Road Trip Dilemma: Driving Your Own Vehicle vs. Renting a Car

*This is a collaborative post on driving your own vehicle vs renting when you go on a road trip

You’ve planned every detail of your road vacation. You’ve booked a hotel and even made a list of must-visit places. But who will be behind the wheel? And do you have a car to drive? Road trips may rack up mileage and need periodic maintenance, and these are just the obvious disadvantages of driving your own car. Your beloved Pathfinder might be charged by a ram or slammed by a Charger on your national park trip. Therefore, a car for rent can be a good option.

When deciding whether to drive your own vehicle or hire a car for your next road trip, you’ll need to crunch some important numbers: gas mileage, rental car insurance, vehicle depreciation, and so on. What is more, when traveling to another continent or a distant country, you will be hardly able to transport your car. Instead, you can rent Bentley in Abu-Dhabi to get around with ease if you’re, say, in the Emirates. After all, let us guide you through the details.

Car Rental for a Road Trip

Car rental may cost up to $91 per day (or more). And you could be tempted to save money by foregoing the optional collision/damage insurance. Don’t! While rental vehicle insurance is an added cost, not having it may derail your vacation budget quicker than a trip to a Vegas casino. If your car for rent is damaged while you are driving it, you may have to pay for it in three ways:

• You must pay your own collision/comprehensive coverage deductible, which might be $500, $1,000, or more.
• The rental vehicle company may charge you “loss of use” costs, which are normally not covered by your regular automobile insurance.
• Because you made a claim, your insurance premiums may increase the next time you renew your coverage.

To prevent this triple whammy, get rental car insurance in advance. Thus, you can protect yourself from unpleasant surprises.

Saving Money by Hiring a Car for a Road Trip

Renting a vehicle for a road trip seems to be more costly than just driving the one in your garage, especially if you imagine that you rent Cadillac Escalade in Abu-Dhabi. The UAE is considered to be an expensive tourist destination and Cadillac Escalade is a premium-class vehicle. However, hiring a car is sometimes the less expensive option. Consider the following factors:

• Gas mileage — If your everyday car is a GMC Yukon that gets 18 mpg combined, think about parking it and renting a fuel-efficient vehicle for your road trip. Renting a newer Toyota Prius alternatively can bring you up to 57 mpg combined on average. This means you can go more than three times as far on a single gallon of petrol. 
• Costs of wear and tear —- Even if you don’t see it right away, a lengthy road trip may cause significant damage to your automobile. Every mile results in some wear and tear on the engine, tires, and other moving components. Wear-and-tear expenditures per mile go high. This is not the case with a car for rent.
• Lease penalties — People who lease their cars may avoid taking extended journeys. You will be charged a penalty of 20 to 30 cents per mile for exceeding the agreed amount, which is normally approximately 12,000 miles per year.
• Car insurance — Depending on the kind of car insurance you get, you will need to pay from $30 to $61. But that’s way less than compensating for the car repair or fixing some technical issues.

If the cost of driving your own car vs. a car for rent is the most important element influencing your choice, you’ll need a pencil, some paper, and a calculator. Of course, this exercise will only work if your road trip will be in your native or a neighboring country. In case you travel to another continent, hiring a car is the only option. However, it comes with a lot of benefits.

Plan Ahead!

Get ready for your next road vacation on time. Book your tickets and hotel, make a list of places that you need to visit. And do not forget about a car rental as this is sometimes the only option for a comfortable road trip.