OK ... this came into my FB ads feed today and Renault is introducing a subscription model for their cars. I was looking at it and it starts at RM599 for the 1st 6 months and then its RM1,299 for the remaining balance of 6 months. Min subscription is 1 year.
At first I was thinking, this is a horrible deal as you are paying for something you do not own. But then I started to do the math and the logic behind it. I used to own a Nissan X-Trail and I had to pay like RM1,700 every month for 9 years !!! Yes .. that's right 9 years !!! and that does not include all the problems which comes with it after the 5th year I had to pay for part and services which are so expensive. And even if I wanted to get rid of it, it I could only get 25% of the initial value of what I paid for and I would even need to top up to cover the Hire Purchase Loan which I took to get the car.
So going further into the deal that Renault is giving out ... a lot of the headache is being covered by them.
Literally here are the plus points in a quick summary
- No deposit required
- You don't have to worry about all the servicing and stuff like that
- No interest
- You can just stop the subscription after 1 year or get a different car and you don't have to be stuck with the hassle of trying to get rid of your car
- Don't have to deal with the depreciating value of the car as its a loaner.
Why don't just rent a car long term ?
I did checkout the prices of car rentals for 1 month around Kuala Lumpur and these are just some of the prices you get here. Now these are cheaper cars and not a Renault.
Summary
So at the end of the day ... I think that what Renault is offering is pretty much a great deal and for those who don't really like the hassle of being stuck with an asset which keeps depreciating and likes to change cars every 1-2 years .. this may be the best options out there. After all ... why own a car if you can just subscribe to one and pay way much less in monthly fees.
Cheers and have a great weekend all