Street Spirit

Nope, wouldn't rent if the car we had was well capable of holding everything we needed. I don't see the point in paying to rent a car when you already own one. So what if you cause wear and tear -- isn't that why you own a car? So you do an earlier oil change.... big deal.

A car won't last forever, so might as well enjoy it if you're paying for it. Plus, no rental car will ever be as well maintained as your own car. I'd trust using our own car 100% more than heading out of town in a car driven and abused by hundreds of other people, and not well-maintained by a company who worries most about profits than if the tires have enough air.

nj2pa2nc

Traveled thru Yellowstone in the tsx. We then traveled Idaho to get to Jenny Lake as the closest way there from Yellowstone was closed.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

2010 E350 - Gets 24-25mpg highway on a good day. Requires premium fuel. Tires cost about $350 each. Oil changes are around $90 alone. 30k mile service was $680. Our other vehicles get ~20mph highway and ~15mpg highway though neither requires premium.

Rental car - Practically brand new Hyundai Sonata with under 10k miles (last one we had was around 4k miles). Cost ~$130 for the week to rent... less if we hit a promotion. Gets 34-35 mpg highway. Regular fuel. Don't care about the car, so don't have to worry about it getting beat up on the highway from rocks, tractor-trailers, loading/unloading luggage, etc. No maintenance to worry about... just drop it off when done.

Well worth it IMO. It's actually probably cheaper to rent the car b/c the further north we go, the more fuel costs... so the difference in MPG alone make it worth while... never mind the other wear and tear and maintenance items...

WdnUlik2no

My tl when I had it got about 31mpg highway. But it took premium fuel and much more expensive to maintain than the cheap car I would rent. My G37 gets similar highway mileage and similar maintenance costs I assume. Rentals are only expensive if renting an expensive car.

When I rented I got the cheapest car just to get me to where I need to go, I didn't care about what kind of car it was, as long as it drove I was fine and weekend rates for me were not that expensive.

More importantly, any bumper or hood damage that may happen on the highway due to is done to the rental and not my car. Usually rentals already have some minor highway damage and the rental company usually doesn't make a big deal out of it. The only other thing I have to worry about is gas; any mantainence issues like tires, oil, or gravel damage I don't have to think about.

For long trips, would gladly pay a few bucks to "tear up" a cheap rental than putting that same wear and tear on my own vehicle.

NBP04TL4ME

Nope. Only rent for work in other cities when I have to fly. We recently did a 1500mile college visit trip and took our MDX. We talked about renting something to get better mileage, but figured it would be offset by the cost of the rental. Plus the fam prefers riding in their own ride. Tough to be the MDX.

S14 n Tsx

Definitely depends on what type of cars we own..

I am with JB, I personally won't drive my car for no more than 500 miles AT MOST.. just not worth it. If I owned a honda accord, just like OP's friend, why waste money on rental?

S14 n Tsx

not enough space??.. then, I can understand, but just to avoid wear and tear on Honda?? that's nonsense.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Agreed. If I had an Accord or something I would likely drive that. When we had my wife's Camry we took it on several road trips from NY to NC and back when we were building our house (to check on progress).

gr8ness97

iTrader: (5)

I have rented sometimes. Last year, I drove the Z to work in AL, and did not want to drive it up to NC for the Thanksgiving Holiday. I rented a Mazda 6. Surprisingly, the gas mileage wasnt much better than the Z. I simply didnt want to put the extra miles on the Z at the time.

There are benefits on both. The chief benefit of renting is if you have a big MPG gap between your car and the rental and alot of miles to cover IMO. With that said, its highly unlikely that I would rent when I have the Accord to drive.

vwong

Other than the fact that I don't have to worry about the car breaking down, I really don't like rentals. At the $40 range per day rentals, they're almost always not fun to drive. I prefer driving my own car.

Sarlacc

I just can't agree with this line of thought.

Why bother spending the money on a vehicle such as mercedes if you aren't going to drive it. It was made for taking those longer trips.

The maintenance is just part of the ownership...its kinda like don't buy it if you don't want to pay those prices.

As for doing this with a TL or a G37? really? come on.....

Street Spirit

I'd say if you're making long distance drives frequently enough for it to really matter to your pocket book or for it to even be something on your mind before heading out, your vehicle probably isn't the best fit for your driving needs.

If the long distance trips aren't frequent enough for it to be a criteria when purchasing a car, then I'd say don't worry about it either. Whether you have to change your tires in April, when you would've been due in June, just because you drove a few extra thousand miles over the period of a few months truly doesn't change things. A few months here and there, an extra oil change here and there....it's going to need to be done regardless of if it's once every three months a few times a year, or once every five months otherwise. And it's not like you need to change your tires every 5,000 miles...it's not a frequent purchase. It's still costing you money to use your car. Might as well enjoy it. You bought it for a reason.


In the grand scheme of owning the car, in the long run - having 70,000 miles on the odometer or 85,000 isn't something that matters much.

I can easily drive an extra 5 hours every week during summer months, and 4 hours one way to visit close friends other times. If I had to rent a car to cover those "long" trips, I might as well just trade in what I've got and keep the rental. Can't count the miles, or the hours... just drive and have fun. The car will depreciate and cost me money either way.

Nabooly

If it's a family trip, we'll take our car. If it's more people we rent a van usually. A bunch of my family and cousins went to chicago few years ago (it was like 25 of us) and we rented one of those huge chevy vans that seat like 15 people.

CAgine

maybe If I drove an e92 m3...But no I've put some crazy mileage on my old ACCORD 04 v6 (2000+ mile trips), and never had a second thought as to if it would hurt my car. It ran good for 170K miles before I sold it. Some people don't even put on that many miles like I have before moving on to a newer car.

nj2pa2nc

One of the main reasons for buying our tsx was long distance roadtrips.

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

i've only usually rented a car when we didn't have enough space (i.e... >5 people with luggage, i would rent a minivan) i wouldn't hesitate to take my car, luxury or not, as long as all the passengers are comfortable and i am driving... if it's a long trip and someone else plans on helping me drive, i'll usually defer to rent a car for insurance reasons...

when i travel out of town and need a car to get around... then bank the freebees to use for the above situations...

WdnUlik2no

Wear and tear is calculated at about 25 cents a mile give or take. So an 1600 mile round trip would effectively cost me about $400. I could rent a cheap car make the same trip and not even pay close to that including gas costs.

More than the mileage or wear and tear, Id also be concerned about something happening to the car while on the road, be it gravel, accident, or worse theft. Any of this happening to a rental would be covered by insurance, in case of theft, you know you still have your car at home, in case of an accident, you don't have to worry about it showing up on your carfax if you had to sell the car in the future.

Like I said before, I hate traveling especially via a car so I rarely travel to begin with, but if I had to drive to a place far away like Miami, there is no way anyone could ever convince me to take my own car on such a long trip, when I could rent a kia rio or nissan sentra for cheap, and get much better gas mileage and not have to worry about the unexpected happening to my own car.

just last year when coming back from augusta, I got caught behind a road salt truck because there was 1 mm of snow on the ground; my front bumper and hood was messed up and I had to live with that damage until I traded the car in. This just reinforced my opinion that on long trips, id rather pay and take sometime elses car rather than my own.

Short trips, then yeah id take my own car unless I needed more space, but on long trips of greater than 5 or 6 hours or if I'm going somewhere where I don't have friends or family to park my car at, or a place I'm not familiar with, then I'm going with a cheap rental. Sorry.

is300eater

IMO, it's all relative to different situations... in the scenario given by the OP, no... I wouldn't.

But let's say you drive a gas hog, and question it's reliability... perhaps it's a bit overdue for a full maintenance... Something's come up and you want to make a run out to Vegas (from LA) for the weekend in middle of July... You shop around and able to get a fairly good price on a weekend rental for a Prius (or something like that)... Why da hell not? It's NOT always about NOT wanting to put miles in your car, but sometimes it's about NOT putting yourself at risk of breaking down out in the middle of nowhere. The money you'd save on gas alone would pay for either all of the rental if not... at least a good chunk of it.

speedemon90

Here was my argument used, putting miles on your car is inevitable, it is gonna happen all you are doing is prolonging it, so either way you are still gonna be paying for that wear and tear especially if you plan on keeping your car for quite some time. So then you are paying the extra money to rent a vehicle that is a) probably a lot more boring to drive, b)less comfortable to drive.

And for those saying if its an accord so it will be reliable so he shouldn't have to worry.

I wouldnt worry if i bought a more luxurious car either. I mean having a mercedes or bmw you're paying for that premium of comfort and fun and yet given the chance to take a nice road trip with it you aren't gonna do it? I dont see the point of that.

The only time I would see it is if you had a car that was well uncomfortable for long road trips, something low and stiff basically. Or you need the space.

speedemon90

there are exceptions to all things and this would be one of it. If your car is prone to break downs I wouldnt trust it haha. Like Portland's old sante fe

but those are situations that dont happen all to often in new cars today.

Street Spirit

You can get into an accident 2 miles from your house. You drive your car every day through all kinds of situations and are at risk every single time you go in the car, whether you're driving your own car, a rental car, on the highway in your own town, or a city street 2 hours away.

Bumper damage can occur driving around your own town any day of the week. It doesn't only happen when taking long road trips.

Wear and tear is a part of every day driving, unless you drive a luxurious car and enjoy looking at it and seldom driving it.

WdnUlik2no

Well first, I don't consider road trips "nice". But that's just me.

But if I had to take one, I wouldn't care about a car being "fun to drive"; On road trips, all I care about is getting there. Its not my everyday car so it could be the ugliest car on the road, but I wouldn't care; as long as its cheap and gets me there that's all that matters to me. As far as it being comfortable, I really haven't driven any car I wasn't comfortable in, so that was never an issue with me.

As far as bumper/hood damage, it has only happened to me on the highway, I live 3 miles from work so I never even have to get on the highway on a daily basis. I consider trips to work, groceries necessary trips for living, so any damage that occurs during those kind of trips I could live with, but road trips I consider unnecessary and I would rather damage done during unnecessary trips be done to a rental car.

Yes, cars are meant to be driven, but that doesn't mean I would run mine into the ground either.

On a smaller scale, It's similar to what people in Atlanta do every day, they take MARTA to work instead of driving their own cars because they live too far from work whether it be bad traffic, or just that the don't want to drive that far on a daily basis.

gonzo08452

Heck no! Unless I need a 6passenger or above. I worked for a rental co for over 10 years and I can tell you some rentals are dirtier than the cheapest motel. Try wiping the back side of the steering wheel w/ a wipe and you'll see what I mean. Disgusting.

LaCostaRacer

I couldn't imagine renting a car for driving 4 hours- I guess that really means 8 hours if it's a round trip. That would be ridiculous in my opinion.

The only time I rented a car for a long trip was when I drove 4,000 miles and knew I was going camping and boon-docking on lumber roads in Canada with the car. I had just bought a Maxima SE and wanted a hatchback to pile a bunch of stuff in the back so I rented a Ford Probe for that mission.

It just doesn't make sense for me to downgrade and rent a Ford Fusion or some other rental car for a regular road trip to Vegas or Mammoth skiing when I have a nice Acura made for driving.

I go on long trips at least four times a year if long is considered 4 hours. I have a 6 year car that has 47K miles on which is still low miles despite these trips. It's the short trips and parking in malls that slowly kill your car- not the long trips.

crazyasiantl

iTrader: (7)

my parents rent for longer trips, neither of their cars are fuel friendly ( 96 Tahoe 2DR and a 06 lifted Prerunner)

my mom gets car sick easily, so being in a tall vehicle with lots of body roll isnt the best for her.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Our cars get driven. Between the 3 cars in the garage, the Mercedes is driven the most. Around 18k/year. I don't mind paying the prices for maintenance. If we couldn't afford them, we'd be in a Honda. Doesn't mean I like paying them regularly though. Much better ways to spend our money. So when we have a 2000 mile trip ahead of us, makes much more sense to rent and drive. The difference in gas alone is worth it.

Oh, and we only rent when it's a long trip (NC to FL or NC to NY). Otherwise, we use our own cars. My wife drives monthly to Atlanta (~4 hours each way), Raleigh (~3 hours each way), or Greensboro (about 1.5 hours each way). The only time renting is an option is when it is taking the place of buying plane tickets. ~$130 plus gas is much better then spending $600+ on plane tickets. Plus, I can take more then 1 ounce of water with me

But bottom line, it comes down to dollars and cents. Factoring added maintenance, MPG, fuel prices, etc... if it's less expensive to rent, we do that. If not, we don't. Of course we buy cars to enjoy them, and we do... thoroughly... but definitely not a fan of throwing money away. A quick analysis showed for the really long trips, renting was cheaper. So that's what we do. And yeah, as far as the OP goes with an Accord... I'd never rent. Use that every time, especially for a short trip like a 4 hour (one way) drive.

It's easy to answer the OP's question with your own opinion... but like you said, it's all relative. Everyone has their own opinions, preferences, etc. Either you consider renting or you don't, no one is going to change anyone's mind by repeatedly voicing or defending their opinion. That said, I'll exit the topic now...

nj2pa2nc

which rental co do you use that charges $130 a week with unlimited mileage. When I travel from NC to NJ I stay there longer than one week before returning to NC. We used to own 3 vehicles-2 cars and a truck. The truck was used for hauling trash and for the beach. We sold it-why pay insurance, maintenance, reg. fee, personal property tax on a vehicle that is driven very little.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

^ Usually use National. Since we're Emerald Club, we can rent the cheapest car (usually around $15/day) then just pick a mid-size from the Emerald Club lots. And being a BJ's member, we typically can find promotions for a free weekend day or free weekdays... so brings the cost down even further.

That said, we haven't rented a car for a trip since 2010 since most of the longer trips we took were airplane trips. Also, the last few years and of the trips my wife has made back to NY to visit family were covered by her company since they were business trips she extended a couple days. So prices may have gone up... but from 2005-2010... that was about the average cost for a week rental...

subinf

Nope.

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

I drive my own. I feel more comfortable in my own car. I know where everything is, know how fast I am going by the feel of the car, have XM.

I drive rental cars a lot when I fly somewhere. Today I am driving a Jetta. Last week I had a Fusion. Couple weeks before that I had a Kia Optima and a Sonata. The Optima is the only one I really liked.

Amber

Yes to the rental car on long trips. Usually involves driving across PA which is always under construction, trucks, pot holes, etc. I'd rather spend a few bucks on a rental to keep the mileage off my own cars ... Also when bringing my dogs, I can let them hog up the rental car and not have to worry much about vacuuming any hair, etc lol