海角大神

Monica wrote in with a question that I thought deserved a detailed answer.

I鈥檓 going to be driving from northern Minnesota to Dallas, Texas for a week this summer, then returning home. I own a 2008 Toyota Corolla with 34,000 miles on it. I鈥檓 trying to figure out if it鈥檚 more cost effective to rent a car for this trip or to drive my own car.

It鈥檚 going to be really hard to find an exact answer for you given the variables, but I can give you a good estimate that should guide you.

First, let鈥檚 get some numbers. I鈥檓 going to assume that you live in Duluth, Minnesota, so the length of your trip is 1,100 miles. We鈥檒l assume that you鈥檙e going to drive 300 miles while in Dallas, so your round trip will be pretty close to 2,500 miles.

A 2008 Toyota Corolla gets 29 miles per gallon, according to , which is my source for such data. At your current mileage (and making some default assumptions about your Corolla), it鈥檚 worth $11,282 according to . After the 2,500 miles of driving, your car would devalue to $11,182, which means that the road trip would devalue your car by $100.

You鈥檙e also going to be on the hook for half of an oil change if you drive your own car. It also pushes you along on the rest of your maintenance schedule, which is difficult to estimate but does have a significant cost. identifies the maintenance cost per mile for driving a car as being 5.3 cents, which means that over the course of the trip, you鈥檒l rack up about $132.50 in maintenance costs (including oil changes).

Now, if you鈥檙e renting an economy car, you鈥檙e going to be paying about $250 for the rental for the round trip. I looked at several different rental companies that function out of Duluth such as and and found several different estimates for a weeklong trip. I did use coupon codes to get those quotes.

A 2011 Chevy Aveo (the 鈥渆xample鈥� economy car that is mentioned on Enterprise鈥檚 website) gets 30 miles to the gallon, compared to the 29 mpg of your current car. That means, over the course of the trip, you鈥檙e going to eat up three more gallons with your own car, costing you about $12.

Now, if you were to get a 2011 Toyota Prius for that 鈥渆conomy鈥� price, you鈥檇 get 50 miles to the gallon, compared to the 29 mpg of your current car. That means, over the course of the trip, you鈥檙e going to eat up 36 more gallons than with your own car, costing you $144 (assuming gas prices are at $4 this summer).

In this example, then, the cost of renting a car with a similar fuel efficiency to your own is roughly equal over the long run. The catch, of course, is that many of the costs associated with your own car are delayed. You don鈥檛 pay for the maintenance now and the depreciation doesn鈥檛 affect you now. Those things impact you later down the road.

However, if you rent a car that鈥檚 significantly more fuel efficient than your own, you鈥檒l likely save a little money by renting. Again, the costs of renting are up front, where many of the costs of using your own car are delayed.

Of course, this all depends on the rental rate you鈥檙e able to get and the car availability. If you鈥檙e able to lock in a highly fuel efficient car in conjunction with a strong coupon or other offer, you may find it cheaper to rent. Otherwise, you鈥檙e probably better off driving your own car on this trip.

In the end, there are some factors that make renting a more appealing option: a long trip over a short time period, an increase in fuel efficiency, and the availability of coupons or other discounts makes renting compelling. Without at least some of those factors, though, I鈥檇 lean toward driving the car I already had, and if the costs were close, I鈥檇 use my own car because of the lower hassle.