Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Nope. Cheaper to use the vehicle you own and on a well maintained vehicle, there is NO reason to "baby" it. I've got 300k on a 2001 and also hope to see 500k with it, but I had no hesitation to do a ~5k mile round trip drive with it a couple years ago. There's simply Nothing like being in your own vehicle.
Wow, what kind of car do you drive? Sounds like it is quite reliable.
NEVER! I like driving my own car. It has everything I need including a Dvd player for the kids. If I was to get a flat tire or anything else happens I have AAA. I just feel if I'm trying to save money by driving instead of flying then why would I pay for a rental?
No. I bought the car specifically to drive it. So that is what I do: I drive it.
Also, my dogs travel with me. They like to travel in their own car, which is set up to accommodate them, and I don't like to worry about keeping dog drool out of the rental car.
Trips away from home, I am sometimes pulling a travel trailer. Can you even rent a car that is powerful enough and set up to pull a travel trailer?
I've Rented Suburbans and F150's for hunting trips. I think there was something about specifically not trailering though.
I haven't rented a car for a road trip or anything, except for one time when i had a car that I legitimately didn't trust not to strand me.
But, as for keeping the wear and tear and miles off of a car? That doesn't hold water for me. You are paying the rental companies for the wear and tear and miles, and paying them a profit on that, so they can be sure they make money.
I can certainly see renting a minivan for the family road trip or whatever.
NEVER! I like driving my own car. It has everything I need including a Dvd player for the kids. If I was to get a flat tire or anything else happens I have AAA. I just feel if I'm trying to save money by driving instead of flying then why would I pay for a rental?
Because when you fly you almost always have to rent a car there anyway. If the drive isn't terribly long you sometimes save money by renting from home turf instead. I like it much better than flying because I can't being camping gear on airplanes, among other reasons.
The only time I have rented a car to drive on a road trip was a one-way one. Otherwise it's my car all the time. I don't worry about resale because I keep it long enough to where an extra 5-10K miles isn't going to make a difference if I decide to sell later on (220K vs 230K)
Do you rent a car for driving vacations to keep miles/wear-and-tear off your vehicle?
Yes, I've done that several times.
I like to use my own cars for local transportation and regional travel up to 200 miles. For distances longer than that, I rent a car (actually, an SUV). They are usually newer anyway and I want that comfort and added security when I'm driving longer distances.
A primary purpose of one of our vehicles (Conversion Van) is for road trips. Nothing you can rent is as comfortable or as well configured for road trips. Plus a lot of the things you never think of but sometimes end up needing, are permanently stashed in that vehicle (bug spray, sunscreen, pillows, ear plugs, paper towels, hand sanitizer, lotion, pepto bismol,leashes, bowls, jackets, tums, advil, advil sleep, several different inverters, spare phone chargers, Movie DVDs . . . . . Lots of little things you generally do not think of when packing for a road triip, we do not have to worry about - they are just there already. It is in the 180K plus range, so getting a bit long in the tooth. When it gets unreliable, we will just replace it.
Our other vehicle (4x4 truck) also serves a specific purpose for camping vacations. Both for its hauling/towing capabilities and for its off road - dirt/mud capabilities. It is also permanently loaded with they types of things you are likely to want or need on a rugged camping trip (hatchet, stakes, rope, fire starter, several small led flashlights, marking paint, sunscreen, bug spray, etc.) If you can rent a 4x4 4 door pickup for camping trips, I am not aware of where they are available. If I rented one, I would have to remember to move all of the various tools and supplies I keep in the boxes (assuming you can rent one with someplace to store all that stuff.
Between the two we have every type of driving/camping road tripping vacation pretty well covered. We d o not have to worry about little things we might need, just pack and go.
We also sometimes decide on a road trip on Friday and just go. No time to hunt down a rental fill out forms etc. If we were goint to use rentals for that, they would need to be open 24/7 or close to it. Usually only airport rentals are open that long and they charge a premium for being at the airport.
I wonder if a rental service specifically for road trips or camping would catch on. You rent a van or truck and it comes loaded with he tings you are likely to need. It would be expensive, but it might be worth it to people who do not have a lot of time for planning and do nto want to risk not having some key item they never thought they woudl need.
Now if I only drove a beater around town, something cheap and not reliable--but it was good enough for town driving--then sure, I'd rent for the occasional trip. But I drive many miles per year, and as such have vehicles that I "trust". A few extra miles won't hurt 'em.
OTOH it might be nice to rent something that I was thinking of buying. I've never owned a CUV but if I was serious (again) about getting one it might be nice to rent the model I was thinking of, spend a few days in it, and use that as part of my decision making process.
I also live 30+ miles from the closest rental place. Heck it's 12 or more miles to the closest bus stop.
We like to rent large vans when we have a family outing. Lets say that we are heading on down to Disneyland or Universal Studios. We rented a 15 passenger van and filled it up with our kids, a few relatives and friends. When you go to Universal with a large van they give you a better parking spot at a reduced price. Thought that was so cool. Disney gives you two parking spots, one in front of the other, and they don't charge you more for the second spot.
One time we wanted something larger than our car but nicer than our van. We ended up getting a 2017 Tahoe and loved it. That thing was the most comfortable car I had been in. Spent a weekend with that thing in Arizona and was the first time where I wished it was mine for keeps.
On a trip that my wife and I made to Las Vegas, we ended up driving so we could visit family along the way. I find it easier to fly a plane in but that would not have worked on this trip. We rented the most economical car they had and ended up with a Dodge Dart.
I live in Honolulu. Every time I travel to the 48 states I need to rent a car. Actually even if I just fly to the neighbor islands in Hawaii, I still need to rent a car. So after so many years of rental experience, I acquire some knowledge about car rental.
For example, renting in EWR is much cheaper than at JFK, Las Vegas is extremely cheap, pick up at DC and return at NYC will not be assessed drop off charge, rental much cheaper in downtown than at airport (but can be returned at airport without extra charge),...etc.
IMO even if I live in the 48 states I will still prefer renting a car for long road trip. The reasons are:
(1) Usually I go on extra long road trip, i.e. 5,000 miles in 21 days. I would prefer to pay $600+ instead of adding 5,000 miles onto my car's speedometer.
(2) Many car rental companies give me very new car, i.e. 700 miles only on the speedometer. I really enjoy driving new car every time. Moreover, different car rental companies use cars from different car manufacturers. I can try testing everyone of them before I decide on my next new car.
(3) All these new cars are usually equipped with new gadgets like GPS, satellite radio, rear view camera,....etc. It is much more fun than driving my old car which has none. And these features make a difference in long road trip.
When I lived in the 48 states, once I made a road trip to Yellowstone with my own car. The radiator broke right there. With only one car repair shop, the inflated repair cost and the time we got stuck there was not fun at all.
Last edited by Ian_Lee; 05-22-2017 at 02:28 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Do you rent a car for driving vacations to keep miles/wear-and-tear off your vehicle?
