[aargee]

Can't get out the thought of my head for last few days wondering - is it economical to own a high end motorcycle or simply rent one for that occasional long touring. Did some simple math & was not really sure if it could make so big impact!!

For comparison purpose, I'm picking up tariffs from Wicked Ride otherwise, I've no affiliation with them

Example 1 - Not a high end motorcycle
CBR 250R
Cost of motorcycle - ₹185000 (ABS)
Tax at 10% - ₹18500
Miscellaneous to round off - ₹1500
Average insurance for 6 years - ₹3500 X 6 = ₹21000
Total - 208500 - Call this A
Excluding the cost of maintenance, the cost of owning a CBR 250R for 6 years is ₹208500

Now renting CBR 250R from Wicked ride
Cost of rent per day - ₹1650 (for weekend, but let's keep this figure for now)
For an average 9 days ride (renting from one Friday & returning it by Sunday after a week's time) - ₹17500 incl GST of 18% - Call this B

Now A/B = 11.91; this means, one will be able to make nearly 12 rides, each ride comprising of 9 days for that cost.

Example 2 - High end motorcycle
Triumph Tiger
Cost of motorcycle - ₹1200000
Tax at 15% - ₹180000
Miscellaneous to round off - ₹20000
Average insurance for 6 years - ₹9000 X 7 = ₹63000
Total - ₹1463000 - Call this C
Excluding the cost of maintenance, the cost of owning a Tiger 800 XR for 6 years is ₹1463000

Now renting Triumph XR from Wicked ride
Cost of rent per day - ₹8232
For an average 9 days ride - ₹87400 - Call this D

C/D = 16.73; this means, one will be able to make nearly 16 rides, each comprising of same 9 days for that cost.

If one makes about 2 such rides per year, it takes 6 years for CBR 250R & 8.5 years for Tiger 800 XR for a simple break even. Remember the insurance for Tiger XR has been averaged for just 6 years & not 9 years. Since fuel costs remain the same, it has been excluded in both the calculation. Maintenance cost will certainly increase the cost of ownership & also if one is regular at Wickedride, there're chances there could be a discount for loyalty as well. So both of them have been purposefully excluded for ease of calculation.

Practical reasons such as instant jump on & ride, pride of ownership, hassles of paper works, ride variety of bikes with rentals etc are excluded for the above calculation since its purely calculated from economical stand point to see...Does it really makes financial sense to own a motorcycle versus rent out one?

[Red Liner]

As many many folks are finding out, it doesnt even make sense to rent a car and not own one. Primarily because, the loaner car isn't even usually in good shape.

And let me tell you, wicked rides is no different. The way i would maintain my motorcycle will be way different from how they would maintain it. Doubt i will go about trusting a 9 day vacation trip on a hired bike or car in india, which reeks of unprofessional behavior from the word go.

For serious travelers, and automobile afficiandos, renting is never an option. Renting is great as a short term, short plan, weekend get away, if you are lucky.

High end motorcycles and cars in india are NOT a necessity. They are a whim and fancy. Motorcycles and cars are commuters first and foremost. Everything else that follows is an extravagance.

[ani_meher]

Here the assumption is resale value is zero or negligible. Adding reasonable resale value may reduce the breakeven rides. But once you go to high end vehicles, renting will almost always be cheaper than owning, especially to sporadic user.

[ethanhunt123]

I have pondered over this same point for a couple of months now. Buying a superbike vs renting every other weekend as my primary objective will be weekend rides. From a money perspective - renting is far cheaper. However there are issues if you want to take up riding seriously

- No emotional connect with the rented bike
- Cant do any modification
- Maintenance is always a question

BTW - wicked rides is really expensive & bikes are not very well maintained. There are better options in Bangalore - TWIC, Royal Brothers, Bikers Enclave. I have been renting from all 3 over the last couple of months in order to finalise the bike i want to buy - showroom test rides are too short for me to make up my mind.

[Divya Sharan]

Well, this is one topic I can put my thoughts and experiences on!

I have been renting quite a few bikes over the last 12 months - HD 48, 883, RC 390, Busa, Daytona, Benelli 600GT, ER6N, Tiger800 and lastly Versys650.
Some rentals like DRIVEN charge a flat 15k security deposit, while others don't. Since that's refundable, lets discount that.
But how much have I paid in rentals alone in 12 months? A sum total of Rs 52,000. 9 bikes, 12 rentals in all (Busa and Tiger we repeated) for varying amounts of time.

How well are rentals maintained/ridden? Question mark.
How good are pads or chain? Question mark?
Is it an accidental bike/repaired bike? Question mark.

Rentals usually have a cap on top speed. While I admit 120 kmph is a good enough speed for any road in India, I didn't rent the Busa/Daytona to do just 120 out an enclosed open road like the Tumkur Chitradurga highway. I won't go ballistic and kill myself and others, but 120 seems unfair.

Then there's this thing of how often do you (want to) ride. If you own the bike, you don't have the hassle of pre-booking during peak season or being strapped for maintaining timelines.

This is a very personal choice and more of the heart than mind, but I'd limit my rentals and choose to purchase my own bike instead, if touring is the agenda. test rides can be done on rented bikes.

[AtheK]

I will anyday prefer owning, and if some one is OK renting, then i will change the above equation completely. I would not go for a new bike to calculate the cost, as you are not getting a new bike when you rent. Let's say you go with a pre owned bike, you there itslef cut the cost by 30-40%, add to it resale after 3 years of ownership. I would probably pay 30-40% of the listed price on the bike.

Rather then renting a better business case is picking a pre worshipped one, plus there no cap on how many rides i want to do.

In you case you are saying just 18 days of riding, completely discounting the fact when you own that bike you will be using it much more frequently.

[haneeshN]

To rent or to buy completely depends on the individual's needs. Let us consider the following two cases.

1. An avid rider who goes on short trips every other weekend and a week-long ride couple of times a year. Renting doesn't make any sense to this category of people as the usage is very high and it definitely demands owning the bike.

2. An occasional rider who goes on a bike trip once or twice a year. Yearly touring days wont be more than 10 or 15. In this case he/she can invest the downpayment for the bike elsewhere (MF/fixed deposit etc.) and this will give a minimum return of 7% (fixed deposit). Let us consider that CBR250 is being considered with a downpayment of 1 lakh. Instead of buying the bike if one invest it in MF (minimum returns of 12% - 12000/year) or fixed deposit (7% return - 7000/yearly), this itself will cover the rental cost for few days. He'll be saving the EMI on top of this. So, for such occasional riders buying doesn't make much sense financially. The other important thing is that his investment is safe while it'll be depreciating in case of owning a bike.

There isn't a single right answer to this question of whether to own or rent and one has to make a decision based on his/her preferences.

[nishsingh]

Picked up a Street Triple on rent a month or so back. The bike was so rickety that I hardly had any fun on it (in fact it was less fun than riding my Pulsar). My friend on the rented Daytona said the same thing.

If you intend to try out different bikes, their seating postures etc, then by all means go for a rented bike. If your purpose is to have fun, save up and get your own!

[aditya9567]

I'm personally more of a car person, so unsure about the bike market. But, how matured is the second hand bike market? Seems to me like if anyone were able to find a good pre-owned vehicle, that will give the best of both worlds.
1) The financial calculations will change significantly towards the better - the breakeven will reduce to maybe 3-4 years which I think is reasonable
2) The condition will be better than a rental bike, so that problem is sorted as well (given a comprehensive and requisite search)

[r.K]

Well I find renting higher capacity bikes to be a bit expensive. Everytime I enquire the price on wicked ride hoping to get a good deal, but I stop short. My wife and I like to go on road trips by bike and it's typically over a weekend/long weekend. It works out to around 15k-20k at least. Then there are the hotel reservations/expenses, and I end up renting out a car.
And if it's the holiday season-like I'm planning a trip to Valparai/Vagamon for the Christmas to new year week- the Street Twin works to around 50k.
Why pay a few month's emi for a week, when I can actually buy the bike and ride a lot more?
And as others pointed out the ride quality and the maintenance matters too. FYI Royal Brothers are increasing the rates from next year.

[farhadtarapore]

I'd choose "rent" anyday. Far too expensive to buy and maintain a high end motorcycle and the frustration of riding it (because you have it) in this traffic is way too much. Rent, rent, rent.

[dileepcm]

My personal view is that, if you are not emotionally going to be connected with your vehicle, let it be a bike or a car, then the 'finance-only' view makes perfect sense with an assumption that rental vehicles are hopefully well maintained. But when riding is your passion, so is vehicles for the most part. Maintaining them, washing them, fixing them and taking care of them are all parts of the game, aren't they?

[VW2010]

Mind is a monkey to many. It keeps jumping here and there. And then there are folks who like ownership experience and will not mind the future taking over old technology. Case in hand is myself. I have a 12 year old bullet and i picked a design that is close to 10 year old on High end motorcycle ( high end i define as a class which i would have never bought paying full amount new). It does not have the gizmos of new age bikes. The kicker is in the ownership journey which i enjoy.

If you are type 1- Monkey Minded - Stick to renting as it is easier and cheaper on the longer run to try different bikes

If you are type 2- Own one and then rent for weekend pleasure. You get best of both worlds.

Far too expensive to buy and maintain a high end motorcycle and the frustration of riding it (because you have it) in this traffic is way too much. Rent, rent, rent

Exhausting may be. But not expensive at all. Its a myth that high end motorcycle are expensive to maintain. A ninja 1000 and Ninja 300 you will end up spending almost the same over a 5 year ownership unless things go completely south. Now statistically these bikes going that bad in 5 years is just very low percentage and you can take your chance.

[GTO]

There are some things that money can buy, and a very important one is 'pride of ownership' . It's fun to own a nice ride, see it everyday, have it parked down your house, waiting for a drive / ride whenever your heart desires. Using Uber or Ola is cheaper for almost all use case scenarios, but that's not stopping enthusiasts from buying cars right .

If you are a passionate motorcyclist, you must buy a good bike. Nothing else will give you that satisfaction.

On the other hand, part-time bikers like me are overjoyed that more & more rentail options are becoming available - related thread.

[lazy]

Famous last words anyone ??

Lets revisit this thread 5 years down and then update based on where the rental market is vs. today.

Automobiles are already witnessing a declining following among the younger lot - despite all valid reasoning like pride or ownership, maintenance, emotional connect etc etc.

My two cents - not sure how to explain so will use examples - if its a Bonneville, z900rs, RE Twin Interceptor, i'll buy. If its the Hayabusa, z1000 or the likes, primarily performance, then I'd rent.

cheers
lazy