UK Car Rental Options for 28+ Days

Scrutinize

Scrutinize

Scrutinize

Soldato
Joined
4 Apr 2003
Posts
8,119
From next week, I will need to rent a car for about 3-5 months. As a minimum it will be 4 weeks.

Bar the usual Hertz, Enterprise, Avis options which all come in a similar pricing bracket per class, has anyone found a better solution? I.e. looking for the best 7/14 day hires and just swapping as special offers come up.

Pricing varies from £500-£800pm depending on class although a high monthly mileage is causing a headache with most of the rental companies.
 
Dis86 said:
Why do you need to rent one?
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My cars gone back, haven't decided whether to lease, buy or take a company car yet. If I take a cc then it's typically 12 week lead in and nothing available in fleet as interim.

Bunka said:
Surely cheaper to buy a car for a few thousand and flog it?
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It's a possibility, but I would need to buy at auction really to limit depreciation. Would still need to rent in the interim couple of weeks.
 
Limit depreciation? A car to tide you over for a few months that costs a couple of grand is hardly going to depreciate £800pm which is what your rental costs are looking like.
 
Amos91 said:
Limit depreciation? A car to tide you over for a few months that costs a couple of grand is hardly going to depreciate £800pm which is what your rental costs are looking like.
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Exactly this. Buy a car that's done 90% of it's depreciation already, not much to lose.

Buy the right car and you might not lose a penny. I'm pretty certain I could flip my TT for a profit.
 
As others have said just buy a shed and even if you threw it away at the end it would be cheaper than the £500 a month you could spend on renting.

I'd have something like this.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201803074339122

The engine is basically bomb proof it has tons of stamps in the book, a 12 month MOT and has never really had any serious MOT issues in the past save for consumables going.
 
get yourself a volvo s60 D5 can be got for under £1000.. dont let high mileage put you off the engines are bullet proof. there are volvos out there on the d5 engines with over 1 million miles.
 
Jeez, is this what goes through badge snobs people who live on finance/loans/company cars to have 'the latest and greatest' think of other cars these days? :p

For £500-£1000, buy anything sensible (not French or Italian) with a years ticket on it and it'll likely do you no wrong for that time - Remember, there is a lot less to go wrong on older cars ;)

Pigeonguyuk has it right, friend of mine got a Volvo S40 1.8 sport after having a play in my T4. He paid £600, has had it for 2 years as a workhorse and not spent a penny outside of tyres and servicing on it. He'll likely sell it for around the same money he got it for as well.
 
Can't you just talk to the leasing company and extend the lease for another few weeks/months. Really shouldn't be any hassle at all. I've known colleagues do this when coming to the end of their leases in order to match up the dates with the arrival of their new car. It may cost you a few extra quid if there's overlap, but saves hassle in the long run.

*Edit*
Nevermind, I just saw your first reply saying you've already given the car back. Too late then.
 
Siliconslave said:
if your dead set on hiring find a smaller local place - they are usually cheaper and more flexible on stuff like the milage.
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Thanks I will look to see if any will oblige.

Re further suggestions on buying a car. It's not a bad option to be fair, I will have a look to see if anything suitable locally but have limited time to commit.

Although my preference is still to hire rather than going through the logistics and time of buying and selling.
 
None of the major players will residential hire (loan) for more than a full calendar month. I had this whilst awaiting a new car and had to swap between Enterprise and Europcar after one calendar month. You'll probably need to bear that in mind.
 
When my Octavia vRS exploded it's engine I bought a £500 Fiesta with dents in every panel, but mechanically sound, to run around while the engine was rebuilt.

Ended up running it as a second car for a year until it's MOT and tax ran out and scrapping it for £50 back in my pocket.

I became a convert to bangernomics after that experience, just find something cheap with an MOT that is at least as long as you'll need a stop gap for on Facebook marketplace or something like that. You obviously don't need to get something quite as rubbish as I did...
 
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