Comment by harrouet
4 days ago
I have a plug-in hybrid and, although it was not my initial opinion, I came to think that it is the most adapted tech to my usage:
- I do 90% of my kilometers to commute to work: 2x40km / day
- I need my car to drive 7 hours roughly 4x or 5x per year
In my case, I can drive electric to commute to work, as I can charge sporadically (can't do it at home).
When driving long distance, I get to use the ICE while charging stations get jammed e.g. on peak traffic weekends. Consumption is much less than pure ICE.
Breaking pads are spared by the magnetic brake as well.
Why not rent a car for those 4-5x/year?
I used to do that, however depends on where you live.
In Germany the amount you have to pay not to worry about every little scratch from a few mm, means I rather have my own scratches.
Then on the Mediterranean islands usually rental is the only option, unless one likes to pay taxis all the time, and most rentals take advantage of non locals as much as they can get away with. Yes some do have buses, if you want to be stuck in the main cities.
> on the Mediterranean islands usually rental is the only option
It's not like buying an ICE or hybrid instead of an EV helps with this scenario at all.
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Maybe I could cope with the inconvenience of queuing 45 min to get a car from a leading rental brand that, although they see me regularly, always need to re-enter my documents in their system (go figure...).
But the main reason is that those 4-5x/year are when everyone goes on week-end or vacations. Therefore prices are sky-high and availability is not guaranteed.
So hertz can report your car stolen after you return it, landing you in jail?
Renting a car comes with extra worry, even taking that extreme case out of consideration.
You’re driving around a break in magnet, advertising that it contains suitcases.
It comes with highly restricted rules - technically it violates Avis’s rental agreement to pull off onto a dirt median even if you have a flat tire or ever need to drive on a dirt parking lot - strictly anything unpaved like a national park campground site’s parking.
And you’ll reserve one particular car type, who knows what they’ll actually give you. And the tires may be sketchy too (had that)
And they’re be trying ti upsell you all sorts of horrible deals when you reserve and then pick up
Most of the available rental cars are crap. Even if you make an advance reservation there's no guarantee that they'll have what you want in stock when you show up. For solo business travelers that doesn't matter as much but I wouldn't want to take the risk when planning a family road trip.