...he must be paid for his time and labor vs. when you own and do your own work your labor is more like "sweat equity".[/b]
No disagreement whatsoever, Tom. However, that's not a fair apples-to-apples comparison.

I suggest that if the question was, "can you go racing cheaper by doing it yourself?" there would be an unqualified "yes!" from everyone; there's no doubt the owner/driver can skimp on fixes and upgrades to keep the costs down. However, I see the question at hand as "can I get the same level of dependability and speed by doing it myself, and do it cheaper?" I offer that answer is a qualified "maybe": only if you possess the skills, resources - and discretionary time - of the person from whom you would be renting.

You see, when renting, we hold the rentee to a higher level of expectations than we do when we do it ourselves. Think about your own car, truck, and trailer combo: would you actually pay someone only to give you that level of service? In most cases, that answer would be "NFW!" Therefore, when considering the rent-vs-buy argument, you *must* make a direct comparison of level-of-quality decisions.

Further, if you do possess the "skills, resources, and discretionary time of the person from whom you would be renting", I suggest the opportunity cost of the time involved in building your own race is far greater than what you save: you're better off letting someone else pay you to build their car.

Use my situation as an example. As of today, I am effectively "renting" the car from Matt. Yes, I own it; and yes, I paid for the build, and yes, I can do most of that work myself, but after every race I choose to drop off the car to Matt and he does all the repairs and prep. I also have capital tied up in the truck and trailer, but I pretty much sub out any work over and above basic tune-ups and oil changes to repair shops. So, can that fee I pay to Matt plus the expenses in truck/trailer maintenance be considered a rental fee? If I didn't own anything would I be paying the same I am now, but in rental fees instead? After all, Matt's making a profit on the work on my car, and the repairs shops are making a profit working on my truck.

Let's say, for example, that I sold the whole kit-and-kaboodle to Matt at a reasonable price and put that money in the bank, and Matt "increased the per-race rental price" to reflect his capital depreciation and wear, plus a small amount of risk. Would that additional outlay of money exceed what I spend now in terms of opportunity cost, risk, and depreciation? In other words, am I actually spending any more money by paying for the depreciation and risk myself, versus reimbursing someone else for accepting that expense? I believe that when looking at a true apples-to-apples comparison my out-of-pockets expenses would come out about even, especially when considering opportunity costs of capital.

I just wish Matt had the money to do exactly that, I'd do it in a heartbeat... - GA