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Probably not the join in the fun answer you may expect if you're following this thread, but I'm in the opposite camp when it comes to driving when on vacation.
I avoid driving like the plague at any time, but particularly on vacation.
All our LONG vacations, two to three, sometimes four weeks, follow a similar pattern, rent a house preferably with a pool, anywhere outside of the U.K., S.W. Florida, Portugal, Arizona, French Riviera, Texas, Spain, Georgia, etc., I rent a car to get from the airport to the house, I drive that bit, then that's it, I claim shotgun after that while my wife takes over.
She wants to see any sights, visit shopping malls, drive to a decent restaurant, then that's her in the driving seat, maybe I will drive back to the airport at the end of the vacation.
If we take a long weekend somewhere, usually, Madrid, Rome, Athens, Paris, Berlin, then it is taxi to the hotel in the centre, taxi or subway while in town, taxi back to the airport.
I spent my working life holding a steering wheel, driving an eighteen wheeler for fourteen years from London to anywhere in Europe, from Portugal to Poland and any country in between, then almost thirty years driving a licenced London taxi, enough is enough, it is no fun anymore.
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.
I can see if you leased a vehicle it may make sense to rent a car for longer trips to prevent paying for overage charges. Or if your personal car isn't reliable and fear a breakdown, then I can see that too.
In your case it your goal is truly to hit the 500k mark so why wouldn't you put miles on your car instead of rental car? You are working against your goal. And what's the advantage since you are paying for a rental?
We have done this, yes. Our cars are older and my husband maintains them himself. We have the Auto Club premium membership (with 100-mile towing) so that if anything happens to a car, it can be towed straight to his shop.
But when I drove our kids to San Francisco (900 mile round-trip), I rented a car. If it broke down, the agency would give us another one. And no worries about how I would get the car towed home from 450 miles away.
In your case it your goal is truly to hit the 500k mark so why wouldn't you put miles on your car instead of rental car? You are working against your goal. And what's the advantage since you are paying for a rental?
So far I've put about 18K miles a year on my car (200K in 11 years). I've had a car totaled from an accident through no fault of my own. And it meant unexpectedly going from a paid off car that I had planned to have for 10 more years -- to having to get a new car and go back to car payments. (I could have kept the totaled car but it never would have been insured for collision again.
1) Despite renting a car for a long miles vacation -- I think I will -- if the car stays accident free make it to 500K.
2) And I think renting a car for long highway drive vacation will reduce the opportunity for an accident.
(So would never driving it. But that's not what the OP was about.)
I never had a credit card. A local renter doesn't require credit cards, but it has a distance limit from its location. The one reason I would rent is more miles per gallon and per tank, so I can avoid higher gas prices.
Vacation? whats that? My wife asked me to go on vacation before she said she wanted to go to a place shes never been before...i said how about the kitchen.
Vacation? whats that? My wife asked me to go on vacation before she said she wanted to go to a place shes never been before...i said how about the kitchen.
Forgive me, completely off thread, but that reminded me of a scene in The Big Bang Theory, where Sheldon is trying to persuade Amy to help him with something to annoy Leonard, he says he'll do anything for her if she'll help.
She says, "Kiss me where I've never been kissed before", he pauses for a second or two, then says, "Salt Lake City?"
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