Is It Better To Buy Your Ski Equipment, Or To Rent It - Ski Exchange

You might be reading this as someone who skis regularly, or who is looking to embark on a first-ever ski break; regardless, you may need to think carefully about whether renting or purchasing your ski gear will be the best choice for you.

Below, then, our ski gear experts in the UK here at Ski Exchange have set out the potential pros and cons that may guide your decision-making.

Why might you hire your ski equipment… or decide against it?

It may seem almost too obvious advice to give, but if you’re completely new to skiing, it probably doesn’t make sense to purchase… or at least, not straight away.

After all, even if you love your first ski trip so much that you are eager to return immediately, it might end up taking you a few years to get a travelling group together. You will want to be sure that you will be embarking on regular ski holidays – not merely aspiring to do so – before you switch from hiring to buying.

Renting your ski equipment for your first few breaks also gives you the chance to save money when flying, given that once you start taking flights with your own ski gear, you will probably be charged for additional sports baggage.

If, however, you do get into the momentum of regular ski breaks, aspects of the hire shop experience may rapidly grate on you.

You will inevitably be restricted to whatever the hire shop has in stock at the time of your visit. So, if you require a specific type of skis, or especially long or short skis, you may struggle to have these particular needs met if you always depend on renting.

So, in what circumstances might buying your ski gear make sense – or not make sense?

As we cited above, it can cost you extra to carry additional sports baggage on a flight. But of course, you won’t have this problem if you drive to the resort – you will be entitled to take as much ski equipment as you want.

Buying your ski gear also means it will become your responsibility to service and maintain your equipment after each week of skiing.

But if you’ve just switched from renting to purchasing because you’re sick of constantly being presented with worn-out skis on your visits to the hire shop, the opportunity to maintain your own ski gear to your desired standards may seem much more like an advantage than a disadvantage.

Indeed, buying your own ski gear means you will have the luxury of always being able to turn to the perfectly suited equipment for your needs (or at least, the best that you can afford), in accordance with the skiing you will be doing. And of course, you will be able to maintain and care for that equipment in the ways you believe it should be cared for.

By investing in ski equipment of your own, you will get to escape the rush at the hire shop when you arrive at and leave the resort. This will free up more time to spend on the slopes.

On those slopes, you can take the time to become accustomed to what your own ski equipment feels like to use, and how it performs in a variety of conditions. You won’t have to “price in” time getting used to your hire skis, only to have to hand them back again once your week at the resort is over.

Whether you prefer to buy or rent your ski gear, choose Ski Exchange

You can probably sense that here at Ski Exchange, our ski gear experts in the UK are great advocates of ski enthusiasts buying their own ski equipment, especially once they know they will be using that gear for years to come. However, we are also pleased to offer a winter clothing rental service, for those consumers who are not at the stage of buying just yet.

Browse our extensive selection of ski equipment in our online store today, or at our physical shop in Dry Drayton near Cambridge, and you are sure to find all manner of ski boots, skis, bindings, and other essentials that will help you get more from your trips.