holiday home - car hire or car purchase?

[dmw]

Hi,

we are currently spending a total of 3-4 months each year in our holiday home in spain (mainly long weekends or weeks, rather than long stays). so far we have been hiring cars, but we are now thinking about buying a car out there. we'd leave it at a long-term car park at the airport while we are back in the UK.

has anyone done this?
is it recommended?
is it thought to be more expensive to buy a car or hire a car for that period of time?

all thoughts welcome.

[gerryh]

Just my thoughts.

In your case

If you buy a car:-

it depreciates in value
it gets older
You have to pay insurance
you have to pay tax
you have to pay parking fees at the aiport
you have to pay for maintenance
you have to pay for repairs

If you hire a car:-
you pay when you need it
it is, usually a fairly new car
don-t pay anything else

Also I believe, strictly speaking that non residents can't buy a Spanish registered car.

Cheers
Gerry

[beachbabe]

If you usually hire a little "pocket rocket" it rarely makes sense to buy unless you're out for 4 months or more. Leaving aside the hassle factor a car may cost...

£200 servicing, repairs and maintenance
£200 insurance
£400 airport parking
£400 depreciation/interest lost on money spent
plus spanish road tax cost depends on municipality.

Probably looking at spending £1300 a year PLUS hassle factor.

Pocket rocket costs about £80 a week to hire, so you can hire for 16 weeks for £1280.

[Wicksey]

You can buy a car as a non-resident. They will need your passport and deeds of the house to register it - our friends are in the process of selling one of theirs 2 cars and they only own a holiday house here.

They keep the cars at their house and catch the bus to and from the airport, or we give them a lift. I think the airport parking would be the biggest expense for you which may make it uneconomic. We look after our friends' car, arranging its servicing and MOTs and our local garage only charges around 150€ max for its yearly service, plus 75€ to check it over and take it for its MOT every two years (being between 4 and 10 years old). Being a 1.4 engine the tax payable here is only around 43€ a year. As they do a low mileage (and I think being a diesel helps), the running costs are minimal. They have owned a car here for years and will continue to use the newer one of the two for years to come, so it seems to suit them. I think it helps that we keep an eye on them and we take the cars out for a run every couple of months to keep everything 'moving' and it tops up the battery. That could be a problem if the car is going to sit around unused for several months at a time.

Do some car hire firms do a discount if you rent from them regularly (seem to remember seeing something advertised by Helle Hollis I think).

[Lavanda]

Hola dmw. I was in your position and dithered for SIX YEARS. I could have bought two cars with the money I gave the hire people and car park people. Buy a car. It makes sense. Buy a good second-hand car from a good outlet or a good word of mouth recommendation. I'm not going to contradict Gerry but Spanish cars do not depreciate in value as fast as UK cars and, generally, do not rust because of the climate. A second-hand car might therefore not be as cheap as you might expect but it might be better than you expect. We have a new car and drove a hard bargain with the garage. We also have an ancient (twice round the clock) Citroen C15 which we gave 2000€ for. It goes brilliantly and looks new! Great value.

[beachbabe]

Just add up the costs...

[spanish_lad]

i´d say buy an old banger for 500€ or so and leave it at your house over here. if it gets damaged or anything it wont matter.

[burrotaxi]

We did the figures 5 years ago when we were getting out much more often and it made sense to have a car in Spain. It was not only cheaper but much more convenient. That said we actually ended up buying a lhd Beetle in the UK and driving it out and having it registered in Spain. At the time it was possible to pick up a bargain low mileage lhd car (Beetles were only available in lhd form to start with)and it has served us well.
Insurance is reasonable and as the mileage travelled isn't great, maintenance is affordable too.
The only downside is don't expect to keep the car free from dents and scratches!

[Angie P]

i´d say buy an old banger for 500€ or so and leave it at your house over here. if it gets damaged or anything it wont matter.

We bought an old banger here before we lived here permanently and it was a waste of time, as everytime it had been left for any period, the battery needed re-charging.
We traded it in in the end and bought a new one from the showroom when we had a definite date for moving over for good.

[spanish_lad]

yeah but they are talking about while they are "holidaying" ange, to save money on car hire.


have you not got a friend that you can leave the car with? someone with a bit of land? share the purchase and insurance costs so that they can use it when you are not here, and it will always be "ready to go" when you come over ?

[beachbabe]

Those who think it's worthwhile lay down the figures!

If parking at the airport and you don't want to recharge battery, rent at £7 a day.

It only makes financial sense if you're here for about 6 months a year at least.

[Lavanda]

There are two issues: first, financial, second, aggravation.

I preferred to rent a car as it was less aggravation.
With hindsight it was a bad financial decision.

[beachbabe]

Not if you had to park it at the airport...

[Lavanda]

Sorry, Beachbabe, not what if you had to park it at the airport?