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I am taking a long road trip of about 5000 miles in a few weeks. My car is quite capable of making the trip as it is a newer model and reliable. However, I wonder if renting a car and putting all those miles on it instead of my own car might be a good idea, saving my car from racking up miles on it.
You can get specials, even on premium cars, for fairly cheap for a couple of weeks. What do you think about putting long miles on a rental instead of your own car?
that's the only way I would do a road trip. I'd also rent a fancy car like a Camaro to make it even more memorable!
For some trips, I will rent, others drive one of my own vehicles, depending upon a few factors, including availability of a vehicle that I would normally drive, i.e., meets size and safety requirements. What I like with a rental is that the car is covered by insurance that is not my primary auto insurance carrier, through the credit card, so scratches, dings, and dents from valets or on-street parking are not as annoying. Using your own insurance, or fighting with the credit card as secondary insurance can be bothersome, but the LDW rates can be extremely high, though in certain countries, I buy everything they offer, including the extra fee to reduce the LDW to a zero or under $100 deductible.
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We used to do this all the time, rather than put all the miles and wear & tear on our own cars.
However lately all the rental companies are very careful to specify where you can and cannot take the car (usually a group of several states adjacent to the renting location) and I think all of them have chips in them now so they can tell if you are stupid or dishonest enough to try to cheat them on this.
We used to do this all the time, rather than put all the miles and wear & tear on our own cars.
However lately all the rental companies are very careful to specify where you can and cannot take the car (usually a group of several states adjacent to the renting location) and I think all of them have chips in them now so they can tell if you are stupid or dishonest enough to try to cheat them on this.
The one time we didn't rent a car or did it from another company was for the reason you are giving: there were certain states we could not take the car into> That was many years ago, I would add. I wouldn't think of renting one and cheating. What if you did get in an accident or something?
Sure, especially with the grandchildren along for a road trip! Less wear and tear on our vehicle, and kept "grandpa" happy that the kids weren't messing up his car.
If I can't afford to rent a car to get out of town, I simply won't go, even if it's for a 200 mile trip, and I always take the Loss Waver Damage Insurance, $20 extra a day, all for some wonderful peace of mind!
One time, I rented a car, hit a deer in Utah, late at night, did a lot of damage to a brand new Ford Taurus, was able to get the car into Salt Lake City to a Hertz office, and what a luxury: Yeah! That happens a number of times in Utah, someone hitting a deer, so just pick out another car and enjoy the rest of your trip!
We used to do this all the time, rather than put all the miles and wear & tear on our own cars.
However lately all the rental companies are very careful to specify where you can and cannot take the car (usually a group of several states adjacent to the renting location) and I think all of them have chips in them now so they can tell if you are stupid or dishonest enough to try to cheat them on this.
I have NOT seen that restriction with Avis, Hertz, and Alamo.
I have seen that restriction with Enterprise, Thrifty, Dollar and some of the smaller agencies.
If you are going to rent a car, sign up with all the various programs and you can avoid a lot of the hassles and some of the extra fees like extra driver charges.
I think if you own your own car and its not on a lease with miles caps, its probably better from a math standpoint to put the miles on the car you own.....unless, you can get some really nice deal on a rental, but when you rent a car and tell them you're going to put 5,000 miles on it, the fees might be steep, make sure you read the fine print, some places have miles caps.
Also, another way to look at it is this. If you plan on keeping your car for 100k miles, you know, if you're the person who loves to keep a car for 10 years or so, there will be no real difference in book value if your car has 95k miles or 100k miles when you sell it....so, the money you lose from the rental car is money that goes out of your pocket TODAY. The money you 'lose" because your car has 5,000 more miles on it won't be lost until you sell the car......and then, like i said, if the car is a HUGE amount of miles on it, its not going to matter much if you have 100k vs 105k or 110k vs 115k at that point, its all pretty much the same.
I think if you own your own car and its not on a lease with miles caps, its probably better from a math standpoint to put the miles on the car you own.....unless, you can get some really nice deal on a rental, but when you rent a car and tell them you're going to put 5,000 miles on it, the fees might be steep, make sure you read the fine print, some places have miles caps.
Also, another way to look at it is this. If you plan on keeping your car for 100k miles, you know, if you're the person who loves to keep a car for 10 years or so, there will be no real difference in book value if your car has 95k miles or 100k miles when you sell it....so, the money you lose from the rental car is money that goes out of your pocket TODAY. The money you 'lose" because your car has 5,000 more miles on it won't be lost until you sell the car......and then, like i said, if the car is a HUGE amount of miles on it, its not going to matter much if you have 100k vs 105k or 110k vs 115k at that point, its all pretty much the same.
you obviously do not rent cars very often. First of all, most of the time the rental company doesn't ask you how many miles you plan on putting on the car? Yes, there are a few companies that do limit miles, but very few. That used to be the policy, about 15 years ago, no more. When one can get a good deal on renting a car for a weekend or a few weeks, they save the wear and tear on their own car, they know if the car breaks down, a replacement will be available immediately and the cost is very little.
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