4 ms·

I've always found car rental to be the least competitive market out there. My car cost me £800 approx a year ago. I spent £150 on new tyres and I've since driv

I've always found car rental to be the least competitive market out there. My car cost me £800 approx a year ago. I spent £150 on new tyres and I've since driven it almost 10K miles without much other than the odd oil change and brake pads etc. Add on insurance and tax and it'd be about 14-1600 annually if it exploded tomorrow. That's £5 a day. But there is literally nowhere I can rent a car for that. I can't do 10, 15, etc. And that £5 is an overestimate of the cost based on it having a residual value of 0 after 1 year. Mainstream car companies universally rent out cars that are far newer than most cars on the road. I get that renting out absolute bangers might be hard to manage, but surely there's a middle ground here. I would sell my car and rent if I could do so for less than 2x the all-in price of my current one, but I can't even get remotely close.

gnfargbl 5y ago
The problem is likely scalability. There is no really scalable way to buy suitably reliable cars, of any age and mileage, for £800 each. It's very hard to do on even a one-off basis; a disappointingly high proportion of very cheap cars end up having serious faults that the MoT tester "somehow" didn't pick up on. I guess there could be a business in buying up 2/3 year old ex-lease cars and renting them, but I'm not sure who the customer would be. Short-term renters want new vehicles. Long-term renters... well, why would you rent a 3 year old VW when you could buy one for less?
- midasuni 5y ago
  When I rent a car it’s reliability. I don’t need one very often, when I do I fill in the form, pay £20 a day plus £10 for delivery/collection and the car is dropped off at my house and picked up when I return it.
- xur17 5y ago
  > I guess there could be a business in buying up 2/3 year old ex-lease cars and renting them, but I'm not sure who the customer would be. Short-term renters want new vehicles. Long-term renters... well, why would you rent a 3 year old VW when you could buy one for less? I do think there's a middleground that's underserved. I've considered booking 1-3 month work / travel trips to areas of the country that require a car, and my options are either 1. spend an absurd amount on a car rental or 2. buy a car and deal with selling it a few months later. The rental price always seems to scale linearly with the duration of the rental, which is fine for something short, but seems absurd for longer rentals given the typical "utilization" of a car.
listenallyall 5y ago
The liability surrounding renting cars that can be purchased for $800 has to be enormous. A corporate executive who let people loose with brakes and tires found on $800 cars likely would (and should) be jailed as soon as one of his renters killed someone in an "accident."
- throwaway55421 5y ago
  Or just replace the brakes and tyres? The thing I find weird here is that it's OK for me to buy a car and drive it, but not rent exactly the same car. The liability is only shifted due to consensus. You could imagine a world in which Ford are liable for their old car. We're just not in that world.
  - listenallyall 5y ago
    Google "Ford Pinto liability"

gnfargbl 5y ago

The problem is likely scalability. There is no really scalable way to buy suitably reliable cars, of any age and mileage, for £800 each. It's very hard to do on even a one-off basis; a disappointingly high proportion of very cheap cars end up having serious faults that the MoT tester "somehow" didn't pick up on. I guess there could be a business in buying up 2/3 year old ex-lease cars and renting them, but I'm not sure who the customer would be. Short-term renters want new vehicles. Long-term renters... well, why would you rent a 3 year old VW when you could buy one for less?

midasuni 5y ago
When I rent a car it’s reliability. I don’t need one very often, when I do I fill in the form, pay £20 a day plus £10 for delivery/collection and the car is dropped off at my house and picked up when I return it.
xur17 5y ago
> I guess there could be a business in buying up 2/3 year old ex-lease cars and renting them, but I'm not sure who the customer would be. Short-term renters want new vehicles. Long-term renters... well, why would you rent a 3 year old VW when you could buy one for less? I do think there's a middleground that's underserved. I've considered booking 1-3 month work / travel trips to areas of the country that require a car, and my options are either 1. spend an absurd amount on a car rental or 2. buy a car and deal with selling it a few months later. The rental price always seems to scale linearly with the duration of the rental, which is fine for something short, but seems absurd for longer rentals given the typical "utilization" of a car.

listenallyall 5y ago

The liability surrounding renting cars that can be purchased for $800 has to be enormous. A corporate executive who let people loose with brakes and tires found on $800 cars likely would (and should) be jailed as soon as one of his renters killed someone in an "accident."

throwaway55421 5y ago
Or just replace the brakes and tyres? The thing I find weird here is that it's OK for me to buy a car and drive it, but not rent exactly the same car. The liability is only shifted due to consensus. You could imagine a world in which Ford are liable for their old car. We're just not in that world.
- listenallyall 5y ago
  Google "Ford Pinto liability"