Is it cheaper to hire a car for a few months, or buy something cheap?
It depends on two things: how long the gap really is, and whether you could absorb a repair bill on a cheap car without it hurting. Over a year or two a term is usually the steadier of the two. Buying can win, but only if nothing goes wrong, and that is the whole of the risk you would be taking on.
What gets left out of the buying side
People compare the price of a cheap car against the cost of hiring one, and that is not the comparison. These are the rest of it:
- The car itself
The only number most people count.
- Insuring it
Your own policy, in your name. A short policy is poor value per month, and a recent accident on your record may not help the price.
- Road tax
From the day you buy it. It does not transfer with the car.
- An MOT, if one is due
And whatever it needs to pass, which on a cheap car is the part nobody budgets for.
- Anything that goes wrong
This is the real variable. A cheap car is cheap because it is old, and the bill does not care that you only needed it for eight weeks.
- Selling it again
Advertising it, people not turning up, and taking less than you hoped because you want it gone. Costs you time as well as money.
What is on the hire side
One price for the dates, agreed before you start, plus a deposit you get back. The car is insured for you to drive as part of the hire. Servicing, MOT and anything that goes wrong with the car are ours, because we own it. At the end you hand the keys over and that is the end of it. There is nothing to sell.
The trade is that you are paying for certainty. You know the number before you start and it does not move. Buying is cheaper when it goes well and worse when it does not, and you are the one carrying that.
When buying genuinely wins
We would rather say this than have you find it out afterwards. Buying is usually the better call if:
- You are going to keep it. If the "few weeks" is really you putting off buying a replacement, buy the replacement.
- You can do your own repairs, or you have someone who does them cheaply. That removes the main risk in one go.
- You are not in a hurry. The cheap end of the market rewards patience, and punishes needing something by Friday.
- You cannot say when you would give it back. Our longest term is 36 months. If you cannot see the far side of even that, you are describing ownership rather than a term, and buying is the better answer.
How to actually work it out
We are not going to print a table of numbers, because the honest ones are yours rather than ours: what a car costs this week, what your insurance quote is, what your gap really is. Fifteen minutes with these five will tell you more than any comparison article:
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Get the date. Ask your insurer or claims handler when they expect to settle, then add the time you would realistically need to find a replacement.
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Get a hire price for exactly those dates. One figure, including the deposit and delivery if you need it.
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Price a cheap car, then get an insurance quote for it in your name. Do this before anything else on the buying side. It surprises people.
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Add tax, an MOT if one is due, and a sum you would be willing to lose if something fails. If that number makes you uncomfortable, you have your answer.
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Take off what you think you would sell it for, and be honest about how long that takes and whether you want the job.
Car finance is the third route people ask about. It is not our subject and we are not the people to advise on it. Ask someone who is set up to.