View Full Version : Car Hire V Car Purchase
Does anyone know have any idea how many weeks per year you would need spend in Florida to make it cheaper to own a car rather than rent one.
Robert5988
26-08-2011, 20:57
This was discussed in this current thread:
http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/showthread.php/54342-Snow-Birds
No Shoes
27-08-2011, 09:31
Maybe we need to have the 'Snowbirds' thread moved over to the Extended Stay Forum?
Dont know if this is possible......
I for one would be interested to keep this subject going so that we capture up to date information. We are considering buying a car when we are there in October/November....
However just looked at cost of 3 month rental (from link on here) from January onwards and it was less than I thought!
The reason I postd the question here is it is more suited to here than in 'New Forum Suggestions'.
No Shoes
05-09-2012, 09:21
Is it possible we can revisit this question again, now that significant time has passed?
I have just booked car hire for 7 weeks October/December this year. I now need to book for 9 weeks Jan/April 2013. I sure feel like it is costing me significant amounts of money :confused:
Would anyone mind sharing the details of how much it now costs to maintain a car in Florida?
Thanks in advance..........
florida4sun
05-09-2012, 10:38
Wok on the same costs as the UK and hou should find it costs you less. Insurance can be expensive. It also depends how much you shell out on a vehicle and what vehicle you buy.
Katys Grandad
05-09-2012, 13:37
Is it possible to get better car rental rates for longer periods? I've never been able to find that although it's been a while since I last looked.
No Shoes
05-09-2012, 16:47
I too have tried to find rentals for longer periods but have been unsuccessful.
Alamo have been the best with their 56 day limit. However that still requires 1 or 2 changes each trip. Above that I am told it is a 'lease' but the only leases I can find are a years minimum.
Maybe when I am there this winter I need to go into a couple of 'car lots' and ask if they offer anything.
Unless anyone has any different information????
No Shoes
09-07-2015, 17:24
I am bumping this thread up the listing again as I am staying nearly 6 months this winter and the car hire is the biggest cost of the whole trip.
I did investigate insurance and found someone who would cover me. It was however for 6 months at a time but you still had to keep it current for the whole year to cover the car while it was parked.
What other costs are involved? I understand you have to 'buy tags' does anyone have experience of this as a non resident?
Does anyone keep a car that is not in a garage?
Thanks
We did buy a car and find it much better than hiring, however ours is in the garage when we are not there so the insurance is much less then (it is still much more expensive than the UK) You will still need to hire a car to get you from the airport, but that is still cheaper than a taxi. We are glad we bought but it ma not be for everyone
I am bumping this thread up the listing again as I am staying nearly 6 months this winter and the car hire is the biggest cost of the whole trip.
I did investigate insurance and found someone who would cover me. It was however for 6 months at a time but you still had to keep it current for the whole year to cover the car while it was parked.
What other costs are involved? I understand you have to 'buy tags' does anyone have experience of this as a non resident?
Does anyone keep a car that is not in a garage?
Thanks
We don't keep ours in a garage, it's left on the driveway and we drop the insurance down to the minimum when we leave.
Make sure whoever you got an insurance quote from is fully aware it is a British license and get them to double check again. I know one or two owners who have been quoted only to find down the line they weren't covered without a US license. There are very few auto insurance companies who actually offer insurance for British license holders. We initially had insurance with State Farm and we informed them it was a British license and they said no problem. However, a month later they wrote to us, cancelled the insurance and said they'd made a mistake, they don't insure British driving licenses.
We've had our insurance with Progressive through Florida Chartered Insurance for about 4 years now, so compare a quote with them.
No problem getting the tags, we just renew online every 2 years. It's due annually on the birth date of the car owner.
Just noticed this. I would point out that do do gave to keep the insurance even if it not being used, apparently a legal requirement. However you just reduce it to the minimum legally required. We only pay $21 per month while it us not in use. We just call them 24hours before we arrive and up the insurance to fully comprehensive. We are insured with Geico.
Andrena
We always owned a car when we owned our villa. We were insured with State Farm but we used to get a US Driver's License. Your no claims in UK does not count in US so you start at top rates and drop down for 3/4 years. We were lucky enough to have an MC who picked us up in our car from the airport and returned us to the airport after our stay. We put the car on 'vacation mode' when we left US and it was about the same as Andrena, $21 per month.
To those of you who owned cars - where did you store them? I'm assuming you didn't have games rooms set up in your garages and parked them in there?
We parked ours in our garage.
I've been trying to work out how much it has saved us versus hiring. I reckon over the 16 years we've had our car, yes it's still going strong, it would have cost us around $40,000 versus the cost of buying and the insurance at about $21,000, so we've saved quite a lot. That is a ball park figure. On day I'll work it out more accurately.
If we don't have a lift to and from the airport we find it cheaper to do a 24hour hire from US Car hire.
Andrena
No Shoes
13-11-2015, 13:12
Thanks Andrea for the overview. I am here in Florida now and revisiting the car situation. Has anyone looked at leasing? Discussing it with local friends I am thinking it might be a good option for us.