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My car is a 2017 Ford Explorer so comfortable and I am not concerned about putting mileage on it. That said, I personally draw the line at a comfortable road trip being 500 miles. After that I fly and rent a car. The only exception would be if I was going for more then 10 days, I would take the driving trip out to 1200 miles and spend a night on the road.
My son and his wife recently came to SC to visit from Boston, MA, 960 miles, straight through in 14 hours, 4am to 6pm on a Saturday. They rented a car rather then put mileage on their own cars.
I'm taking a trip next week and doing the Amtrak auto train because it saves 900 miles of wear and tear each way, for me and the car.
I did that once......kids wanted a train trip. It cost me more than driving and TOOK LONGER! Kids have the memories and I'll know never to do that again
My son and his wife recently came to SC to visit from Boston, MA, 960 miles, straight through in 14 hours, 4am to 6pm on a Saturday. They rented a car rather then put mileage on their own cars.
My record was 1000 miles solo with 4 kids and a dog........straight through to a destination I had never been. It was a car/kid/dog delivery trip.......
I do every time. My road trips are days of almost non-stop driving. I highly enjoy them and I like the idea of not worrying about any issues with the car as it's a rental. Prices down here are negligible, about $25 a day, paying that for peace of mind the chance to drive something new is well worth it.
Last time I rented a car to make a long road trip was 10 years ago. I did so because gas prices had risen high enough that the savings in gas expense almost paid for the rental. Also, the previous two years I had put a lot of miles on my own truck.
Before that time I had rented cars instead of driving my own a few times. At that time I had only a RWD vehicle and the trips were in mid-winter over several high passes. I had driven my truck a fair amount in slippery winter conditions and thought, "Just rent something else for these once-a-year trips!" I rented 4WD, AWD, and FWD each on those trips. Plus, I tend to keep vehicles I like a long time but enjoy driving something else once in a while. Renting for a long trip is a much cheaper way of trying something else without getting rid of the one I like best (or paying to maintain two vehicles, which I did for a long time).
Now that my favorite is 12 years old, I may rent again on an occasional long trip. By long I mean thousands of miles.
I started to not trust my beloved 97 Blazer, 230,000 miles a little less on long trips a couple of years ago. I maintain it well but one trip I had a loss of power going up hill on the highway. Press the pedal, not really wanting to go. I think I pulled over but ended up getting home ok. (This happened probably 6 or 7 hours from home) It seemed to fix itself? Never resolved exactly what it was. Also had a ck engine light come on once and it took me awhile to find someone to pull a code that told me it was nothing to worry about. Anyway, that was enough, I didn't want to risk getting stranded somewhere (that had happened but close to home). Especially holiday weekends, sundays and rural places are horrible if you need a mechanic.
So I started renting for long trips and vacations. Was surprised at the number of people I saw in rental agencies doing the same for a wide variety of reasons.
Its not a bad deal really, especially if your car is a gas hog. And if the rental breaks down, they get you another.
Just bought a 2015. It has higher miles than I would like so I am thinking about that but will probably drive it for the next few road trips anyway.
I've done this a couple of times. And may do it more and more as my car gets older.
Also, I'm at 206k miles and would like to hit 500k, so I find myself babying my 2006 4-wheeled "baby" more, as she gets older.
How will you hit 500K if you avoid putting miles on the car?
Renting is too expensive. When I rent, I always buy insurance too, to keep accidents (if any) off of my own insurance. So it's not practical to do that for the duration of a vacation.
Probably most often seen with those who own old cars for daily drivers, who take occasional road trips and want a late model car.
I can't see doing it if you own a newer car. Seems like it defeats the purpose of a having a long term financial commitment in a car. The rental is an additional unnecessary cost.
It would take a lot of high mileage road trips to justify the wear and tear theory.
I imagine it is common practice for those with a lease who can't put excess miles on.
I've done it a couple times. Rather than rack miles on my GTI which would have put it over the 40k service interval mid trip and just for a fun experience we rented a convertible for a Florida trip.
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