Ask Jack: When To Rent?

It’s the triumphant return of Ask Jack, the question-and-answer series that has proven to be significantly less popular than Ask Bark. Today’s question comes from several commenters on the Malibu LTZ Review, and it can be summed up like this:

If you’re only driving 500 miles or so during the weekend, why would you rent a car instead of taking your Accord/911/Boxster/Neon/Tahoe/Fiesta/motorcycles/bicycles/Uber/Southwest/Car2G?

I’m glad you asked. Really, I am. ‘Cause otherwise, today’s column would have been a long snd slightly sorrowful re-telling of a time I accidentally let my S5 roll downhill into a concrete parking block because I had both of my hands between some young mother’s legs in the passenger seat and my foot slipped off the brake when I leaned all the way over towards her.

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  • Lou_BC A pickup for most people would be a safe used car bet. Hard use/ abuse is relatively easy to spot and most people do not come close to using their full capabilities.
  • Lorenzo People don't want EVs, they want inexpensive vehicles. EVs are not that. To paraphrase the philosopher Yogi Berra: If people don't wanna buy 'em, how you gonna stop 'em?
  • Ras815 Ok, you weren't kidding. That rear pillar window trick is freakin' awesome. Even in 2024.
  • Probert Captions, pleeeeeeze.
  • ToolGuy Companies that don't have plans in place for significant EV capacity by this timeframe (2028) are going to be left behind.