What car to own for 5 or 6 weeks?

I have a UK licence. I can use a family member’s address, and even register it in their name and take out a temporary period of insurance.

You’ll struggle to find someone to cover you for what you want to do if you answer the questions honestly. A non-uk resident main driver on someone else’s policy is iffy, and I’m pretty sure you’ll struggle to get European cover included thanks to Brexit.

You want an Octavia, just rent an Octavia for £165 a week: https://thegaragecarrental.co.uk/car-hire-croydon/

Check they’ll let you take it out the UK.

You’ll struggle to find someone to cover you for what you want to do if you answer the questions honestly. A non-uk resident main driver on someone else’s policy is iffy, and I’m pretty sure you’ll struggle to get European cover included thanks to Brexit.

I did it in 2022 in the UK only by getting  a one month policy.

the prices are what I got when I punched in 2 weeks in the UK, 3 weeks in Europe and the specific train trips…

Why not just rent a single car for the whole trip? Plenty of places can sort cross border rentals.

Yep… Van rentals I’ve looked at for 6 weeks are about £3.5k

Buying a £4K car and expecting it to get around Europe is incredible wishful thinking IMO

You might get lucky but I doubt it

What an amazing statement. It’s not the 1980s anymore grandad.
Modern cars are very reliable and once you get over say £2500 the choice of 10 year old cars is pretty good.
Saying a £4k car won’t make it another 3000 miles is just nonsense.
You might be unlucky and buy a lemon, but there’s every chance of a used car going from 140,000 miles to 150,000 miles without missing a beat.

I would have got into my 312,000 mile Passat , filled up the washer bottle, checked the tyres and headed for Poland and fully expected to drive there and back.

I think I’d forget the bikes and hire where/when needs be.

To be honest I’d probably fly places as well.

Drive to north of Scotland then fly to furthest point and drive back to London. Halves the driving but I concede that you’d be paying more as the car isn’t returned to original place of hire.

Buying a £4K car and expecting it to get around Europe is incredible wishful thinking IMO

That’s a worry as virtually every car I’ve ever bought has been under £4k. (Quite a few Hondas which have all been sound)

You can get a good Honda accord for less than 4k it would probably be fine for years and tens of thousands of miles.

Yeah, I drove my Dad’s Avensis Verso around 2022 and it was like a new car. Top of the range model and I think he sold it for less than 5 grand. I’d be borrowing that if he had it still.

What an amazing statement. It’s not the 1980s anymore grandad.
Modern cars are very reliable and once you get over say £2500 the choice of 10 year old cars is pretty good.
Saying a £4k car won’t make it another 3000 miles is just nonsense.

I am not saying that – what I am saying is that someone going on holiday wants limited risk. You may get a good car, but also you may get a car that needs some work doing to it, afterall that tends to be why people sell cars. So you end up with the car costing you more in repairs and loose some of your holiday.

Personally I would be just hiring

As someone that did more or less exactly this: if you go through any “hard” borders, you’re supposed to have the V5. As we bought the car and left two days later, we didn’t have it – just the little new owner’s slip with a stamp from the post office. The first hard border was between Croatia and Bosnia, I think, and tbf an 8 year old Octavia didn’t exactly scream “stolen”, so everyone waved us on. But if the officer had been a bit grumpier it could have been a different story

I think you’d be fine to Slovenia tho – haven’t they removed all controls with Austria and Italy now?

Not sure. But I was with a group of two cars once and we didn’t spot an international border (France into Italy I think) until a guard stepped out in front of us and we screeched to a halt. When we handed over passports it turned out a couple had brought their kid’s passports by mistake! Luckily that was in the good old EU member days.

I’d be getting a Toyota avensis estate

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404864467959?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ypfirtlts5c&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=MavtZ1lnTti&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Or

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386823715391?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=VPEBKRpqTWW&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=MavtZ1lnTti&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

4 grand for a 21 year old Toyota with unusually low mileage?!? What a world we live in.

Saying a £4k car won’t make it another 3000 miles is just nonsense.

No-one’s saying it won’t, but the risk is greater and whilst a group of youngsters dossing about on a 3 month trip might be able to handle it, it could really screw up your family trip.

Buying a £4K car and expecting it to get around Europe is incredible wishful thinking IMO

That’s a worry as virtually every car I’ve ever bought has been under £4k.

Driving around Europe in a £4k you’ve had for a while and know is good is different to buying one and jumping straight on a boat…

You might get lucky but I doubt it

You might be unlucky and buy a lemon

yep, this just about sums it up! you pays your money and you take a chance…

I’ve a 2010 Passat estate with 110k on it, it might get me around Europe with no issue but would I risk it? in a word, no–not with a family in tow on holiday. If it were me I would rather hire, and have peace of mind, for six weeks, if was six months it might be worth considering buying and then selling, but upping the budget accordingly.

Yep… Van rentals I’ve looked at for 6 weeks are about £3.5k

Shouldn’t the comparison be buying a van vs renting a van? Both are way more than a car, and whilst I agree that a 4k car should easily make it round Europe, I’m not so sure a 4k van would

I’d look for a privately owned car at £3k and budget £1k for a garage to fully service it

Because no rental car has ever broken down. Ever.

Because no rental car has ever broken down. Ever.

yep, sure it **might** break down, but if it’s a new motor rather than an old ten year old one with 100k+ on it surely less likely to, plus a break down is the hire company’s problem not yours to fix…

Whatever you do, don’t get a Vauxhall Zafira. I had a £5k one about 6 or 7 years ago. Absolute pile of ****, in hindsight. Must have worked out as the worst value vehicle I’ve ever had in terms of reliability and repairs. Engine management / DPF / EGR stuff a total PITA. And loads of stuff like the air con just too compromised due to the small space to fit it.

Now… the subsequent Octavia was great at 1/3 thst price.
Did sadly eventually have a big sudden engine failure, but Id had a lot of use for my £££.

If your rental car breaks down the rental company gets you a new one.