Rent to own cars in Auckland

If you are looking at rent to own in Auckland, you will mostly find plans designed for people who drive for a living on ride apps. That changes what you should look for. The weekly price usually includes several things at once, so a number that looks high may be covering insurance and servicing, while a number that looks fair may leave you paying for those on top. Before you compare anything, break the weekly price into parts.

For the general explanation of how rent to own works and how consumer law treats it, start with our national guide to rent to own cars in NZ. This page covers what is different if you are in Auckland and driving for work.

Split the weekly price into two parts

A bundled plan can include some or all of: insurance, servicing, registration, warrant of fitness and roadside help. To compare it fairly with buying on finance, work out two numbers:

1. The car part. The weekly price minus the value of everything bundled in.
2. The running-cost part. What you would pay yourself for those same items if you owned the car.

Here is a made-up example with round figures, to show the method. A car has a cash price of $20,000. A plan costs $250 a week for four years (208 payments), and let us say $70 of the weekly price covers insurance, servicing and registration.

	Rent to own	Loan at 20% over 4 years, plus the same running costs
Car part	$180 a week, about $37,440 over the term	about $140 a week, about $29,213 over the term
Running costs	$70 a week, bundled	$70 a week, about $14,560 over the term
Total over four years	about $52,000	about $43,773

On these numbers the rent-to-own total is about $8,200 higher. If your own running costs would be cheaper than $70 a week, the gap grows. If they would be higher, it shrinks. The point is not the answer. The point is that you cannot see it until you ask the provider what the weekly price covers and put a dollar value on each item.

Rideshare use changes the rules a little

Two things matter if you are using the car for work.

• The car has to be allowed. NZTA sets extra requirements for cars and drivers in passenger services, including a P endorsement for the driver and vehicle certification. Ask the provider whether the car is already set up for that, and who pays for the certification and re-checks.
• Consumer credit law protects personal use. The Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act is built around goods for personal, domestic or household use. A contract for a car used mainly for business can sit differently, and some of the usual protections may not apply. A community law centre can tell you how your contract would be treated.

Also ask what happens to the plan if the app work dries up, if your account is deactivated or if you want to stop. Some plans let you cancel after a minimum period. Others do not, and the car goes back with nothing returned.

Test the plan against your slowest week

Ride-app earnings go up and down, but a rent-to-own payment is fixed. Before you sign, look at your slowest recent week and ask whether you could still pay the plan, your own living costs and fuel from it. Then ask what happens if you cannot: is there a pause, a grace period or a way to hand the car back early, and what do you lose if you do? If the answer to either question is unclear, that is the part of the contract to read twice. A plan that only works when every week is a good week leaves very little room for a flat tyre, a sick week or a quiet school holiday.

Fines, tolls and the registered person

In Auckland, Auckland Transport enforces parking and special vehicle lane rules. Its guidance says that under the Land Transport Act the registered person for a vehicle is treated as the driver, so they are responsible for offences committed in the vehicle even if they were not driving. You can ask to transfer a ticket in some situations, such as when you sold the car before the offence or when a lane ticket was issued while someone else was driving, using a statutory declaration. The page does not specifically cover leased vehicles, so check with Auckland Transport if your situation is unusual.

For you the practical questions are:

• Who is the registered person on the NZTA record while I use the car?
• If a ticket arrives for something I did, what is the process to pay it?
• If a ticket arrives for something the provider or an earlier driver did, how do I transfer it, and how quickly?

Get the answers in writing. The NZTA describes the registered person as the person responsible for the vehicle, which is not the same as the legal owner.

Check the business and the car

• Look the business up on the Motor Vehicle Traders Register if it sells or supplies vehicles as a trader.
• Ask for the Consumer Information Notice if the car is being sold to you. Check the security interest box and the cash price.
• Do a PPSR search on the VIN or plate to see if anyone has a claim over the car.
• Get an independent mechanical check where you can. A warrant of fitness does not tell you about the engine or gearbox.

Before you pay a bond or set-up fee

Ask for the full contract and the price list by email, and read them away from the car yard or depot. Check what the bond is for, when it is returned and what can be deducted. Ask whether the set-up fee counts towards the price of the car or is simply lost. If anything the salesperson said is not in the document, ask for it to be added. A provider with nothing to hide will not mind you taking a day.

Alternatives worth pricing

You do not have to choose between rent to own and nothing.

• Fix your file first. The cost of finance falls if your credit report is clean. Here is how to get it.
• Ask a broker. Some lenders consider bad credit. If you are in the south of the city, our guide to bad credit car finance in South Auckland has the local view. Our four-question check is free, is not a credit application, and a real person calls to talk through options. Lenders decide, and nobody can promise approval.
• Look at a no-interest loan. Good Shepherd’s Good Loans can be used to buy a car, with car loans up to $7,000 at the time we checked, if you meet the income and affordability criteria. Applications take time.
• Use a car you can afford now. A cheaper car with a smaller loan has less to go wrong.

Free help in Auckland

MoneyTalks (0800 345 123) is free, confidential and nationwide, and can talk through your budget by phone. For the contract itself, Community Law lists centres across Auckland, with centres in the CBD, Māngere, South Auckland and Waitematā. Many offer free initial advice, often by appointment. Bring the contract and any messages from the provider.

Sources

• Community Law, find a law centre
• Consumer leases and hire purchase, Community Law Manual
• Transfer liability of vehicle infringement, Auckland Transport
• Your responsibilities as the registered person, NZTA
• Passenger service vehicles, NZTA
• Buying a car from a dealer, Consumer Protection
• Good Loans, Good Shepherd