MichaelW

I rent a car of the right size and shape as I need it. I sometimes move house and use a removal van for all my belongings. A saloon car is not the right tool for this.
Why do some people insist on using cars to hit things. Sledgehammers are better.

Roody

So you're saying that 200 is greater than 5,368? I never did understand the new math!

sauerwald

I went car free about 2 1/2 years ago, and when I did so I way overthought the whole process. I went car free along with a move, so I looked at where to live vs where I worked, and shopping etc, and selected a neighborhood which was within bike range of work and had good public transit connections. I also figured that I would rent a car whenever I needed one and made sure that I was close to a place where I could rent a car. Since my move I have rented 3 times, twice it was a car for a day, and once it was a pick-up truck for 1/2 day. At that rate, taking a cab to the car rental place is a viable option.

gerv 

Last time I rented a truck, I rode over, put the bike in the back of the truck. That actually worked out better than driving over, 'cause U-Haul had no place to park and I wouldn't have been able to fit the car in the truck.

CarFreeFam4

Well, sure it's cheaper to own if you intend to use a car every day. If you are a person (or a family in my case) that needs a car once or twice per year, the rental option provides a significant savings. Lets say that we rented a car once every six months during those 30.5 months you owned that wreck. Five rentals at a cost of $200 each just saved me $4,367.60.

dcrowell

As others have already pointed out, the cost per day is higher, but owning sticks you with all of the days, whether you need them or not.

gerv 

Yeah, if the math was the big factor in most of our decisions, we'd be living in an entirely different world.

Roody

The poor understanding of the math in that post was a snapshot of the crazy consumer decisions made by millions of people. If we had to take one class in consumer finances in the 8th grade, this would be a different world indeed.

gerv 

I've got to confess to being a little mathematically challenged myself. It was me who signed up for the 29% credit cards in the 1980s. What was I thinking?

Mr. Hobbes

https://www.zipcar.com/

Artkansas 

I hear you. In 12th grade, I switched from a deadly boring algebra class to a way cool 1/2 term Economics class. One of the best decisions I made in high school.

And for those who wonder, it was the math teacher who was boring, not the class. She had my brother in first period and me in 2nd period and it took her several months to realize we were brothers. She retired at the end of the year.