new car or hire car and taxis?

jenny2009

Our car has come to the end of it's usefull life and is going to be scrapped when the MOT runs out next month.

OH has come up with the suggestion that rather than spend 8 grand on a car we use this money to pay for taxis or hire a car when required.

We get free bus travel in Scotland because we are both over 60.
OH is 65.

Buses are OK during the day but every hour at night where we stay.

How easy is it to hire a car at his age, we have never hired a car before?

And have other moneysavers got rid of their car and regretted it.

We have never been without a car for the past 40 years.

Would you do it?

hartcjhart

why spend 8 grand on another car,get something small and cheap to run

bengalknights

I agree with hartcjhart just buy a cheap car thats econimical to run.

[Deleted User]

I bet there is nothing wrong with the car that is going to be scrapped other than it's "old".

TheSaint_2

Why don't you add something useful to this conversation LeeUK?

Jenny - if you need to find out how many hire companies are in your local area and then call for prices.
If you only use a car occasionally in the evening then you will be better off using a taxi, and then hiring a car for the odd day trip.

You need to add up what you estimate would be the number of times you hire a car in a year, plus the number of times you would need a taxi.

Then compare that to the cost of the car (over the number of years you are likely to use it for before getting another), plus tax, plus insurance, plus maintance (tyres, services - assuming it never breaks down).

If you don't go out much I would very much expect it to be cheaper to hire.

I have considered the same approach myself, but at the moment I do need a car to get to and from work. As soon as that changes I could get my shopping delivered, walk to work and then hire a car for the odd weekend's travel.

j2011

Get a new car.

If you've got the money spend it. What good is it in the bank?

I just retired and got a lump sum, so I'm buying a brand new car because I've never had one.

After years of old bangers I'm getting excited about buying a new car that no one else has owned.

Same with my house, I bought it new built 20 years ago. Great feeling being the first to live in a house.

Life is for enjoying yourself, not living miserably with thousands in the bank.

theoretica

Why not try it for a little, you can always change your mind and buy one latter. Another thought is maybe you live somewhere with a citycar club or other car share scheme.

It is rather nice not having to worry about MOTs, servicing, petrol, insurance, parking... even leaving aside the purchase money you could hire a fair few taxis for the running costs of a car.

jenny2009

I bet there is nothing wrong with the car that is going to be scrapped other than it's "old".

You are correct, it is old. 16 years old, so it should be put out to pasture.

I mean, I have to keep up appearances, don't I? I have the oldest car in my street and the neighbours all point and laugh as they pass my drive.

And the rust from the bodywork is staining my block paving.

This will !!!! you off, I am going to pay cash for my nice shiny new car, you just made up my mind for me to buy one.

So off to the garage tomorrow with £8,000 in old banknotes to buy a shiny new car.

I wondered why I stopped coming to this site.

Now I remember.

missile

I would suggest you would miss having a car. It is not so convenient to hire and taxis can be difficult to get at peak times.

getmore4less

Why not do an audit of your trips for the last year and see what the estimated costs would be for hire and taxi.

You may find that comprimise, small city car with very low running costs for all the short trips where it is convenient to up and go rather than use taxis.

Hire something bigger for the weekends/weeks away. Weekends(fri-Mon 3 day) can be quite cheap, just price 3 days from our local europcar £45, (70 for something bigger) , a week was from £122.

You do need a hire depot resonablly close(Or one that delivers) to make this convenient. we have an Enterprice 10min walk and sometime they are cheaper


If low mileage the biggest hit will be depretiation followed by fixed costs
Fuel costs the same own or hire.


Even though we have 2 cars we sometimes hire(one way is £50) for holidays because it is cheaper than parking at the airport/ports.

If you become a regular at your local hire place they will do deals often giving you the better cars for the low price.


Another option is get a garage to have a look at you current car and if it will pass with little cost squeeze another year out of it.

Wh05apk

j2011 wrote: »

Get a new car.

If you've got the money spend it. What good is it in the bank?

I just retired and got a lump sum, so I'm buying a brand new car because I've never had one.

After years of old bangers I'm getting excited about buying a new car that no one else has owned.

Same with my house, I bought it new built 20 years ago. Great feeling being the first to live in a house.

Life is for enjoying yourself, not living miserably with thousands in the bank.

Life is for enjoying yourself, not living miserably with thousands in the bank.:j

Exactly, too often particularly on this site people over analyse everything with spreadsheets etc, I personally would not want to live without a car, it is too convenient, maybe the answer if for the op to get something like a cheap Fiat panda for about £3k, not luxury, but would suffice, and is dirt cheap to run, ok probably wouldn't want to drive to the south of France in it, but could always hire a car for longer trips?