Car rental economics

[nphx]

Wether or not I fly Southwest - I use their website for car rentals. Pretty painless to reserve, racchet to a better deal and cancel old reservation. Also the page accepts promo codes if you can locate one. You can put any city code in even if not a southwest destination.

 

[REWahoo]

It's gotten cheaper for me to fly or drive my car and get a hotel room than pay for fuel for my motorhome (80 cents per mile at today's diesel prices), so it's parked next to my house waiting for the next hurricane evacuation announcement.

Depends on how far you're going and how long you plan to stay. We're in our moho on our way to a destination 1,000 miles from home and will stay a total of 3 weeks. Including fuel and RV park fees, works out to about $85 a day. No way flying and hotels would be cheaper.

 

[Walt34]

I don't know how many people do this kind of trip anymore, but I saw our country and had a fantastic time.

I've never done it and I'd sure like to. Trying to talk DW into it, but she has to um, make a lot of "stops", which was what made me think of a travel trailer. She rejected the idea of a marine potty in the back of the pickup. Well, it does have a cap over the bed and we could put curtains on that.

Women are so impractical sometimes.

 

[audreyh1]

It's gotten cheaper for me to fly or drive my car and get a hotel room than pay for fuel for my motorhome (80 cents per mile at today's diesel prices), so it's parked next to my house waiting for the next hurricane evacuation announcement.

80 cents per mile! At $4.75/gal for diesel it costs us 59 cents per mile to move. But it used to be more like 28 cents per mile.

You can do some very enjoyable traveling and only move 100 miles or so at a time - depends on how far away you live from the nice locations. Your motorhome is depreciating anyway - better to use it or sell it.

Audrey

 

[Patrick]

80 cents per mile!

Yup. 6 mpg with the towd, 7 mpg without the towd.

 

[audreyh1]

Yup. 6 mpg with the towd, 7 mpg without the towd.

Wow - our long term average is 8.1 mpg (always with toad). We often do better especially cross country, but occasionally do worse (high 7s) - like this Oregon coast trip with short distances, lots of tight curves and ups and downs, and prevailing north winds!

Audrey

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Not to mention Motor Homes.

Zap! Bull's eye!

 

[REWahoo]

I'm averaging numbers very close to yours, Audrey. Last trip (with toad) we got 8.0. Our first leg today - 325 miles, with toad - 7.7. Hills and winds...

 

[audreyh1]

I'm averaging numbers very close to yours, Audrey. Last trip (with toad) we got 8.0. Our first leg today - 325 miles, with toad - 7.7. Hills and winds...

Yeah, that's what I'm seeing a lot this trip - 7.7, 7.8. We've been doing only 25 to 70 miles per leg, and that cuts into the fuel efficiency. But it sure is nice not driving far between camps!

When we travel long distances cross country, we usually average around 8.5 mpg.

I don't know how old your engine is, but we've noticed fuel efficiency improving with each 10K miles. We were told to expect that.

Audrey

 

[RockOn]

Rental cars..I've done this a few times and saved. Go to Priceline, name your price. Start low and work up until your price is accepted. It takes a little fiddling to make it work but I usually get 1/2 off the retail or more.

Good luck if you try it......