aacharya

It is not $20 a day - it is a flat $20.

Such an intriguing concept - unfortunately, the $5 day security fee in NJ alone starts making the numbers difficult. On a random search, enterprise was $155 a week - but $201 after taxes/fees.

Earthlings

I still don't understand the numbers making this a good choice of permanently renting instead of owning. I believe this would work for me, but can't see a good weekly price x3 weeks in a month..

pragakhan

Some of it either depends on being in a cheap area or having a one on one with your local station manager about your intentions and what is the drop dead rate they can getcha.

ernestb

$23.17 per day is what it cost me to own a 2013 Ford Expedition Limited EL, if I wanted to drive something smaller perhaps it might work, but I don't so owning something this big is the way to go.
There is no rental agency that will write a RC for $115 for an Expedition....

Tony King

Well just to recap so far we've sold one of our cars. I've been doing this for about two months and everything is working out great.

An added benefit is that I can exchange for a different vehicle at anytime. Most often I want something fuel efficient so I was driving a Prius for 3 weeks. Now I've gone on a business trip in a mountainous area with bad weather. So I was in a Pathfinder.

Wanted something more luxurious so now I'm in an Infiniti FX37. Once I return home I'll probably swap this for a Prius, Fusion hybrid, or CMAX if they have one.

We still have one car that we own, so I have liability coverage from that. I switched my Discover cards to the "Escape" card which carries primary rental coverage up to $50,000 for most vehicles. That way if anything happens hopefully I won't need to file under my own insurance.

Earthlings

The taxes on the National airport rentals are awful.

Tony King

Agent at the last branch I rented from mistyped and put $250.00 for the monthly rate. Once I saw that I called Emerald customer service line and asked how much it would be to extend my contract out so I'd have the vehicle 31 days. Agent said "$336.10".

I said are you sure, that isn't a system glitch or anything? She said "nope, if it's in the system it's gotta be right. It's already calculated all your taxes and fees. Would you like me to modify your reservation?"

I jumped on that in a heartbeat! So right now I have an Infiniti FX37 for a month for $336.10!

JohnnyP

So I've been experimenting with this for the last few weeks, which now includes a full month of data. I'm renting from an on-airport location (thus paying horrendous fees) but with a mix of coupons and "last-minute specials" have averaged a rate of $23.83/day including taxes and fees for a premium rental, usually an Infiniti G37X. The month includes 5 days when I was travelling abroad and/or for business (and thus was not paying for a rental out of my own pocket). This is pretty typical, so would not skew the results. I also get full car insurance through my UK Centurion Card.

In effect, assuming all things remain equal, this amounts to approx. $26,091 total cost of usage (excluding fuel) over three years.

By comparison, a brand new Infiniti G37X would be approximately $36,665. Taking into account annual insurance costs ($1,200), annual taxes and fees ($1,917), regular maintenance ($700), repairs/tires ($500), and average annual depreciation over three years of $5,422 ... the total cost of ownership over three years would be $28,618. I used Edmunds.com Total Cost of Ownership calculator to get these assumptions.

So, effectively it's a wash. The +/- softer categories would be ability to swap out vehicles for something different (e.g. we needed a pick-up one weekend to move some furniture) vs. the hassle of swinging by the airport every week, although that's only 10-15 min from my house.

Negotiating a better rate, finding an off-airport property, or perhaps leveraging Priceline for non "last minute" rates (although I wouldn't get a premium likely) could yield better financials.

Belinik

oh wow that's very nice! Just wondering where do you see the monthly rate?

dustenm

I am trying to find some where to get non-owner liability insurance but nobody seems to offer it. I called AAA, gieco, esurance, travelers.

I saw people mention getting it from AAA but I tried 2 different places and nobody knows about it.

Does anybody know of any place to try?

bocastephen

You can try Safeco - AAA Southern CA has it for sure, but your local AAA office might not. Do you have an address you can use in SoCal for your AAA membership, perhaps family?

roadman3313

I had that for over a year with AAA insurance as well in Northern California. It was a named non-owner policy that was a spin off of my original policy when I had a car before it was wrecked. The year was less than $100 or so at the time. Not sure where you are located but, as mentioned above, your AAA club may not be familiar with it.

InkUnderNails

Try getting a rider on your home owners insurance. Mine is a rider on my commercial liability policy, but most people do not have business insurance.

dustenm

Nope don't have any address I could use in CA. I tried safeco they do offer this policy and have insurance in PA but this policy is not good for PA.

Also tried AAA with no luck. I wonder if this type of insurance is just really a CA one.

ibrandsguest

State Farm offers it. (The office that can issue it is an office in your state of residence--NOT the state where you drive the rental car, if different.)