourke

Would it work out cheaper renting a gocar compared to having your own car full time when you add in tax,insurance, fuel and repairs?

loyatemu

how long is a piece of string?

how often are you planning to use GoCar, what sort of mileage do you do in a year. Excluding depreciation and fuel it probably costs about 1000 a year to have a car sitting in your driveway, so if you're not using it much then GoCar may be a better option. If you do a lot of driving, then probably not.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122060796#Comment_122060796

There's also the reality that if you have a car sitting on the drive, you'll use it for trips that you might otherwise do another way (or not do at all) if you had to hire each time, introducing more fuel/wear costs.

When my car was off the road for a month due to parts supply problems I used gocar once; already had a membership from needing vans when moving and there's four stations near me.

Boardnashea

I would say absolutely, yes, if you only need the car once or twice a month and the gocar base is handy for you. Enterprise also run a similar scheme and probably others too.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058348783/gocar-versus-your-own-car

It could do but it all depends on how often you would need a car.

You can estimate the number of times per year easily enough.

It's easy also to make a list of all the costs associated with car ownership.

You already have four but fuel will be a cost on a rental too.

Just off the top of my head you can add depreciation, loss of interest on the capital and NCT.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122060836#Comment_122060836

Indeed.

I live a GoCar rather than own-car lifestyle.

There is a certain missed-opportunity cost in not having a car readily available: there are lots of thing I just cannot do because of it.

Also, if a trip will be more than 5 hours or 50km, I find a regular rental car booked at least a week in advance is cheaper than GoCar.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122060853#Comment_122060853

Toyota Yuko is the third big player here.

thebourke

on average i would drive about 8000km a year…

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122060903#Comment_122060903

What does that consist of though? 160k a week of short trips, commuting etc; or a few 500km road trips and prolonged periods of no use?

magicbastarder

at one end of that scale - 8,000km would be about 22km per day on average. say that's what you're doing - 22km once every day, which would be an hour a day, you're looking at a spend of €4k per year (it's €11 per hour for the gocity option)

but if it was an 11km outward drive, half an hour or an hour doing whatever business you have, and returning home - that'd be two hours a day…

so it all depends on your use pattern.

errlloyd

I live in Dublin CC and I regularly rent rather than own, I live near a Hertz and my street has gocar and yuko. All three options are always available. I live right beside a supermarket and I have no kids, so I don't really need a car which helps.

Yuko and Gocar are perfect for two-way journeys with no major waiting around. For example, collecting someone from the airport offpeak a yuko will cost me 12.50. If I did click and collect at Ikea, I could probably get a Govan there and back for less than 20 etc etc.

They're slightly less good for journeys with a longer wait. If for example, I wanted to go on a 4-hour hike in the Dublin mountains, and then maybe get a coffee or a meal on the way back I'd need to book the Gocar for 6 hours, at which point you're at the 50e per day limit and it's getting pricey.

That's where regular rentals take over. If for example, I was intending to do a big shop, maybe do some DIY, go for a hike and visit my parents this weekend I'd be looking at several long journeys. But for me to book the cheapest car from Hertz for the next 4 days (picking up at 3pm today and dropping back at 3pm Monday), would cost me just 73 euro - or 18e per day. This gets more expensive in the summer, but in the winter it can get really cheap. I rented a ford focus from Hertz for a whole week for 44 euro back in January. I do more than 10 hertz rentals per year (some are just one day) so I am in the "5 star" rewards tier, which means I almost always get an upgrade on a car.

Now with Hertz you have to pay for fuel and parking, but that's all okay.

It is cheaper to live like this. I drive mostly brand-new cars, whenever I want and I spend less than 1,500 per year. I have thought about getting my own car a lot recently, but my insurance alone would be close to 1,000 (32 years old no claims, 14 years with a license lol). The two or three major downsides are the following.

1: My lifestyle might be slightly different if I had a car. Maybe I'd go swim in the sea every Saturday morning, maybe I'd visit my parents more, maybe I'd be more spontaneous with local travel. You can't discount the freedom that a car brings.

2: My GF is American, and she'd like to do her Irish driving test to get an EU license, but the cost of getting 12 lessons, doing the test, and buying and insuring a car just for that is hugely prohibitive.

djan

As other's have mentioned it really depends on the type of travel patterns but at 8k mileage I'd wager that renting would be a lot more expensive than having own car unless you are buying a brand new or newish car where depreciation will be the biggest cost.

The main issue for me in renting would be the absolute hassle of having to plan things well ahead and losing a lot of the spontaneity and freedom car ownership brings. While you will save money by doing less things without the car, is that worth it to miss out on these things?

Thelonious Monk

How much would using one for a few hours on a sat afternoon cost? Currently use my mas car when need one as she basically lives abroad but she won't forever and I don't want to buy a car.

magicbastarder

€9 per hour or €50 for a day; any distance over 50km is charged at 50c per km; unless your initial booking was for 6 hours or more, which reduces that to 20c per km.

so if you hired one for four hours, it'd b €36 if you stayed under 50km. but if you did say 100km, that'd total to €61.

L1011

50x52 would easily beat car ownership costs if that is the only time you use the car.

200-400 tax, 300-600 insurance, 55 NCT, 300+ servicing, up to thousands in depreciation, consumable wear/replacement, fuel and potentially parking costs.

Also goes to zero if you miss/skip a week, whereas your own car doesn't stop depreciating or being tax/insured for that time.

djan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122061908#Comment_122061908

Once a week brings it to a not so small yearly cost of 2600 which is good value when comparing it to a new car but not so good when looking at a used one. Take for example a low to non-depreciating solid car like an older Toyota petrol for roughly 3-5k. This will work out cheaper even accounting for potentially big repair bills and you'll have the car whenever you want. Plus there's the aspect of having something to sell on later as you're not just renting the car.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122062056#Comment_122062056

Older cars cost more to insure, can cost more to tax (if pre 08 for instance) and definitely cost more to repair / take longer to repair due to parts supply problems.

The usual end of life for a car like that isn't selling it on, its getting a hundred quid from a scrapyard when you weigh it in - so while there might not be much depreciation until the point it caves in, its severe and sudden when it does!

djan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122062089#Comment_122062089

Regarding insurance, it really depends on the car/person and at least in my case was the other way around. Take a 08 Auris as its similair to size of the GoCar hatchbacks, you'll get it for around 2k and will cost a lot less to repair and maintain than a recent car as there's less to go wrong and easier to work on. You will sell it on in a couple of years for similair money, say 500euro less in 2/3 years and be better off than using the car sharing providers.

3d4life

djan hits nail on head

magicbastarder

yes, it's nail on the head for a particular use case or set of use cases. owning a car of that age is going to cost you say a grand to a grand and a half a year, to have it sitting in your driveway. if you average 100km a week, you're looking at another €500 in fuel on top. so say two grand as an easy figure.

that's working out at about the same for a go car, used twice a week for two hours at a time, doing 50km each time you use it. it all depends on how much you use it.

one drawback to it might be that if you're not actually insured on any car, you've no ability to build up an NCB for the eventuality that you do want to buy a car.

magicbastarder

one of the benefits i'd see of go cars is that they should offer people the chance of downsizing their car. how many people have a five seater car, who only occasionally have someone sitting in the back? or who think (like me, sometimes!) 'my car is great for any time i need to cram something large in the back' but which happens to only be needed once every three months.

i know people who do this; a friend downsized to a honda jazz and uses go-van whenever the occasion arises to move something large.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122062712#Comment_122062712

I've a small hatchback. I use the vans and even once a SUV when I need to move stuff around. Most of the cars are quite small but they had some Hyundai SUVs local to me at the time.

loyatemu

it's also a good option if you have a second car you rarely use. We just got a second car (7 years old) for the kids to learn to drive on - whilst I don't care about depreciation as I probably won't ever replace it, it'll likely lose at least 1500 in value per year, plus 400 insurance, 200 tax and say 400 maintenance just to have it sitting outside.

I got rid of my own car when we got married just for this reason, and there wasn't even the GoCar option then, but I figured if I ever needed to be somewhere when the missus had the car, and it was too far to cycle, it'd be cheaper to call a cab. But many people can't bear the idea that they can't walk out their door on a whim and go anywhere immediately, and are willing to pay for that convenience.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122062712#Comment_122062712

I drive a big 5 seater that most of the time only has me in it, but when I do have others in it could be 3/4.

Theoretically I could downsize.. EXCEPT my car is a 3L diesel automatic and I do a lot of motorway/long distance driving for which a bigger car is most definitely preferred from both a stability and performance POV. Plus I just prefer bigger cars anyway and also find it encourages less muppetry around me for whatever reason.

If you only do small local runs though in primarily busy urban settings then yes, downsizing may make sense.

magicbastarder

Well yes, I'm not saying everyone can downsize as a result.

lostinsuperfunk

I occasionally use GoCar as a second car (single-car household here). It's a great concept but the actual experience often falls short of the expectation. The car often isn't parked at the base and you have to spend time walking around looking for it, or call up the customer service to ask them where it is. The car sometimes doesn't unlock with the app or the card and you have to call them up. You find the car is dirty, damaged, has a fault or a flat tyre. Etc… I'd say that around 20% of my journeys has one of these issues.

AndrewJRenko

There are other options than GoCar, such as DriveYou and (I think) Yugo.

There's also the option of good old fashioned car rental. I was amazed at how low their prices were recently, about €35 per day.

A lot may depend on how close you are to a collection point.

ARX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122079476#Comment_122079476

You also have to (or at least I think it's a good idea to) take photos of any existing damage and upload them before starting your journey so you can't be blamed for it. There's always a few scrapes, so that takes a few minutes. No big deal (although it might be harder at night). Still, I find it very useful when I want a car.

Dakota Dan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058348783/gocar-versus-your-own-car

surely you’d need at least 3 party insurance to rent a car? That would mean you’d have to own a car.

magicbastarder

you don't need your own insurance to rent a go-car. their insurance is included in the cost.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122877330#Comment_122877330

Nope.

There is a level of compulsory insurance included in the price.

You can take out additional full cover insurance when you hire, for about €20-25 per day.

Vic_08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122877330#Comment_122877330

Car insurance policies in Ireland normally specifically exclude hire cars, it may be possible to buy additional cover with some but I've never seen it as an advertised additional feature.

Car hire companies all issue their own insurance and even for those with policies that cover it they make it difficult to refuse their packaged policy.