Permanently Renting Instead of Owning
 

I am wondering if anyone else on here has chosen just to permanently rent a vehicle instead of owning?

I have 2 newer cars right now. Thinking of selling one though. The local branch manager will give me a great weekly rate. When I figured out how much I spend on registration, insurance, maintenance, repairs, etc. I think I would come out ahead permanently renting.

What is your experience with this?

My car blew an engine a week before starting a new job. Being that my credit isn't the greatest, I decided to rent while working on improving my credit score. That was a year and 3 months ago. I figured out that with car payment, insurance and maintenance I was actually coming out ahead. Currently I am in a 2013 Volvo XC 60. There is NO way I could afford a car like this to buy. With my status now I am usually always in a SUV with less than 2000 miles and nice options. I've gotten spoiled I guess!!

Thought about it but never any good cars locally. Plus, the off chance they have inventory issues, yikes!

If I traveled a bit more maybe... lol

Yup, have been doing so for the past 3+ years. The Washington DC area has an excellent public transportation system so I often don't need a car during the week. Weekend rentals are cheaper than using Zipcar.

Car renting pays for itself really; have racked up a ton of Carlson and AAdvantage points through Avis. Cheaper insurance, don't need to pay annual car taxes or worry about maintenance. Drive a different car (usually brand new) every week, what's not to like?:p

Was thinking about this but it would require a good rate....
Should i speak to the local manager?
Can he give me a better rate?
Can you share how much you paying?

I've been doing it for over a year after selling my lease before expiry - I don't see why I'd ever buy a car again since my monthly cost (assuming I rent all 4 weeks) is about the same as it was, and quite often I don't rent for a week or more when I'm out west, saving me even more.

One thing - anything who does this absolutely must get a non-owner's liability policy from AAA and a credit card that provides primary damage coverage, or sign up for the KLM FFP and use their code that includes full coverage.

I did this for about a year though my travels and rentals started to come at times that my local location was not open. I got an insurance settlement for my old vehicle and purchased a new one. I still continued to rent a bit to keep the mileage down though. It was fun though having a different ride every week and a great way to "test drive" vehicles before purchasing another one of my own!

I won't publicly list the rate I'm receiving weekly. However; yes I would say definitely get to know your managers, especially branch managers at smaller facilities. They have the authority to pretty much write up a contract for any reasonable rate.

I've kinda pondered doing this myself for my wife's car, but to be honest, haven't really felt that it would work out economically for us. But I also don't think any local managers are likely to want to write us any particularly great deals, because we do put a fair number of miles on the car. For me I figure the biggest gain would be not having the vehicle depreciation that we normally have, but by the same token, we're not gaining any value in a car paid off either. On top of that, my last car, and my wife's current car, we had for a number of years after they were paid off. Four to five years of not having a car payment go a long ways towards offsetting any differences that one might gain by renting the car, because that's four to five years that you'd be paying on the rental. Yeah, the rental would be a newer car at that point, but quite honestly, cars last for a pretty reasonable period of time these days. I'd have to really sit down and run the numbers to see if it'd be worth the hassle.

Sounds like yours might not be quite so reasonable to many ;).

I live too far away from reliable transit to consider not owning, but when I lived much closer to Boston proper, I sold my car and used public transit and Zipcar (mostly as I was under 25 then and the underage surcharges from major agencies were quite a bit much). I could definitely see selling my car again and having a weekend rental (with the occasional week-long rental) if my employment and living situation lined up.

Lease a 2013 CHRYSLER 300 AWD for $319 per month for 36 months. Total due at signing: $2,999. No security deposit required.

$319 x36 = $11,484
+ $2,999 = $14,483
+ Insurance $3,600 (@$100 a month)
+ Registration $360 (@$120 a year)
+ Oil Changes $360 (@$60 twice a year)
= $18,803 / 36
= $522.30 a month.

$522.30 / 31 days = $16.84

Yes, of course one would have to take into consideration unlimited miles from renting vs the standard lease allowance. Also the benefit of using a cash back CC and getting free days.

But is anyone saying we can get a daily rate that averages under $20 a day?

My daily rate with taxes will average under $20 per day.

Also a lease isn't an option due to the excessive mileage we drive.

We have two cars right now. Car 1 gets about 35000 miles per year. Car 2 gets about 25000 miles per year.

Mine is under 20/d if I rent by the week - on top of that I'd rather have the flexibility of skipping a week or month when I don't need a car instead of being stuck paying 522 a month, every month, full insurance coverage (quadruple what I pay now) plus airport parking when I travel (now I do a 'valet' thing with National). It's all about the flexibility.

I think it could go both ways depending on the needs of the individual. It worked for me until my needs changed where buying was cheaper than renting. But if you run the numbers and renting is less... I do agree that it was nice while it lasted for me :)

Wouldn't you still have to carry liability insurance?