I used zipcar with a friend in San Francisco. We had mostly cabbed around but wanted to take a few hour trip to the bridge plus he wanted to drive down Lombard. We got a Mini Cooper and had a blast. It was quick, easy and fun. Lots simpler than a traditional rental for our needs that day.
Sorry for being glib before, but I think I’m pretty confused by what you’re saying.
Before, I thought you were saying that it is cheaper to rent a car than get a taxi, and you were surprised by that. And then you pointed out that taxis have to pay the driver, and I said that’s why rental cars are cheaper.
Now, it seems like you’re saying that it is cheaper to get a taxi than to rent a car, and you are surprised by that. I’m confused by that statement, because the opposite is true: it is much cheaper to rent a car than it is to get a taxi.
Yeah, I was just trying to list all the expenses for both. Paying a driver is a cost on top of car maintenance, insurance, gas, tax, while whatever special insurance I assume these rental places I need is a cost on that. I’m amazed that the rental works out cheaper, even despite the need to pay a taxi driver. But what someone said about storing the cars makes sense.
I understand now.
I’m not surprised. In the long run, insurance should cost about the same amount as the actual damage insured against (plus a few percent for insurance company profit and overhead). If car renters did, on average, a full time wage in damage while renting cars, that would be a tremendous wake of destruction left behind rentals.