Having a sweet ride can make your life easier especially if you’re someone who goes out of the house a lot for business or leisure. The wonderful thought of having a car can bring in new dilemmas like where to get one and where to get money to get one.
You will be faced, then, with two choices: buy a car or rent one. You weigh your options of paying in cash or taking out a car loan to buy a car or splash some cash for rental cars.
Though many people opt to take a car loan, leasing opens a fresh opportunity for you to have a new car in the garage. In renting, it allows you to acquire expensive vehicles than you can afford, highly depending on your financial situation and why you need a car.
Rentals used to be just for rich people, but now it’s become ideal from every audience of the auto industry. Knowing how much does it cost to rent a car can ease you as many college grads, yuppies, and start out adults tend to lease more and can have a full-size SUV by the end of the day.
Prices for cars whizz up each year, thus making a number of people choose to lease a car for a certain time period only at affordable rates.
Why Should You Rent a Car
A monthly lease payment is lower than a monthly car loan payment. When leasing, you only shell out money for the depreciation that occurs only during the lease term and some fees incurred by it rather than the whole vehicle cost. Leasing may be more favorable if you have a tight budget every month.
Extra mileages costs are inexpensive. If you’re someone who can keep mileages according to the lease agreement, then good for you. If you drive a lot, say, exceeding 15,000 miles, depending on the lease agreement, you’ll probably have to pay extra for each mile. Leasing companies usually charge 15 to 20 cents a mile for additional miles. If you notify the company that you would be traveling often, they’ll give you the option to buy these mileages during the negotiation of the lease. Buying a car would still be penalized for high mileage too.
It helps lower your taxes. If the reason why you lease is for business purposes, you can take account of the car’s costs to be deducted on your taxes. Interests on loans to buy a car aren’t deductible. There are a lot of calculations based on the use of the car, how much the car costs, and additional expenses related to the car, such as gas and maintenance.
Overall, it’s about the money. Leasing may be a good option if you’re shelling out a tight budget. Rental car prices range from $20 to more than a hundred dollars a day.
A lot of lease terms last for three years. Through these times, you’ll still need to maintain the car, which includes, but, not limited to oil changes, tire rotations and other maintenance needed for the car
The Cost of Renting a Car
So, leasing is a sure way to get around town the way you wanted it to. An idea of how much does it cost to rent a car is a breather since it’s flexible and allows you to make the most of your trip by going where you want. The average car rental cost varies by car class. According to USA Today, there is what we call the economy, intermediate, standard and luxury classes to determine what they can offer and which is perfect for your budget.
Economy Class. Economy rental cars are the basic leasing cars with rental car prices ranging from $25 to $65 per day. These cars are small and can fit only a family four. There’s hardly enough room for bags and luggage. Because of the average car rental costs they have, only basic features of driving is available. By that, it means, no GPS.
Intermediate Class. These are mid-size rental cars that cost approximately $50 to $70 per day. Its “roomy-ness” can fit four to five people. The trunk is wide as these mid-size cars have enough space to fit two large suitcases and two smaller ones.
Standard Class. Big cars or the full-size rental car prices from $55 to $75 per day. These babies have the most room for the best prices. Possibly, the car can fit five to six people inside of it. Standard cars are the best choice for those who travel with lots of luggage.
Luxury Class. As the word implies, these are luxury, premium or special rental cars. The average car rental cost of these type start at around $80 and can go to $300 per day. Cars like these are two-seater convertibles to SUVs to minivans and passenger vans.
CheapCarRental.net has listed down a couple of rental car prices. The average prices quoted for small cars at different cities are: New York for $72, New Orleans with $64, Honolulu at $63, Washington, D.C. at $59, Houston at $56, Boston at $55, Newark for $54, Charlotte with $53, and Austin with $49.
The most inexpensive car rentals are found in Milwaukee, where the average economy class is available at a starting rate of $27 per day. Other cheap rentals are found in San Diego, Seattle, and Los Angeles, where the average car rental cost is around $30.
Tips For Renting a Car
Book economy class cars first that you’d be alright to drive with. There’s a good chance that when you rent a small car, you could be upgraded to a larger one at no additional cost. If your dealer has free upgrade coupons at certain season, or, if you’re a member of the company’s loyalty program, just ask for it at the counter.
Rent a car on a weekend. Weekends are usually chill since they aren’t really what you call “business hours.” Your dealer can give you cheap rental car prices and slash off worth 50 percent of the original cost. CheapCarRental.net has reported that weekend rental for a subcompact Kia Rio from Hertz at Milwaukee’s Mitchell Field Airport was quoted at $21 a day, and about 60 percent off the weekday rate. They continued that a Ford Fusion from the Avis counter at New York’s JFK airport would be rented at $134 on a weekday, but dropped to $109 on weekends.
Pay in advance. Dealers give discounts if you pay in advance so that they can entice you into buying. And their marketing stint works. The average car rental cost will drop from $15 to $20 or more.