From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhire purchaseˌhire ˈpurchase noun [uncountable] British EnglishBFL (abbreviation HP) a way of buying expensive goods by regularly paying small amounts over a period of time SYN installment plan American English
Examples from the Corpus
hire purchase• The range of adaptations possible on a hire purchase car, however, is greater that those available on the hire scheme.• For the same reason, some one hiring goods under a hire purchase agreement is also excluded.• Have you considered hire purchase and leasing as well as outright purchase?• In general, however, they found that consumers took better care of appliances on hire purchase and that servicing costs were lower.• Thus it bought the van from the trader and transferred it on hire purchase to the customer.• This is where goods are taken on hire purchase, credit sale or conditional sale terms.• This can happen if, for example, the sub-purchaser bought the goods from some one who was hiring them on hire purchase terms.• It was held that the purchaser was unaware of any relevant hire purchase agreement.From Longman Business Dictionaryhire purchaseˌhire ˈpurchase noun [uncountable] British English FINANCECOMMERCEa way of buying expensive goods by making regular payments over a period of time. Under hire purchase, the person buying the goods has a right to use the goods during the time they are paying for them, but does not become the legal owner until the final payment has been madeSYNinstallment plan AmEA lot of new cars are bought on hire purchase.a hire purchase agreementThe hire purchase price is always higher than the cash price. 