Long term rent or test drive. Any tips?

JackeeBoy

My wife and I are prepping to purchase a new car in less than a years time. We are looking to treat ourselves a little with a car that can double as a family car; fitting child seats in the back and a pram with shopping in the back. We were looking at a Sportage or a 6 Series (ideally the latter). I wanted to have the car for at least two weeks or ideally a month so I fully know what I am getting into. I called around my local BMW and KIA but they would only offer standard test drives are were not keen on something longer term, especially as I was 9 month away from a purchase.

Even if it cost £500 or so, my wife and I are happy to rent one out for a couple weeks or a month but can't find a place for such a deal. Any tips?

Edit: I have tried Sixt and other car rental sites but they are just all so terrible when it comes to hiring a specific car. You type what you want in Google, they show you the car but when it comes to booking, it simply does not work.

SHAFT

Pick up the phone and ring them in the morning.

Herzlos

I was sure BMW did shortish term rentals, did you explicitly ask?


Your other option is to phone around the rental companies and ask if they have the cars you're interested in, in stock and try to book that way. I'm not sure who'd have Sportages or 6-series though.

Scrapit

2 very different vehicles.
Anyway, speak to the dealers get the longest test drive you can off them and be done with it. A month test drive is definitely not needed.

AdrianC

Kia Sportage - £20-30k soft-roader SUV
-or-
BMW 6-series - £45k+++ exec coupe
And you want to borrow one for a month... in nearly a year's time.

No wonder the dealers don't think you're serious. Apart from anything else, dealers simply don't have enough cars registered to be able to lend them out to Joe Anybody for extended periods. Think of the depreciation they'd have to swallow... £500/mo wouldn't even cover that for a <1yo 6-series. That's the kind of price you'd be paying for four years to get one on finance, AFTER paying a reasonable-size multiple up front.

Hire companies obviously can't promise you something specific - they don't know if the car they have earmarked for you will come back from the previous hirer late or damaged, so they'll have to sub something else. You'd be looking at a minimum of a couple of grand to hire one for a month, anyway - Sixt want £1,500 for a month in a considerably cheaper and less niche (so slower depreciating) 5-series.

NBLondon

Scrapit wrote: »

2 very different vehicles.

I thought that....

AdrianC wrote: »

Kia Sportage - £20-30k soft-roader SUV
-or-
BMW 6-series - £45k+++ exec coupe

Does he mean BMW X6, perhaps? Your point still applies though.

AdrianC

NBLondon wrote: »

Does he mean BMW X6, perhaps? Your point still applies though.

More so, since the X6 starts at nearly £60k.

JackeeBoy

Thanks all. I am looking for a 6 Series, not an X6. I appreciate that the Sportage and 6 Series are two very different cars but that it what I have narrowed my list to. The 6 Series is stylish and practical and I would prefer not to have an SUV. With that said, the Sportage looks okay and seems a real bargain for the price as you can get one for under £20k used with a 7 year warranty.

The reason I want something somewhat long-term is to get a real feel for the car. A family friend was look for a quick sell of his Mercedes. I am not a fan at all of one but thought I would give it a test drive (at his request) to see if it would grow on me as I was getting a really good deal. Turned out I could not skip my music forward from the buttons on the steering wheel. Not saying I would have bought the car anyway, but this was a big no for me and something I probably would have missed on a test drive.

In regards to hire companies no being able to promise a vehicle, I think they should be able to. Not a huge logistical task to pre-book a vehicle on line with the caveat that if it suffers major damage it won't be available anymore.

Well, thanks all for the replies. I guess I just have to make most of the test drive closer to the time of purchase.

Herzlos

JackeeBoy wrote: »

In regards to hire companies no being able to promise a vehicle, I think they should be able to. Not a huge logistical task to pre-book a vehicle on line with the caveat that if it suffers major damage it won't be available anymore.

Some probably do, but it'll be the prestige ones.

Most have pretty fluid stock - it may be getting hired from Manchester and returned to Bristol, the hirer might need to keep it an extra night or drop it off somewhere else.


For run-of-the-mill stuff booking a specific car rather than a class of cars is a nightmare and will likely lead to disappointment. If you want to hire one of them specifically, you need to ring round and see who's got one sitting in the car park unclaimed.

AdrianC

JackeeBoy wrote: »

...as you can get one for under £20k used with a 7 year warranty.

Woah, sorry... You aren't even looking at a brand new one? You're looking used?

And you expect a dealer to loan you a car for a month to decide if you want to buy a used car...?

photome

AdrianC wrote: »

Woah, sorry... You aren't even looking at a brand new one? You're looking used?

And you expect a dealer to loan you a car for a month to decide if you want to buy a used car...?

Have to say i nearly fell off my chair when I read that, not forgetting the purchase is in a years time!!