Car buying advice, please

[HappyJack]

I'm hoping the collective wisdom of the forum may help solve a car conundrum.

I'm mostly based in Australia, but have a current UK-focused project and may soon pick up another one or two. Between them, I may need to spend, say, 6 - 12 weeks a year in the UK, and for some of this time may have family or colleagues with me, meaning something big enough for 3 people plus a large bag each. Each visit is typically for 2 to 5 weeks and I'll do around 700 miles per week. Currently I rent a car for each visit, picking it up and returning it to Avis at Heathrow, at an average cost of around £200 - £300 per week for something like a VW Golf 1.6 - which is a reasonable car for the purpose, though when 3-up we need to use one of the rear seats for luggage.

Although I pay for the rental through my own company we don't get business rates from Avis because the company isn't UK registered. I'm wondering whether there is a better alternative to these short-term rentals. I've been having a look online at Flexed which offers long-term rents for something fun like a Golf R for around £500pm (this appears to be for a 28-day commitment), though they are Yorkshire-based which is rather less convenient for short visits than an airport pick-up and return.I have access to free, secure, under cover parking about 45 mins from Heathrow, though I'd have to get there and back from the airport at around £100 per trip by taxi.

I've modelled the numbers for a 2009 Golf R32 and reckon that the cost of ownership gets cheaper than the rental cost, once the car gets above 6-7 weeks use pa, and I'm now wondering about buying something for use when I need it, rather than renting.

Apart from the 1 - 3 people plus luggage carrying capacity, criteria would include:

• Comfortable enough to spend 2-3 hours in, most days.
• Body type - preferably 4 or 5 door, though 2 or 3 door could be acceptable if there is decent rear seat room.
• Not excessively expensive on maintenance, and reliable enough to get by, ideally, with one service a year, or less, whilst doing 4,000 - 8,000 miles pa. It must be reasonably reliable so that I don't have to spend too much time on a busy trip dealing with car problems, or trying to sort them out from 10,000 miles away.
• Price - ideally, available for around £11k - Australian companies can write off up to this value in a single year which makes this more tax efficient and I also don't want to tie up too much capital in a depreciating asset or have too big a hit from depreciation if I sell it on in a couple of years.
• Mileage vs age - either higher mileage cars newer cars, or older low mileage may be OK - the question will be one of reliability, avoiding future high repair bills, and depreciation.
• Fuel consumption is not overly important - for my usage, the difference between a 25mpg car and a 40 mpg car is only around £100 - £200 pa.
• All-wheel drive would be useful for the occasional UK weather event (I've "enjoyed" a few dumps of snow on recent visits) or European trip.
• Reasonable performance and fun to drive - especially on a winding road - my past few cars have included Peugeot GTi, Clio Sport, Subaru WRXs, Legacy 3.0 RB, VW Golf R32 and VW Golf R). I'm happy with manual or auto, though am quite a fan of DSG type gearboxes.

A few hours browsing on PistonHeads has had me looking at:

• 2009 Golf R32
• 2011 Mk 6 or high mileage 2014 Mk 7 VW Golf GTi
• 2013 Peugeot 308 Gti
• 2015 Renault ClioSport (4 door version)
• 2006 Range Rover Sport
• 2010 BMW 330 or 335 petrol or diesel
• 2011 Vauxhall Insignia 4Wd VXR
• 2006 Audi RS4
• 2009 Audi S4
• 2010 Subaru WRX

Any suggestions - both on the principle - is it better to rent than to buy, in the above situation? Or is there a better deal available for repeated rental use, with something more interesting than a 1.6 Golf? And what cars should I look at? Any thoughts on the above list?

[CardShark]

If I was you I think I'd just stick to hiring, it'll be a lot less hassle. Anything you buy will need to be taxed, insured (how easy would that be if you're not a resident of this country and it's business use??), MOT'd and serviced plus you have the potential for reliability issues, a flat battery if the car is left for long periods of time and so on.

Hiring may cost you more however it's pretty much complete peace of mind and zero hassle bar the booking of the vehicle. If you were to buy I certainly wouldn't be looking at the RR or the RS4, they'd do the job however the potential for big bills and running costs would make them a complete no-no.

[mikiejack]

As already mentioned, insurance will be expensive for business use, and I imagine they are all £400/year tax. Having to get the car to an MOT each year and manage any repairs will be a pain when you’re not UK based.

Rental might be expensive, but they are new cars, fully insured, taxed, and with breakdown cover.

It will certainly be more enjoyable owning, but I doubt you’ll save any money, and it will be more hassle.



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[Kingstepper]

Another thing to consider is storage. Do you have somewhere to keep a car?

Edit: - I read you have, forget this!

[Motman]

As said, for the use you want, renting is the only way to go. Plenty of UK residents with holiday homes abroad have the same scenario - I know we do, we considered buying one for shared family use in our villa in Spain and decided against it. For the limited time the car will be used, renting is the best option. Get off the plane, get in the (nearly new) car and off you go. No problems like storage, vehicle collection, maintenance, insurance or worries if the car broke down. Add to that the initial cost and aggravation of buying the car plus depreciation costs and there’s only one viable option.

[Captain Morgan]

Id say every car has the ability to fail with the use pattern you are suggesting, you say you have somewhere to store it, can that also act for registration?
Can you have anyone in the UK insure it and add you / family/colleagues to the policy as needed?

If not I’d agree with the posts suggesting stick with rentals, if you do then go for it, perhaps add a few cars to the list and put a good cross tire on it such as michelin crossclimate. If serious about eu winter snow driving buy some chains

Perhaps add these to the list.

Skoda Octavia vrs
Seat Leon (cooking version)
Audi A3
All of these are based on golf platforms

BMW 128 / 130 avalible in 2, 3, 5 doors

Honda Civic type-r

[Kingstepper]

Id say every car has the ability to fail with the use pattern you are suggesting, you say you have somewhere to store it, can that also act for registration?
Can you have anyone in the UK insure it and add you / family/colleagues to the policy as needed?

If not I’d agree with the posts suggesting stick with rentals, if you do then go for it, perhaps add a few cars to the list and put a good cross tire on it such as michelin crossclimate. If serious about eu winter snow driving buy some chains

Perhaps add these to the list.

The OP would be the main driver so probably still not easy.

[adrianw]

I don't pay any additional premium for class 1 business use, so check with the insurance company, out of that list I would go for the Clio.

[Motman]

......out of that list I would go for the Clio.

For three people with a large case each?

[Captain Morgan]

The OP would be the main driver so probably still not easy.

Not if the insuring party had free use of the car, though I agree it could be somewhat grey, if it’s business related then I understand some other options open up, but I had forgotten that at present they don’t have a UK entity so that could change the landscape.

Another option is to sorn the car while not in the UK and use short term insurance but I suspect that would be impractical/logistically challenging.

[Kingstepper]

Not if the insuring party had free use of the car, though I agree it could be somewhat grey, if it’s business related then I understand some other options open up, but I had forgotten that at present they don’t have a UK entity so that could change the landscape.

Free use isn't enough, they would have to use it the 'most'. Most insurers base this on mileage but could be journeys etc.

[HappyJack]

Thanks for the feedback so far - please keep it coming.

To answer a question raised - Yes - I could probably register and insure the car at the address it's stored - it's a family member's home; and it would be my base for some of the time in the UK. I haven't had a UK motor insurance policy for 20+ years, and I think I'd have to tax and insure for the whole year, to ensure that it was ready to go when needed.

[Captain Morgan]

Free use isn't enough, they would have to use it the 'most'. Most insurers base this on mileage but could be journeys etc.

My bad, I should have said regular use, weekends or whatever to keep the battery charged and petrol fresh etc is what I was thinking.

That said without understanding more about the company structure / relationship to the storage owner or whoever it’s all a bit moot.

I can certainly see the op’s point about having something more interesting to drive if here for multiple extended trips.

[Captain Morgan]

Thanks for the feedback so far - please keep it coming.

To answer a question raised - Yes - I could probably register and insure the car at the address it's stored - it's a family member's home; and it would be my base for some of the time in the UK. I haven't had a UK motor insurance policy for 20+ years, and I think I'd have to tax and insure for the whole year, to ensure that it was ready to go when needed.

Do you still maintain a UK licence? You could well find the first years insurance quite high with no ncb.
Also there might be some implications of insurance for non UK residents you might want to check that out first.

[HappyJack]

I had a UK licence but lost it at Beijing Airport some years ago and have never tried to get a replacement. I imagine I'm probably still on the DVLA database.

Assuming that I can get the car insured for multiple drivers - and I see no reason why I shouldn't - I could get a family member to take out out once every so often. I could probably get someone to put it on a trickle charger, too.

As far as structure is concerned, it would be preferable for the company to own it, but either I or the company could be the registered keeper.

[jameswrx]

My advice, remove the Range Rover from the list straight away.

[adrianw]

For three people with a large case each?

Yep, easily the most fun, it will cope with people and luggage without many issues.

[Motman]

I had a UK licence but lost it at Beijing Airport some years ago and have never tried to get a replacement. I imagine I'm probably still on the DVLA database.

How do you hire a car without your licence?

[Captain Morgan]

How do you hire a car without your licence?

His Australian one?

[HappyJack]

Yep - that’s the one.

[Ares]

His Australian one?

Normally you swap a foreign license for a domestic one, you don't get to keep both.

[cbh]

Which would be most tax efficient, as it's a business expense?

[Scepticalist]

Normally you swap a foreign license for a domestic one, you don't get to keep both.

The only thing driving that is how easily you can get insurance. I ran into issues insuring my Spanish wife last year so she applied for a UK licence - she has been here 12 years.

[HappyJack]

Normally you swap a foreign license for a domestic one, you don't get to keep both.

Well, my UK licence was never cancelled, I just physically lost the piece of paper and never applied for a replacement.

I can’t remember if I had to hand over a foreign licence to get my Aussie one, but if I did it would have been my NZ one.

[HappyJack]

Which would be most tax efficient, as it's a business expense?

If I buy I get 100% deduction against 28.5% company tax, so a £10k car effectively costs me £7k - or less if I fund with a loan. If I spend, say, £2.85k pa on loan repayments the net cost in that first year is nil.

If I rent, £1k rent effectively costs me £700.

[ViperStripes]

If it will be stored at family home, can you not allow a family member to have regular use of it when you don't need it and in return for free (except petrol of course) usage they MOT/Service it etc (you pay for MOT service, they just do the leg work).

i.e. let's say you get the practical car as listed above, then the family member can get a fun 2 seater as well and have the best of both worlds most of the year (Assuming you have a family member that would enjoy a fun car)

[Captain Morgan]

Wondered if you have decided what to do about this Jack?

[HappyJack]

Wondered if you have decided what to do about this Jack?

Not yet. I’ve been looking at prices of early PORSCHE 997 and 996 models and trying to convince myself that the possible future price appreciation will help offset the running costs, that it’s a good car to turn up to a client’s site and that there’s enough room for three plus gear. Man maths - no problem!

The big question is whether an existing UK project will go ahead with funding in place, or wind up; and whether another client will engage me and my colleagues for 3 months, 3 weeks, or not at all.

Once I know the answer to those questions I’ll have a better idea whether the usage is likely to justify the capital outlay, or whether I just go back to Avis.