hire purchase

English

Noun

hire purchase (countable and uncountable, plural hire purchases)

1. (British, Ireland) A method of purchasing an item, where the buyer hires it and takes possession of it and pays regular installments. Ownership is only transferred on payment of the final amount. Abbreviated as HP.
   • 1983, “The Thatcher Song”‎^[2]performed by Seán Brady:

     Maggie Thatcher, you can't match her, she's the darling of us all. She's the curse of the Irish nation, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. She's destroyed me hire purchase and she's put me on the dole. If I could only get my hands on her, I'd kick her up the hole!

Usage notes

• Although originally from the UK, the term and practice is now more widespread and used in Australasia and India.

Synonyms

• installment plan (US)
• long finger (Ireland)
• never-never

Translations

method of purchasing an item

• Dutch: huurkoop (nl) m
• Finnish: osamaksu (fi), osamaksukauppa (fi)
• Hungarian: részletre vásárlás/vétel, részletvásárlás, részletfizetés (hu), részletügylet, részletüzlet (hu)
• Maori: hoko harangotengote
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ab-kjøp n

• Polish: płatność na raty f
• Portuguese: compra em prestações f, compra parcelada f
• Swedish: avbetalningsplan (sv) c
• Thai: เช่าซื้อ (châo-sʉ́ʉ)

See also

• rent-to-own