Janet Baraclough wrote:

Imho it often doesn't make sense for amateurs with an average size
garden to invest that kind of money in a machine for limited brief
seasonal use. If you wait till all the leaves are down then can clear
them in a day, £500 will buy many years of hire. Collecting and
returning the machine is a consideration (can be shared with a
neighbour, like the cost), but the plus side is, you don't have to store
an idle bulky machine all year or insure, service or repair it. Hire
machines are usually a larger more industrial model so do the job faster
and better.

Sound advice!
--
Nick Wagg