Do you have any suggestions on where I can rent or lease or steal a car for the summer (June through the end of August) for my daughter who is home from college for the summer? Desperate Mother
Does she really need a car? Will a bicycle work?
Get her a nice road bike, a proper helmet, and proper gear and I guarantee she’ll have no reason to be embarassed. She might even discover a new obsession.
Um, in the interest of full disclosure, my son races with a team out of southern CA. As my moniker suggests, I’m a former hard-core cyclist.
Just call in the phone book independent and chain places.
The hard part is her age may drive the rates up really high.
Yep. Did that already. What I was looking for amongst the Car Talk audience was the name of that company that was once mentioned by one of the brothers that named a specific short term car rental company.
Anyone remember that discussion on the air?
Many Thanks for the help!
Rent a Wreck might be a good place to start. The are very economical if you don’t drive a lot.
thank you!
I’ll second the Rent a Wreck motion. Some years back, our church rented a ven from Rent a Wreck and my wife drove a group of high school students 450 miles to a work camp. The van performed flawlessly. It did have a couple of battle scars and there was a sign on the dashboard that requested that the driver check the oil at every gas stop. However, in the 900 mile round trip, the van used no oil. I would think that the Rent a Wreck would be perfect for around town use. Years later, when my son waa a senior in college, his car was totaled and I forced the insurance company of the party that caused the accident to rent him a car until all was settled. The car was a Dodge Shadow that I think came from Rent a Wreck. My son drove the 50 miles home from college in the car and he had no problems. The dash lights wouldn’t come on unless he banged on the top of the dashboard, but it did run. I think this car was from Rent a Wreck, but it could have been from some other low cost agency.
At my company that went into vapor we leased from a place called Merchants in NH for execellent rates.
That being said you give no idea where you are.
It will be cheaper to “Buy a Beater” than to “Rent A Wreck”…
Other possibilities are “Boyfriend” and “Get a Job”…
I think you are thinking of Zipcar. The only problem there might be that the car won’t always be available. It’s a car sharing company. Other possibilities are friends and family. Someone you know may have a second car they don’t use much that she could use for a few months. You could also buy a beater. Check your local paper’s classifieds and Craigslist for a cheap car. It may be cheaper to buy a car than to rent a car for three months.
Thanks everyone! I’m trying all of the above!!
3 yrs ago while i was on a boat job in La, i rented a chevy cobalt from hertz for 300 a month. because it was for three months they gave a really good rate. when you call them explain that this is for months, not a week.
However, the under 25 price will likely make it MUCH higher priced.
I’ve used Merchants a couple of times…Good place.