Quote:
Originally Posted by trebuchet03
Okay, lets go with old pickup. 1981 (as far back as esurance goes) F150 for less than 5000 miles per year. Insurance totals to $1,006.00 . That's an extra $730 every year - equivalent to 10.6 rentals. I'm going to ignore maintenance as I'm fairly certain the '81 will have significantly more wear than the '00...
So to tag an insure the 81' F150 - that's equivalent to about 11 rentals per year.
Back to the original statement...
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I think the first example is fairly disingenuous, since buying a newer used vehicle is quite expensive, so I'll just start with this one.
-There's no reason to pay for insurance every month for a year when someone could just pay for the month they use the vehicle.
-Those insurance rates are quite high IME. On an older vehicle, there is, financially speaking, little need for collision, and a year's worth worth of insurance is ~$600, or about $50/month.
-Reg for vehicles of that vintage IME, is roughly $25-45/year.
So, taking an example from experience, a small uhaul pickup was $20, plus gas and mileage. Gas wasn't too bad since it was a Toyota V6 and unleaded was ~$2/gallon, but it was still about $25 bucks. The mileage charge though, was killer at something like 60-70 cents/mile, and that alone resulted in an extra $100+. Companies that don't have a mileage charge tend to be far more expensive up front IME. (edit) I mention uhaul because I know I can be a bit rough with their vehicles, can I dent or scratch one of the $70-80 enterprise trucks w/o worrying about having to get nailed for it?
Otoh, I can insure something much larger, equivalent to one of their larger trucks, for a month, for the same initial price of their larger trucks. If I factor in the current 80 cent/mile charge, it wipes out any difference in insurance and the yearly registration fee, as well as cutting into the gas. So, my beater truck could get worse mileage and still be cost neutral. That being said, since it's my vehicle, it would be silly not to modify it such that fuel consumption and costs are minimized. In the case of a VO conversion, that's any easy win. But even with keeping a small truck gas and doubling the efficiency, there's a good $50-100+ difference, depending on miles driven, per use.
That being said, something like this isn't for everyone. It requires the facility and desire to wrench, being o.k. with an older vehicle, etc... But, there are lower floors for older vehicle use than there are for rental use. Obviously, this is YMMV, but based on my research and experience going through rental (or tow) companies and not having backup vehicles can cost as much as having additional vehicles. If someone can point me in the direction of a company that offers vehicles in the range of ~$60-80/rental truck with 30 days, or even 3-5 days/unlimited mileage, or maybe less considering a vehicle I use would likely be setup for better efficiency, I'm game, since that would be roughly equivalent in terms of cost.