Is there such thing as "renting" here in the UK?

d215yq

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It's not really my thing but my father may want a new car and so would consider for the first time leasing. That said here in Spain there is something even simplerand very popular called "renting" (that's what they advertise it as instead of lease/PCP. Essentially you long term rent a brand new car you choose/spec for a fixed monthly price for 3-4 years and it is like a rental car, you pay no insurance, tax, consumables (subject to reasonable use I assume), deposit or anything. the only extra charges, like with short term hire are damage and excess mileage charges when you hand it back.

I can't seem to find anything like this in the UK, it all seems to be a lease with a deposit and then monthly cost but you are responsible for all running costs. And as most are 4 yr terms presumably when the warranty has expired you are also liable for any catastrophic repair that may occur in the fourth year too?

That said I'm not an expert on this type of thing, it's not really for me, but if I was going for it here I would do the renting instead of lease as lease just seems like a half way house with finance intermediaries etc making their cut and then you have all the bother of maintaining a car even though you never own it...
 

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Peugeot does a thing called "Just add fuel": https://offers.peugeot.co.uk/just-a...VBbDtCh3fLQI2EAAYASAAEgLbNfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

but I can't think of any others (other than doing a long term rental from Enterprise etc, or Drover's scheme mentioned above).

I recall Volvo announcing an all inclusive scheme and I think you could have a bigger car for holidays etc, but I haven't seen it mentioned for some time. The indicated monthly prices were very high
 

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The answer to the OP is "yes, there is such a thing as renting a car here in the UK"., try Hertz, Budget, Avis, Enterprise etc etc. You see them at Airports, Ferry terminals etc. Many other car rental companies also exist.
 
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d215yq

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The answer to the OP is "yes, there is such a thing as renting a car here in the UK"., try Hertz, Budget, Avis, Enterprise etc etc. You see them at Airports, Ferry terminals etc. Many other car rental companies also exist.

OK maybe I should have put "long term renting" instead, it is genuinely called "renting" here and I suppose people can distinguish it from holiday renting by context and the fact the contracts are 3 or 4 years. Just to clarify these aren't chop and change or flexible hire car policies - you agree to a 3 or 4 year period and cannot shorten the period/change the car within it without huge penalties - you spec a brand new car and sign the contract at x/month and then have to keep that going for the 3 or 4 years and all you do is pay for the fuel during that time. It looks like Peugeot do this or something very similar but nobody else does (the others all seem to offer HP/PCP/Lease).
 
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d215yq

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Just saw this advertised last night on the telly, it’s not very common to be honest
https://www.joindrover.com/?utm_cam...gfeLODqVLpLWUzKKB90aysTKsBzvO7awaAg3KEALw_wcB

That looks quite similar. It's gone from unheard of to very popular here in 4 or 5 years. Now when you hear a 300€/month price quoted on the radio it's usually the all-in rental price and not the typical lease payment, deposit type thing. Maybe they creamed off all the poeple who had a 2 or 3k€ deposit and sold them new cars so now they need to sell to people who can't even afford that....

Strangely, it seems they have low prices and 6-10k mileage limts and something ridiculous like 15ppm for every mile over. Which I'm not sure I understand because the average mileage in Spain is 12 or 13k miles per year and I'd have thought if you want a new car every year you would be doing above average mileage. I mean do people really buy a C220d to do 6k miles/year? Or are people just so short sighted they don't see that? I did work out if I went for it with 20k miles a year I'd pay 1500 each year extra just in the mileage fee which is enough to run the W124 completely for 3 or 4 years without even considering the normal monthly cost of the renting car in the first place so gave up looking any further...but my father does about 6k miles a year so it could work for him.
 

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That looks quite similar. It's gone from unheard of to very popular here in 4 or 5 years. Now when you here a 300€/month price quoted on the radio it's usually the all-in rental price and not the typical lease payment.

Strangely, it seems they have low prices and 6-10k mileage limts and something ridiculous like 15ppm for every mile over. Which I'm not sure I understand because the average mileage in Spain is 12 or 13k miles per year and I'd have thought if you want a new car every year you would be doing above average mileage. I mean do people really buy a C220d to do 6k miles/year? Or are people just so short sighted they don't see that? I did work out if I went for it with 20k miles a year I'd pay 1500 each year extra just in the mileage fee which is enough to run the W124 completely for 3 or 4 years without even considering the normal monthly cost of the renting car in the first place so gave up looking any further...but my father does about 6k miles a year so it could work for him.
They have such low mileage allowances to keep the rental costs down... that way people who couldn't normally afford to have a Mercedes (or Range Rover etc.) can have one sat on their drive*...

* it has to sit on the drive as the mileage restriction is so tight** they can't afford to drive it...:rolleyes:

** Other (dodgy) option is monthly mileage correction to keep the numbers down...;)
 

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- you agree to a 3 or 4 year period and cannot shorten the period/change the car within it without huge penalties -

That's my issue with leasing and with the rental scheme you mention. More and more things are being done on a monthly subscription basis, which is fine while the money is coming in - but people need an escape route if something goes wrong.

Of course for a pensioner, with a guaranteed monthly income, it makes perfect sense. Though certainly with leasing, if you die they still expect your estate to pay the early termination fee!
 
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d215yq

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That's my issue with leasing and with the rental scheme you mention. More and more things are being done on a monthly subscription basis, which is fine while the money is coming in - but people need an escape route if something goes wrong.

Of course for a pensioner, with a guaranteed monthly income, it makes perfect sense. Though certainly with leasing, if you die they still expect your estate to pay the early termination fee!

Yes, I'm totally against it as a way to get something you can't afford....but my dad has the cash to buy outright but I think it works out cheapoer. He doesn't like things out of warranty and said he may want a "nicer" car than his Kia (8yrs old so just out of warranty) and he wants an auto. So as the "nicer" cars have 3 year warranty, say he buys a c200 petrol auto (or whatever the cheapest one is) it's giving a list price of 40k! And he won't be smart and get an ex demo or something, he'd order it brand new, and will service it at MB and will part exchange it at 3/4 yr old in the official dealer. Given that, it's probably cheaper for him to lease it for 15k over 4 yrs as I bet depreciation is more.

Now if it was me and I wanted a new car I'd be in every Ford/Renault/whatever garage on Dec 30th offering cash for whatever is sitting there that I like that they need to shift at 30-40% discount and not be fussy about spec/colour. I'd service it myself and then sell on privately when it became unrelibale...and thus for me just buying it would work out a lot cheaper as I wouldn't be losing commision on the buying/selling/maintaining. But my dad is not like that...
 
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