Renting a taxi car or driving your own — which pays off

Not two options, three

People talk about choosing between renting and driving your own car. With us there are three, because the third — buying a car out of the fleet — starts like renting and ends like owning. It is worth knowing before you work out the other two, because it changes the whole calculation.

Renting from the fleet: what you pay and what you get

The weekly rate depends on the model: Fiat Punto 300 zł, Dacia Sandero 390 zł, a 2022–2023 Dacia 490 zł, Renault Clio 490 zł, Škoda Fabia 490 zł, Toyota Prius 20 550 zł, Prius 30 600 zł. Those rates apply if you fuel up for 350 zł a week on our fuel cards — without that condition the rate goes up by 100 zł. There is a refundable deposit of 600 zł at the start, returned once you hand the car back and any fines have been checked. On top of that is our fee of 80 zł a week — the same whether you drive our car or your own. We take no commission on rides; Uber and Bolt do that.

Your own car: what stays on your side

You pay nothing for the car, but you take on everything that happens to it: the inspection, insurance, tyres, oil, brake pads, repairs after a knock. The 600 zł deposit applies the same way but comes back sooner — after a month of work. The 80 zł fee is identical. You service the car at our own workshop at the fleet-driver discount, which cuts part of that cost but does not take it off you.

Who pays for what

• The car — renting: you pay the weekly rate and get a car that is ready to drive; your own: you pay nobody, but you already bought it.
• Insurance — renting: ours. Your own car: yours.
• Inspection, oil, pads, tyres, repairs — renting: ours. Your own car: yours, at our workshop at a discount.
• Fuel — always yours; on a rental, through our fuel cards.
• Fines — always yours.
• Licence, wypis, settlements with Uber and Bolt — ours in both cases.

When the car is off the road — this is the real difference

Cars stand still sooner or later: inspection, a knock, a breakdown, waiting for a part. On a rental that week costs you the rate and nothing more — we do the repair, in our own workshop. In your own car it is you standing still: you pay for the repair and earn nothing while it happens. It is the one line in this calculation nobody can forecast, and it is usually what decides — not mileage.

At what mileage does renting pay off

This has to be said plainly: there is no single kilometre figure above which renting wins. The answer depends on your car's fuel consumption, its age, what you already spent on it and how often it breaks — and we do not know any of that. Anyone quoting you a ready-made threshold in kilometres is guessing. A manager will work it out with you on your numbers: how many hours you drive, at what times of day, and what is under your bonnet. That is one conversation.

Buying a car out of the fleet

The third route: you take a car from our fleet into your own name. There is 4000 zł at the start — this is not a deposit, it does not come back. Weekly you pay the same as renting that model, but servicing and insurance move to you, exactly as with your own car. The logic is simple: you pay what you were already paying, and along the way the car becomes yours. It makes sense once you know you are staying in this work.

Where to start

No car and no cash for one — rent, and that is not a compromise: you risk nothing beyond the deposit. A sound, economical car out of warranty that you can look after yourself — your own will come out cheaper. A year in the job and you know this is your work — ask about the buyout. Not sure which group you are in? That is what the conversation is for.