For those of you who rent cars....

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We live on an Island, and often renting a car can be a cheaper and more reliable way to travel. Especially during the summer months when the ferries fill up quickly.
We rent through a Broker and will often get two Brokers (with Un-beatable prices) to bid against each other.
In that case, we will take a vehicle up grade, over a lower price.
The last Five rentals, we have had up-grades.
Rent the lowest class the will fit your needs, you can only be Up-graded.

Use a CC with a Collision Damage Waver. But check the small print, not all are what they seem (American Express)
 
Originally Posted By: jmb3675
I Rent the Impala when I can for trips. It gets good mileage on the highway and the seats are more comfortable for long periods of driving. The Impalas I have rented usually get close to 30 miles per gallon on the highway.

My cousin got me started on renting for long trips. He rented a mini van for his family vacation a few years ago since it is cheaper than flying a family of 5, and keeps miles off his Tahoe. They were traveling from Minnesota to Texas. The transmission failed somewhere in Nebraska. Avis had him in a new van and back on his way in a few hours. If he was driving his Tahoe, he would have had to pay for the tow and they would have spent the whole vacation waiting for it to be fixed.

I usually rent just for that convenience. It does help that I keep miles off my truck and the fuel savings usually covers the cost of the rental.


the transmission likely wouldn't have failed on his own tahoe though...
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Why do people rent for long trips instead of putting xxxx miles on their car? Personally I really look forward to long trips in my car as they seem to blow out the cobwebs and burn off the nasties! It always seems to run much better after a long trip
smile.gif



Because I have a pickup truck that gets 15mpg at 75mph, and it isn't any fun in tight parking garages.

Plus, I like the experience of driving all sorts of makes and models. Otherwise, I would have never realized how much I like the Hyundai Sonata.

That's why I rent.


I will say that the sonata rental I just had was very good. Powertrain sounded exactly like the 2.0 in our old Plymouth breeze, but the car was great overall.

But that said, convenience is one thing, but I can't imagine you'd ever recoup the costs of a rental. I rent a lot, and taxes can be like 50%!
 
Originally Posted By: gfh77665
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Originally Posted By: gregk24
We will be taking a trip to visit some friends next weekend, instead of putting another 1000 miles on my Accord we will be renting a car from Enterprise.


What a colossal waste of money.


I have rented several times from Enterprise and got their Friday-Monday $9.99 Weekend Special. Everytime I put over 1000 miles on it. Once, even 1400.

Ask yourself, would you let someone rent your new car for $30, and drive it 1500 miles over 3 days? Everyone would say NO WAY! But thats what I do with Enterprise.


I looked into that but there was a 100 mile per day limit.
 
We get $0.48/km at work so I never rent for that. I like just rolling down the highway making an extra $35-40/hr in one of our beaters. I can see renting a minivan if more than 4 of us are going a long ways though. Taking both cars would be atleast as expensive, especially if there is city parking involved and its a hassle getting 2 cars to the same place at the same time in somewhere new.
 
I would never rent an equivalent car to my own just to save few miles on the car. That is why I bought the thing, to put miles on it, not to baby it it like it was some sort of an exotic.
However, I do rent vehicles when the task at hand is beyond the abilities of my own vehicles.
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
I would never rent an equivalent car to my own just to save few miles on the car. That is why I bought the thing, to put miles on it, not to baby it it like it was some sort of an exotic.
However, I do rent vehicles when the task at hand is beyond the abilities of my own vehicles.


Everybody has their opinion, and thats ok! I probably would have taken my car had I not already put an extra 3000 ish miles on it this year. Plus I have never rented a car for myself before, and I enjoy driving other vehicles. We are splitting the cost so I will be paying around $100 for my share. Spending $100 to keep 1000 miles off of my car is worth it IMO. As long as I get a good ride I will be happy, hoping for a Malibu or a new Chrysler 200 with the 9 speed..that would be great.
 
1K miles is peanuts, but I can understand wanting to try out a newer/different model of car.

Personally though, I don't like rental cars. Always something weird/wrong with them. Whether its an odor from previous occupants, trash, inop features (worst was an inop seat belt buckle - nice), maintenance issues, etc. Even just nasty, grime covered windows that looks like a large dog slobbered all over them. I don't want to clean all that up in something I am paying just to borrow, and not a very nice something at that. I greatly prefer something familiar and predictable...usually the vehicle I put thousands of miles a year on anyway because that's what it's for.

Of course, there are many other reasons to rent, I just think "saving miles" isn't a great reason unless you really just want to try another car.
 
I can understand renting a van for a trip if you need one and do not have one. I can even understand renting a large car for a long trip if all one has is an econobox.

However, I can't understand renting a car sized comparable to one I already own. If I already own the depreciating asset, pay the insurance and upkeep on it, why would I not want to utilize the benefit from those costs?
 
Originally Posted By: 19jacobob93
Why do people rent for long trips instead of putting xxxx miles on their car? Personally I really look forward to long trips in my car as they seem to blow out the cobwebs and burn off the nasties! It always seems to run much better after a long trip
smile.gif



I rent for work when driving >250 miles as I get their corporate rates(very low) when out of pocket, they cover full insurance at my (massive) company, and the MPG is better and still make out using mile reimbursement even after applying to self paid rental and fuel. My car gets no wear.

For a 1000 mile family trip I could think it is a royal waste of money because why buy a car to have it sit in your garage and pay for something else.
 
1000 miles is nothing in my household. My kids have all played travel sports so logging 3-35,000 a year on the wifes car is the norm. Which is why I keep new tires, brakes, battery and fresh oil in the engine. I keep all of our vehicles in condition to "hit the road" at a moments notice. So I won't rent unless I have to haul furniture to college etc.

Highway miles are the easiest on a car and is why the wife gets 75,000-80,000 miles on a set of brake pads.

Also, if you don't have the proper insurance coverage you will get swiped by the insurance company unless you buy their CDW.
 
Originally Posted By: Al
Originally Posted By: hpb

Same here. Makes no sense to rent when you've got a perfectly good car. But hey, he's not asking me to pay for it!

Well..I have two vehicles each of which have 140K miles. Both are in immaculate condition and either would be "expected" to drive accross the country with zero problems.....But....anything can fail. Having a car out of warranty break down 1000 miles from home is going to be a money bloodbath.

Being 69 years old..I have seen things go horrribly wrong. Renting a vehicle is renting insurance. I makes perfect sense.


Yes...but his girlfriend has an almost new VW Jetta, which IS under warranty, and would do the trip without breaking a sweat! So why not take that, and avoid potential financial bloodbaths, all in the comfort of your own vehicle
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: gfh77665
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Originally Posted By: gregk24
We will be taking a trip to visit some friends next weekend, instead of putting another 1000 miles on my Accord we will be renting a car from Enterprise.


What a colossal waste of money.


I have rented several times from Enterprise and got their Friday-Monday $9.99 Weekend Special. Everytime I put over 1000 miles on it. Once, even 1400.

Ask yourself, would you let someone rent your new car for $30, and drive it 1500 miles over 3 days? Everyone would say NO WAY! But thats what I do with Enterprise.


Last time I saw that special, I recall you were limited to 150 miles/day...after that, it was 15 cents/mile!
 
Originally Posted By: Doog
1000 miles is nothing in my household. My kids have all played travel sports so logging 3-35,000 a year on the wifes car is the norm. Which is why I keep new tires, brakes, battery and fresh oil in the engine. I keep all of our vehicles in condition to "hit the road" at a moments notice. So I won't rent unless I have to haul furniture to college etc.

Highway miles are the easiest on a car and is why the wife gets 75,000-80,000 miles on a set of brake pads.

Also, if you don't have the proper insurance coverage you will get swiped by the insurance company unless you buy their CDW.


Call your CC company...most of them cover rental car damage.
 
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: Doog
1000 miles is nothing in my household. My kids have all played travel sports so logging 3-35,000 a year on the wifes car is the norm. Which is why I keep new tires, brakes, battery and fresh oil in the engine. I keep all of our vehicles in condition to "hit the road" at a moments notice. So I won't rent unless I have to haul furniture to college etc.

Highway miles are the easiest on a car and is why the wife gets 75,000-80,000 miles on a set of brake pads.

Also, if you don't have the proper insurance coverage you will get swiped by the insurance company unless you buy their CDW.


Call your CC company...most of them cover rental car damage.


I did that a couple days ago, they cover up to $25,000 in secondary collision. My parents rented a car once and paid using a major CC. Some moron came into their lane too quickly for them to react and she hit the driver side mirror breaking it and cracking the glass. It was a little bit of a process but the CC company paid for the damages.
 
Originally Posted By: gregk24
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
I would never rent an equivalent car to my own just to save few miles on the car. That is why I bought the thing, to put miles on it, not to baby it it like it was some sort of an exotic.
However, I do rent vehicles when the task at hand is beyond the abilities of my own vehicles.


Everybody has their opinion, and thats ok! I probably would have taken my car had I not already put an extra 3000 ish miles on it this year. Plus I have never rented a car for myself before, and I enjoy driving other vehicles. We are splitting the cost so I will be paying around $100 for my share. Spending $100 to keep 1000 miles off of my car is worth it IMO. As long as I get a good ride I will be happy, hoping for a Malibu or a new Chrysler 200 with the 9 speed..that would be great.



I drove both the new Malibu and new 200. I liked the Malibu almost well enough to trade my Challenger on it. For me, the Malibu had more legroom and that's why I preferred it. Another reason is that the local Chevy dealer is 3 miles away compared to about 15 for the nearest Chrysler dealer.
 
Standard isn't to impressive, last time I rented from them it was a Sentra like thing. I had to upgrade to premium I think they call it for a Fusion.


Why rent though its a very expensive way to drive? Unless your vehicle is in poor condition its cheaper to take your own.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Silverado12
Originally Posted By: gregk24
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
I would never rent an equivalent car to my own just to save few miles on the car. That is why I bought the thing, to put miles on it, not to baby it it like it was some sort of an exotic.
However, I do rent vehicles when the task at hand is beyond the abilities of my own vehicles.


Everybody has their opinion, and thats ok! I probably would have taken my car had I not already put an extra 3000 ish miles on it this year. Plus I have never rented a car for myself before, and I enjoy driving other vehicles. We are splitting the cost so I will be paying around $100 for my share. Spending $100 to keep 1000 miles off of my car is worth it IMO. As long as I get a good ride I will be happy, hoping for a Malibu or a new Chrysler 200 with the 9 speed..that would be great.



I drove both the new Malibu and new 200. I liked the Malibu almost well enough to trade my Challenger on it. For me, the Malibu had more legroom and that's why I preferred it. Another reason is that the local Chevy dealer is 3 miles away compared to about 15 for the nearest Chrysler dealer.



OP--I don't get your logic here, but, opinions vary.your accord would be getting an Italian tuneup, in the process.
(my neighbor just bought a new 200 for his kid for graduation. he and his son both love it. it has the tigershark 4 in it, and it's plenty of motor for the car.the dad didn't like the Malibu as much as the 200. again, opinions vary.)


*should be "resident of Italy tuneup". don't want to hurt anyone's "feelings".
have a good day.
 
Originally Posted By: Silverado12
^^^I wouldn't allow my boss to put me in the ghetto LOL. His cheap a.. would have to pay up!


It's the hotel the vendor works with in the package deal. Only other option would be to drive 5+ hours to socal. Sometimes there is no choice- hence the rental car
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: yeti
Originally Posted By: Silverado12
Originally Posted By: gregk24
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
I would never rent an equivalent car to my own just to save few miles on the car. That is why I bought the thing, to put miles on it, not to baby it it like it was some sort of an exotic.
However, I do rent vehicles when the task at hand is beyond the abilities of my own vehicles.


Everybody has their opinion, and thats ok! I probably would have taken my car had I not already put an extra 3000 ish miles on it this year. Plus I have never rented a car for myself before, and I enjoy driving other vehicles. We are splitting the cost so I will be paying around $100 for my share. Spending $100 to keep 1000 miles off of my car is worth it IMO. As long as I get a good ride I will be happy, hoping for a Malibu or a new Chrysler 200 with the 9 speed..that would be great.



I drove both the new Malibu and new 200. I liked the Malibu almost well enough to trade my Challenger on it. For me, the Malibu had more legroom and that's why I preferred it. Another reason is that the local Chevy dealer is 3 miles away compared to about 15 for the nearest Chrysler dealer.



OP--I don't get your logic here, but, opinions vary.your accord would be getting an Italian tuneup, in the process.
(my neighbor just bought a new 200 for his kid for graduation. he and his son both love it. it has the tigershark 4 in it, and it's plenty of motor for the car.the dad didn't like the Malibu as much as the 200. again, opinions vary.)


*should be "resident of Italy tuneup". don't want to hurt anyone's "feelings".
have a good day.


The main reason is to keep 1000 miles off the car, I've taken some long trips this year and stacked up the miles. I know highway miles are easy miles but I would just rather spend the $100 and keep 1000 miles off of the Accord, plus I enjoy driving other cars, its fun!
 
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