An easy way to improve your situation is to sell the BMW and get a more practical and reliable vehicle. Granted, that works more in favor against the rental car.
I also don't think it's a given that you'd need a rental car every single weekend. If you need a car every single weekend then owning one yourself clearly makes the most sense. It's when you only need the car occasionally that it would make more sense.
I don't think we're disagreeing. I do need a car to go anyplace. But even if I only used it on weekends, I'd almost certainly own one because of, as you say, the friction associated with renting something.
I get what you're saying but, for many of us, renting a car for the weekend is a significant hassle and time sink. And then the rental probably isn't set up with a roof rack for canoes, etc. If it were a once a year thing? Sure. But it's not. It's every few weeks at least. (There's also picking up home improvement stuff etc.)
It doesn't always need to be a big SUV either. There are somewhat smaller vehicles that are almost as good for a lot of activities. People are going to keep buying vehicles that they can use for most of their activities.
That's certainly an option. Depends on your requirements and how much you use the vehicle. Renting does have some friction associated with it but, if you're only going to use a car a couple weekends a month, don't have dedicated parking, and don't need/want anything special, it may well make more sense to rent.
By my calculation, my car (including running costs) comes down to about 300 eur/month assuming I keep it for 5 years and get at least 1000 eur back when I sell or scrap it. (Reality: I'll probably get more out of it, or keep it longer)
Rentals start at around 28eur/day, so if I rented one every weekend (saturday+sunday), that'd be 224 eur plus fuel. Hardly cheaper.
Of course I don't travel every weekend, but when I do, it's more likely to be friday+saturday+sunday, and I do make week-long trips (and longer) a few times a year so it balances out, more or less.
Owning a car means I don't worry about making reservations, fetching and returning the vehicle, etc. It's always near the door, and I can go on a whim if a sudden need comes up, like it did just today.
Cars are daily-use items for most people, so not in the frame of discussion. Unless you only drive your car like once a year or something, in which case yeah you might be better off renting.
I am in similar situation to OP - I need a larger car during the weekends because I drive 200 miles away for certain events where I need to take loads of stuff with me. But during the week it's mostly me alone in the car driving to work.
I could rent a truck during weekends - but that would be ungodly expensive, especially since I'm under 25 so every rental company charges literally 2x or 3x for car/van rental to drivers under 25. Then I have to worry about returning it on time, and it has to be in perfect condition or again, I have to pay for anything that's damaged. If I scratch my own car - no biggie. If I want to stay overnight - it won't cost me another $100 per day of rental. And then the question is - is it really "better" for the environment/society/traffic to make two cars rather than one?
Yeah, if you get unlimited miles, it makes A LOT of sense to rent. I've done weekend trips covering 1000km and wondered that I should have rented for the weekend because it would be more economical to put the meterage on vehicle that isn't my own. Plus if I have a mechanical issue, it's the rental companies problem, not mine.
If niche situations like those are the only ones this person needs a car for, it might be better for them to rent a car for situations like those, rather than keep and maintain a vehicle full time. Still reducing car use by a lot even if it's not getting rid of it "entirely".
In Canada, renting a car when you're under 25 years old is pretty annoying. It's usually an extra $25 a day and that's what turned me off to renting. Some rental companies won't even let you get a car if you're under 25. It's actually a function of age, so I'm currently 24 and in theory, it should be cheaper now.. so let's do some blanket math to entertain your idea.
- I drive my car only on weekends, so Friday - Sunday
- It tends to break down every 3 months, at around $1000 a repair each time(BMWs have expensive repairs.) That's $4000 a year
- Insurance is about $1750 for a year
- Looking at rates at www.enterprise.com for my city, it's about $100 CAD for a rental car for 3 days (pick up at 7:00AM Friday and drop off at 4:00PM on Sunday.)
- $100 CAD * 4 is about $400 a month for a rental
- $4000 (repairs) + $1750 (insurance) + $120 (stickers) is about $489 for owning
It looks like using rental cars on weekends is not a great investment still and that makes me sad. I only save $89 a month and have to deal with picking up and dropping off the car and also not using it through the week. $1068 in yearly savings is not worth it!
Note: Gas is not included because I have to pay for gas for both cars, I guess it might be a little cheaper for the rental cars since they tend to be gas efficient, but I still don't think it's huge savings.
Wouldn't it be cheaper to rent a car if you're only going to use it once a week or so? I mean, with the payment itself, plus insurance, plus gas, regular maintenance, is it worth the price?
You don't have to buy a utility vehicle if you only use it once a month. Renting is both cheaper and better for the environment. Where I live many people don't own a car at all and rent one when they need it. For example I needed a car twice in the last three years.
It could be a time based rental, rather than trip based. If you think you'll need it for several trips, you should have the option to do that, rather than having to swap cars between trips.
I actually find the cost of renting cars makes a decent amount of sense for me, given how infrequently I use them. However, it's such a hassle, since I've got to go quite out of the way to where they're kept and I can only return them at inconvenient times (or I have to rent for two days because they're not open at the weekend, for example).
Being able to book one to use for a journey then let it go home would be great.
Rent a car for the weekend? It's like $50/day, so only $3k/yr to do it once a day per week. (Not factoring in the added cost of gas, or the discounts you can get by regularly renting a car and getting your own non-owner insurance)
I also don't think it's a given that you'd need a rental car every single weekend. If you need a car every single weekend then owning one yourself clearly makes the most sense. It's when you only need the car occasionally that it would make more sense.
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