Renting a Car by the Month?

[LargeCarManX2]

I hear that now a day's folks are renting cars by the month. The advantage to this is....

No maintence, No brakes, tires, repairs of any kind are needed. All you pay for is gas, insurance and the renting of the car.

Heard, but have not confirmed you can get a nice ride with 35 to 40 mpg for about $230.00 a month. Any comments pro and con?

 

[FL_Rob]

Too good to be true?

 

[Lead Shoes]

It totally sounds too good to be true....

 

[tommygunn]

I dont know......that seems too much of a "pipe dream"......back when i was in my accident, 1 week of a rental (actually, 5 days.....not even a WEEK....) cost me $200+ dollars.

That was through Enterprise though.....I hear there are some "cheaper" places, but Progressive said that there's a "discount" through them as a progressive member......so eh....

On the plus side, it was unlimited mileage, anywhere in the state (likely governed by a inline gps/lo-jack mechanism bolted under the car......) which aint bad, since i heard some places charging by the mile.....


and yea, they did give me a Prius, I only filled up once, and did hella hyper miling lol. My avg mpg was at 55 mpg by the time i turned it in.

 

[Spyder7]

Originally Posted By: FL_Rob

Too good to be true?


+1. Its $40/day here to rent the cheapest econo box at the cheapest rental place. They'd likely cut the rate on a monthly rental, but not from $40/day to under $10.

We have "rent to own" place in abundance here, with terms - literally too good to be true. Far more expensive than buying outright from a used stealership at the worst possible finance terms from a finance company.

I looked into this once and listened to the fast talking owner tell me about all the wonderful benefits, including the warranty. I had to hammer him with questions to get actual answers (instead of vague replies) and discovered such wonderful truths then that the sticker price did not include the 2 year warranty he had talked up. That was a $2,500 addition with $250 deductible, and they would use - at their discretion, either new, used, or reconditioned parts. When I asked to see a copy of the warranty and read it over, I found the many outs that allowed them to essentially arbitrarily deny coverage if they chose to.

A neighbor went this route (from the very same place I'd visited before) and paid $7k for an '06 Tiburon. The day after he bought it I asked him about it and listened while he talked it up, including its warranty. I asked him outright if it was too late to bring it back. He laughed and walked away. A few days later he mentioned it having "a cam problem" (I drove it and it sounded like the valves were toasted), but he wasn't worried - it was under warranty and they were looking it over.

The next day the smile was gone when he got it back and they'd refused to do anything with it, telling him it was cheaper for them to replace the engine when it eventually blew! That was a couple months ago, its still running and he's still driving it with its unfixed valve problem while paying the monthly payment on it.

Nice looking car - mint inside and out, if you can overlook the present issue they're doing nothing to fix, and this particular model's track record of ongoing problems that plagued it to the point Hyundai simply discontinued it.

-Spyder

 

[97f150]

A guy I work with used to rent cars by the month like this. Was the "sour Sam" type that always claimed that "(company) dont pay me enough so that I can afford a car of my own" without ever noticing that the money he was poking out to drive someone elses car was double if not more then just buying and paying for a car of his own. He eventually bought a BMW.........then another........then a Lincoln Town Car. All on the same salary he had before.

 

[dparm]

Renting a car month to month is effectively leasing with no down payment and no buy-out option. Seems like a really bad idea.

 

[mrsilv04]

I don't see $230/mo. as being possible. That's less than $8 a day.

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
I don't see $230/mo. as being possible. That's less than $8 a day.


In a lot of places, the rental car tax is more than $8 a day.

 

[01rangerxl]

Sounds too good to be true.

Usually renting anything costs more in the long run. I noticed lots of "rent to own" dealers in Birmingham, AL. 20 year old pickups/SUVs were around $75-90 a week, which works out to over $300 a month. Not a great deal for such old vehicles. At that price they should be paid off in 5-6 months, but that's not what the terms are...

Lots of people in poorer areas here live out of hotel rooms as well. That's $150 a week, or $600 a month. $600 a month can get an apartment here. Not sure how that works out for long term residents. I guess maybe they have criminal charges or poor credit keeping them out of an apartment.

If you really want to save money on a car, some cheap old domestic economy car off Craigslist is probably the way to go.

 

[dparm]

I don't think you could rent a car for less than $600 a month, and even then it's going to be something tiny like an Aveo.

 

[JHZR2]

Pretty sure when I had a four-month rental a few years back it was thousands of dollars.

The taxes/surcharges kill you.

 

[Spyder7]

"Rent to own" is its own economic sector here that has spun off from vehicles, to furniture, appliances, and electronics. They get people in the door by advertising seemingly reasonable rates. The first catch is that the usual assumption is that its a monthly rate, when in fact its a bi-weekly payment, and they bury that in the fine print. Even then the rate appears reasonable - at least to some (enough that this has become a growing business sector here.

I get their flyers in my mailbox and have done the math on their bi-weekly payment schemes. Over the typical 24-36 month term its based on, they make anywhere from 2-4x on what the equivalent cash purchase cost. Example: laptops (the biggest loser for the consumer) that I priced at our major electronics store they sell for 4x the price over a 36 month term (a $300 laptop winds up costing $1200 when you go that route).

They succeed because they all use the model: no credit needed, and they don't do credit checks. They therefore sucker people in who lack the credit to finance it (at far better terms from even the most expensive finance companies) or cash to pay in cash, and who lack the self-discipline to simply go without.

Every rental place includes the only two appliances one truly "needs:" a fridge and stove, while home owners already have credit and alternatives that they don't go this route (its only those therefore who rent that do). For everything else they sell, one can do without, and its in the customer's best interest to do without rather then get fleeced by going this route.

They're living proof, and a very good example, of how people put perceived "needs" (which really aren't) and instant gratification over their own long-term self-interest. Those decisions, and the similar ones they make that go hand-in-hand condemn themselves to the economic poorhouse and insure they will remain there.

Having come here to go to school with nothing more than a suitcase containing clothes and a few sentimental items, a modest student credit line, and some cash left over from selling my car and everything else I couldn't take with me, I simply did without (for a time this included even a bed, and I slept on the floor for a couple months until I found a modestly priced bed I could afford that I bought used) while I put myself through school on student loans aimed at covering books, tuition, and leaving just enough left over to provide for the basics (Kraft dinner and beer).

Most seem incapable of conceiving of the thought of simply going without until you can afford to pay for whatever is within your means. They snub the availability of laundromats within their means to do laundry, in preference for renting to own a washer a dryer they can't afford. And so it goes to any household item, as well as vehicles, you can conceive of. If it can be bought, there is a rent-to-own option from another store where they'll happily take your "modest" biweekly payment so you can have whatever you desire - at 2-4x the price. And with the not so easily seen, but implicit, price that in paying that 2-4 fold price to go that route, you forfeit the economic choices that resulting lost purchasing power can go toward instead.

Yet they thrive to the point that their growth, though very recent as they're still novel, has been almost exponential.

-Spyder