Top Ten Things We Don't See On The Board

[windsurf]

(  But, I would exist
on road kill and cat food before going back to work.
I'm not kidding.)

JG

Yesss!!!  That's the spirit!  JG, you would never be anybody's slave; wage or otherwise!

 

[NoloPress]

Public Transit is great, but what if you live in (or want to visit) an area where it just isn't an option. Do you ever find not having a car restrictive?

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Yes

 

[Sheryl]

Public Transit is great, but what if you live in (or want to visit) an area where it just isn't an option.  Do you ever find not having a car restrictive?

My friends in NYC and SF just rent one when they need it - 4-5 times a year. Way cheaper than owning, in that economy.

 

[Lancelot]

Public Transit is great, but what if you live in (or want to visit) an area where it just isn't an option.  Do you ever find not having a car restrictive?

NP,

Outside the USA, generally speaking, public transportation is readily available, albeit sometimes not the most comfortable. Another strategy is to hire a driver; it's still cheaper in the long run (no ongoing depreciation, maintenance and opportunity costs.)

If I were back in the USA, I suppose I could rent a car; however, options do exist. For example, now there are more airport drop off services, even in rural areas, since many travelers want to avoid the airport parking fees. I would also check an internet site called Lonely Planet Thorntree and offer to share transportation expenses with someone heading in the general direction that I want to visit.

Once I started thinking outside the box, as in "how can I get there if I own no car" I discovered many opportunities.

Not perfect but works for ole Lance

 

[WanderALot]

Don't think this exactly fits here but didn't think this question deserved it's own thread.

I'm renting a Hertz car for a road trip. I don't have my own car insurance. Has anyone used a Gold or Platinum VISA/MasterCard for renting and used the insurance guarantee associated with the car? Can I trust VISA/MC to pay?

More simply. Has anyone had an accident while insured by VISA or MC?

Don't want to post on this thread that ER'd early, wrecked a rental car and now broke and back at work!

Thanks.

I have tested this without problems. I had a little bit of a minor problem in a country road in Ireland. Driving at night on the "wrong" side of a narrow street without any street lights was a bad idea. I hit a large rock that damaged my tire and rim. Hertz charged me Euro 170. I paid it and talked to MasterRental (MasterCard's rental car insurance) about it. For some reason they had a hard time contacting Hertz in Ireland, so I acted an intermediary to speed up the process. Sent them all my receipts and got the entire amount reimbursed to my amount. A bit of a hassle, but that's mostly due to the difficulty of contacting them.

I would DEFINITELY suggest renting from a major car rental place for just this type of reason. I have rented from small agencies before, but never had to deal with any kind of issue like this either.

On a somewhat related note, I'm quite suprised that how cheap some of the major agencies are in foreign countries. Several times, Hertz has been cheaper than any other agency which is quite the opposite in the US!

[edited to correct spelling]

 

[greg]

I googled this from an Economist article. I nominate it for the filthy top ten:

http://www.sex-lexis.com/Sex-Dictionary/aischrolatreia

--Someone else (not Greg)

 

[mikew]

Public Transit is great, but what if you live in (or want to visit) an area where it just isn't an option. 

Bicycle. Dog can go in basket and wife can go on back rack.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Get a tandem and put the wife to work. You better sit up front so the dog doesn't have to listen to the wife complain.

 

[Nords]

I googled this from an Economist article.

Yeah, I just read the articles too...

 

[eridanus]

I'm renting a Hertz car for a road trip. I don't have my own car insurance. Has anyone used a Gold or Platinum VISA/MasterCard for renting and used the insurance guarantee associated with the car? Can I trust VISA/MC to pay?

More simply. Has anyone had an accident while insured by VISA or MC?

A friend has never owned a car; he walks and takes the bus to work (in Texas!). He does rent cars for travelling and he has a very low-cost auto policy that covers such rentals.

 

[Eagle43]

A friend has never owned a car; he walks and takes the bus to work (in Texas!). He does rent cars for travelling and he has a very low-cost auto policy that covers such rentals.

You got to be kidding. He must live in Houston, San Antonio, or Dallas. Maybe Galveston. Anyway, he should be congratulated. Thats' doing almost the impossible.

 

[REWahoo]

You got to be kidding. He must live in Houston, San Antonio, or Dallas. Maybe Galveston. Anyway, he should be congratulated. Thats' doing almost the impossible.

My guess is Austin. It's as close to a "green" city as you can get in TX.