Drive own car to save money?

[Disnee grl]

I will be going to Orlando in Sept. I can't decide to get a rental- $400 for the time we would need it or drive my car. I would put around 2000 miles on mine but it would be so much easier and less expensive than renting. I have 50k on the mileage and my warranty goes to 100k miles. I need comments from others that have made this decision about whether or not to rent.

 

[dclpluto]

Let's say a 25 thousand dollar car last for 150,000 miles. That's 6 miles a car gets for every dollar you paid for the car. Your will be paying 400 dollars for the rental that's like 2400 miles. You will be going 2000 miles. So it's right around the break even point. You have repairs and preventative maintenance costs also. You didn't say the price of your car thou. It's seems like the rental will be a decent deal. If 400 dollars is easily available to you now I will rent the vehicle for your trip. If 400 dollars isn't easily available to you pay check to paycheck like me I would just drive my own.

I know people will comment on my 150k miles for a 25k car. Yours will be either be higher or lower depending on the make and model and preventative maintenance that you do or do not do.

 

[kymom99]

I would just drive my own. One of the reasons I like to keep a newer car is for road trips. Once it gets older then I may rent.

Also will add that my car is a true midsize sedan. To rent a similar car might cost more since rental categories seem to not coincide with reality. I like the size of my car and it is comfortable to me. If I needed a van or 4wd I would rent in those cases.

 

[DisneyEater]

Need more information. Are you driving to Orlando vs flying? If you are flying and just need a car while there, I wouldn't rent on at all. If you are driving, I'd probably take my own car.

Have you looked at Turo?

 

[DisneyHardin]

I would just drive my own car unless your own car is older and you don't feel it is reliable. We buy our cars to drive right? Why spend money for something you have sitting in your driveway.

 

[davper]

How many people are going?
If 1, then flying is cheaper
If 2, about break even
If 3+, then driving is the way to go in your case.

But also consider the time needed to drive. And maybe even hotel costs during road trip.

 

[Sundowner2]

We always drive, from Virginia. Once there, we park, we don't drive it to and from the parks, we do Disney transportation. If you also take the rtansportation there, I wouldn't waste money on a rental car just sitting in the parking lot. I would say if you are driving anyway, unless you think your car is too old (that will be us in 2 years on our next trip, since ours is 13 right now) or you just want to rent a car to have fun in, I'd say use your own car. In the grand scheme of things, 2000 miles isn't really all that bad.

 

[kj2mom]

The reason I have a vehicle is so I can use it to go where I need to go, unless there was a safety concern with the vehicle I owned or a space issue (more people than can fit comfortably) then I would just take mine.

 

[lorac4disney]

Last month, we drove our own. It's 1051 miles one way for us. We just now have 36,000 miles on our vehicle that is 3 years and two months old. We only have a 5 year/60,000 mile warranty on our vehicle so we were tracking to have our warranty run out before our miles came close to the limit. Driving helped us keep our miles close to when the warranty expires.

Unless there is a compelling savings or difference in comfort level while traveling, I would drive your own. Also, if your vehicle has been prone to breakdowns, I would also rent.

 

[Disnee grl]

Thanks for all the replies. I will go ahead and drive my car. It is in good shape and gets good mileage. There are 2 of us going and it has plenty of room.

 

[srwarden1928]

I ALWAYS drive my own car. It is much less out of pocket, even for ONE person. I am 10-11 hours from WDW. I have the flexibility to set my own schedule. I take what I want, including drinks and snacks. If people want to fly, that is their choice, but not mine.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I ALWAYS drive my own car. It is much less out of pocket, even for ONE person. I am 10-11 hours from WDW. I have the flexibility to set my own schedule. I take what I want, including drinks and snacks. If people want to fly, that is their choice, but not mine.

I think this is the key for flying vs. driving. If you can drive it in one day without cutting into sleep time, it's not so bad. Totally understandable. When it's 20+ hours and drivers are giving up sleep to keep driving, that puts me over the edge and I need to fly.
FWIW, I pack drinks and snacks and whatever I want to fly too. It just get checked, not carried on. This may be perceived as a negative to some but for us it's easy and well worth the $ to let DME put the bags in our room. I like that I can work a full day of work, fly to FL that evening, and sleep at WDW that night.
What's good is that we all have the choice to travel whichever way makes us happy.

 

[Charles Marshall]

We have a 12 hour trip one way and always drive our own car. Like the comfort of knowing it is mine, and feel better driving it.

 

[hearts8701]

We drive from Chicago about 19 hours each way which takes two days off park time we started driving once all the restrictions were applied to air travel now we can bring as much luggage as we want all the snack we need and purchase as much as we want to bring home it's not for everyone but we do enjoy the drive

 

[scrapquitler]

I will be going to Orlando in Sept. I can't decide to get a rental- $400 for the time we would need it or drive my car. I would put around 2000 miles on mine but it would be so much easier and less expensive than renting. I have 50k on the mileage and my warranty goes to 100k miles. I need comments from others that have made this decision about whether or not to rent.

I would just drive my own car.

 

[Cosmic]

There are some hard costs, like i drive about 2,500 miles in a round trip to Disney so that's about 1/3 of the way to an oil change, 1/4 of the way to a new air filter, etc. Those costs are relatively small, but still there. The big picture outlook... those highway miles won't be the worst thing for the car. Everywhere around me uses salt in the winter, so I figure the rust will get my car before the miles do.

 

[kydisneyfans]

The way I look at it is I bought the car to drive it, not let it sit in the driveway. It was bought with the expectation that we might drive it on vacation.

150,000 miles is pretty short for a lifespan for a newer car(I know it's just an example). My last one went to 280,000. I currently have one at 177,000 and 140,000.

We live 840 miles from Disney and have driven it many times. We have also flown. The cost of the flights determines if we drive or not. For our October trip, if flight costs don't drop, it's on the road again. Interstate driving isn't as hard on a vehicle as city driving.

Renting a similar vehicle to drive is nearly $700 for the dates we are going. We have rented for trips if the price is right. Rentals have been pricey lately though.

Sounds like driving is the best way for you.

 

[tarheel618]

Great timing of this thread. My car has 103,000 and we need to take a trip to see family for two weeks. Roundtrip will be about 3000. We have been going back and forth over renting or using our car. It will be around 700 (with only 1 allowable driver) to rent. My husband is worried because my car has so many miles on it.

 

[kymom99]

Great timing of this thread. My car has 103,000 and we need to take a trip to see family for two weeks. Roundtrip will be about 3000. We have been going back and forth over renting or using our car. It will be around 700 (with only 1 allowable driver) to rent. My husband is worried because my car has so many miles on it.

103k is not a lot anymore. Mine has 98k and I'd drive it anywhere.

 

[tarheel618]

103k is not a lot anymore. Mine has 98k and I'd drive it anywhere.

That's what I was thinking. I did sign up for AAA. If we don't rent both of us can drive.