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.
Why buy a car you'll own and pay for the whole year based on the usage for a few weeks? Wouldn't it make more sense to rent a road trip car when you need it?
That is exactly how I ended up deciding on my current car. When my old vehicle was in for service, I drove the car I was considering purchasing as a rental for 3 days and really fell in love with all aspects of it (in my case a Fusion).
That's a really interesting idea. Only problem I foresee is that we might have rentals on that car lined up into the future, though we do have duplicates of most of our cars so we could get around that.
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.
There's an alternative though, at least for those who need an everyday car with low range and do big trips in rare occasions: renting a car when needed.
I thought this post was sarcasting and only halfway through I've realized that you're actually serious. Renting. It's a thing. You can rent cars for short periods.
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.
There is some wisdom in renting a car to do a trip like that anyway. There's more peace of mind that if there is car trouble your trip won't have to be totally scrubbed.
The I think “maybe I should rent one on vacation sometime.” And after three days with a BMW Z4 convertible, I get that out of my system for well under $1k. I also resolved my interest in Jeep Wranglers this way.
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