When to stop renting for children?

[RedHeadBaby]

I have a nearly 6yr old son and a 9yr old daughter
when should i invest into getting their own equipment ?
its almost seeming that buying is cheaper than renting ?

 

[artistinsuburbia]

our local shop had a buy/rent program. for $99 you "rented" equipment for the year. At year's end you turned it in and got 50% back towards next year's rentals. that went until age 12-14 depending on ski size and their growth rate. Most kids grow too quickly to buy new stuff all the time. but check ebay if you decide to buy, there are a lot of good deals on gently used kids stuff.

 

[Jilly]

It your son could be happy with your daughter's hand me downs....at least for skis you might be able to start buying for her with the intent to pass down. Also generally at that age there is no real difference in the boots, just colour.

Our local shop has a similar program with full price buy and 1/2 back towards next year if they out grow (2 years to do it.). Also ski swaps are a great way to get good stuff cheap.

 

[geargrrl]

Haha, I read this as "when to stop renting children".

 

[Lmk92]

We realized our first year that buying was going to be cheaper than renting. I literally knew nothing about skis. I found some used stuff on Ebay, and really, I lucked out. My kids were 11, 9, and 7. Wow. That sounds like so long ago...

Those skis stayed with them for a few years, and when they were ready for upgrades and bigger boots, our local ski shop let us trade them in on new (to us) equipment. It has worked out really well.

This year, I bought my oldest son brand new skis for his 17th birthday. It was his first new pair of skis. I expect they will last him a while. My daughter will probably get new skis for her 16th birthday (she's still on beginner skis and going down blacks and double blacks). If I can find a different pair (used) for my youngest son, I'll swap what he's on now at a later date. But he's not ready for his first new pair yet. Unless I find a spectacular deal.

 

[Albertan ski girl]

We have been buying for our kids (10 and 12 now) for a few years. We've found that it is much more budget-friendly, which is, I know, counterintuitive. We get 1-2 years out of everything, somethings even more if they can be handed down from DS to DD. I usually buy good discounted equipment online in August, and have really lucked out with prices (for example, DS's K2 Juvys which he loved and we used for 2 years were $185 CAD, with bindings). Once they grow out of it, we resell it - we resold the Juvys for $170. $15 over 2 years - not bad! We re-sell the poles too - but can get about 3 years out of a set with the kids. Those we usually buy for $20 and resell for $10. The only thing that is trickier is boots. Those we buy locally, and we usually try to buy them new, but a model from a previous season. We've been really lucky with that - we buy boots usually for between $100 and $130, and then sell for between $75 and $100. With boots you will make less of your initial investment back, but it is still less than rentals over here. Here a season rental is about $170 per kid, and that cash is gone at the end of the season. The buying and reselling is a little more leg work, but we find it is cheaper in the long run, and much better for the kids.

 

[Mom of Redheads]

We bought skis for our oldest and after skiing on them for 3 years, they will be used by his brother. I doubt DD will use them when its her turn as I'm sure she'd prefer something girly. We bought our oldest new skis last year since he'd grown so much (ah, puberty, how fun). Actually we bought him two new pair last year because the first pair were stolen but I digress.

As far as boots go, the bootfitter we use suggested we wait to buy boots until the kids' feet stop growing. My thought would be if your children are advanced skiers where fit is going to make a difference, it might be worth it to buy boots before then ... but a seasonal boot rental is priced pretty reasonable so that works for us...

I agree that buying everything has more work involved if you want to resell when you're finished, but if you have a good relationship with ski shops and ski all season long and have more than one child, buying is probably the best option...

 

[HellaRuby]

I figured out after last season - we did a seasonal rental $150 for the season that it made more sense to just buy a set. Granted we still were better off leasing than renting at the mountain, but that price we could have purchased a new or slightly used set of skis & boots, and the skis that will last at least 2 seasons. Our local shop has a great trade in program and I can expect to get at least 50% towards new boots each year since I know those will have to be replaced and same for the skis. Or I can just hock them on eBay (where I bought them for a steal). So where I just tossed $$$$ away that first year now I am paying it forward. Worse case I can pass on to a friend.

 

[mustski]

Haha, I read this as "when to stop renting children".

Demo, demo, demo!

As far as equipment went, we purchased once we were skiing on a regular basis (every weekend). Skis would definitely last 3 years usually, but boots were variable. At first, we could buy the boots a bit too big and get 2 seasons out of them. Once he became a really proficient skier, we had to buy new boots ever year (12 - 16yrs) because he grew so quickly. We hit local ski shows where we could try them on and buy models from previous years.

 

[marzNC]

With summer sales going on, some ideas worth thinking about for parents (or grandparents, aunts & uncles) who have growing kids.

Seasonal leases can be a good choice if not interested in figuring out what to buy yet. But when there is more than one kid in the family and handing boots and skis down after a season or two is possible, can easily justify the cost of buying new gear during the summer or early season sales. Especially if there is a good ski shop nearby.

Even in the flatlands in the southeast or midwest, there are good ski shops to be found.