Comments on: Renting vs Owning A Car

By: dave

dave — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 23:35:01 +0000

Also, you can get a bike. Use human power for short trips to grocery store etc.

If you need to go further, you can put a small motor on the bike, and now you have a 35 mph, 300+ mpg “motorized bicyle”. Kits are available online, the golden eagle is my favorite (no affiliation whatsoever).

Also,if you want to be a little more eco concscious you can put a small electric hub motor on the front wheel and now you have a 500+ mpg hydbrid. Use the electric motor for short trips, the gas motor for long ones. Just like a Prius,except you aren’t wasting 97% of the energy in a gallon of gas on heat loss from the engine, friction from the tires and moving a great big huge hulking heap of metal through time and space. No registration, no licensing, no taxes, fuel expense becomes trivial. You can drive across the US for 40 bucks.

Here’s one in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGuprRjzVZM

By: Anna Beth

Anna Beth — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 18:26:45 +0000

Thank you so much. Universities should hire you.

By: Garrett

Garrett — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:14:01 +0000

It’s good to read an article like this especially when you include the numbers. I was thinking of just renting a car. I live in the San Diego area and the transit system here is impecable. There’s a bus stop on every corner and the trolley system is very easy to access. I only live a mile or two from work so even riding a bike would be an option. I bought a motorcycle a few months back which turned out to be a lemon so I thought I’d just by a car. But my personal situation really doesn’t require that I own one not to mention there is a rental company just down the street from me. So I too went with just renting a car.

By: Gail

Gail — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:57:49 +0000

I’m so glad that some have renting a car when needed as a frugal option. We live in the country with no car rental place within an hours distance, no bus, no taxi, etc. That being said we bought our car about 5-6 years ago for $1 and we fill the tank about every month although this was a short month as I had to travel to the hospital three times this week so that added a lot of miles. We only put an average of 3000 miles on it a year, and yes it is about 12 years old and getting rusty and will need some extensive body work before passing inspection next December. In the meantime it is still cheaper than making car payments or renting a car and for medical emergencies, which I generally have at least once a year, it is instantly available, which is a circumstance that you do need to remember for those poor health.