Topic: Living Car Free

[MyTwoSense]

OMG I would love to see old folks rollerskating through my neighborhood.

There is a whole posse of old folks they hang with.  They play Tennis three times a week, they swim twice a week, they run (ok walk fast), roller skate, play volleyball and bike.  They are a hot mess.

[GCrites80s]

Hell no, I'd never cook again if my meals were covered. That was one of the best things about college -- never having to keep a bunch of food around or having to eat the same things over and over again to keep from having to throw a bunch of food out.

[NorthAndre]

Everytime I think about getting a new car....I want one eventually.....I stop when I receive this bill:



$17.25 which includes gas, insurance, unlimited miles, and tolls is pretty damn cheap for an evening in the suburbs.  That's all the time I needed it for that month. 

[KJP]

Roughly how long of a drive was that for each instance?

[natininja]

^ It says 57 miles total. So break that into 3 trips. My guess is one trip was about 25 miles, the others about 16 each? Roughly...

[jmecklenborg]

Well, the intervention was unsuccessful.  We were moving them from one unit in the complex to another, and grandpa freaked out because the unit they were moving to was a mirrored floor plan from what he thought he was getting.  This set him off and he never returned to earth.

So the bottom line is he still has his car and will continue to roam the area until something happens. 

[taestell]

We were moving them from one unit in the complex to another, and grandpa freaked out because the unit they were moving to was a mirrored floor plan from what he thought he was getting.

How do you expect him to live his life backwards?!

[KJP]

^ It says 57 miles total. So break that into 3 trips. My guess is one trip was about 25 miles, the others about 16 each? Roughly...

Sorry, I missed seeing the distance in the invoice. Thanks.

[NorthAndre]

My bad.  Total trip was 57 miles, roughly 28 miles in each direction.  The trips listed under adjustments are I-Pass / EZ-Pass checkpoints.  When I passed under the gantry the tollway authority bills the carsharing service, and they then bill me. 

My trip used approximately 2 gallons of gas since much of it was city driving.  Gas runs around $4.50-$4.90 / gallon here in Chicago...so nearly half of my bill covered gas...then there was tolls.  That leaves $6 left for the cost of insurance and just being able to drive the car. 

Considering time, money, and convenience there's no other transportation alternative in existence that is comparable to reach remote destinations.  Keep in mind, my only other alternatives were bus, taxi, or conventional rental services like enterprise.   And obviously those are either expensive or require alot of time.

......Of course, I could always borrow a friend's car nearby.  But that's risky, and you have to work with their schedule.

[Jeffery]

I wish we had something like igo in Dayton.  If they did I would give up my car.

Would a car-share thing work for longer distance trips...like down to Cincy or Louisville?  Right now I'm limited to the car rental places...tho the Avis place downtown is a great convient place to rent cars.

[ProkNo5]

I wish we had something like igo in Dayton.  If they did I would give up my car.

Would a car-share thing work for longer distance trips...like down to Cincy or Louisville?  Right now I'm limited to the car rental places...tho the Avis place downtown is a great convient place to rent cars.

There are mileage limits, but if you go over the limit they charge a fee.  With Zipcar it's $.45/mile.  Factoring in gas and insurance, it sometimes works out to take Zipcar over other rental companies.

 I took a Zipcar from Milwaukee to Cincinnati and back.  4 day rental was $280 and included 720 miles.  The trip was 800 miles.  80 miles * $.45/mile = $36.    That's $316 total.    The cheapest rental from Hertz is $294 PLUS gas.  No contest there.

[NorthAndre]

They charge high fees for day rentals.  The intention of the service is for short trips and they discourage long term rentals.  Like zipcar, they start running the mileage counter after 180 miles.

I use enterprise for long trips, and always from a neighborhood location.  For some reason it tends to be cheaper.  Base price is usually $25/day.  Then Taxes add $8.  Then the insurance your credit card doesn't cover is $15 (since I don't own a car).  So it's close to $50 / day without gas.  igo's rate is $60 with gas.  So it's an ok deal if you're just driving around the suburbs or something.  But a long trip is probably not worth it. 

The only time I ever rent cars is to go to Ohio actually!  I'll ask for a prius and was able to do a round trip from Chicago to Cincy for $55 in gas....and that's when prices had peaked this year.

[GCrites80s]

Enterprise has worked out well for me and my buddies for long trips back when we only had big ass trucks and needed something easier on gas. But we did have to select a location that would let us take the car out of the area. Not all of them would let us do it. We always told them ahead of time that we'd be taking the car out of the region they specified (for Cincinnati it was the Tri-State -- not sure if that meant we could drive it from Ashtabula to Paducah or had to stay in the Cincy metro). This was a few years back, so I may not be up on current policy. Since several of us now have small sports cars, we'd go back to them for small cars that have more interior space for long trips.

[jmecklenborg]

When I didn't have a car and rented from Enterprise, I would always reserve a compact, but often they didn't have one when Friday rolled around, and once I ended up with a Chevy Silverado King Cab.  Fueling up at a country gas station, the country boys looked at me with the deepest envy I've ever experienced.  Seriously, I can't believe that pickup trucks really mean that much to people. 

[GCrites80s]

New trucks bore me, but old trucks without all those stupid "features" have lots of character. Basically, trucks from back when people who actually needed trucks bought them. Oh, and the old school monster trucks that were real trucks with vikings airbrushed on the sides:

TNT All American Houston Astrodome 1988 - Bigfoot vs Master of Disaster

[Jeffery]

New trucks bore me, but old trucks without all those stupid "features" have lots of character. Basically, trucks from back when people who actually needed trucks bought them

Hah!  So I'm not the only one who's notice the 'pick-up truck bloat'!


 

[CincyGuy45202]

Figured I'd bump this thread now that there are 2 new Zipcars outside my place at 12th & Vine.

Looks as though there are two locations in the CBD & 1 in OTR. I've been at free for 6 months and this is going to be awesome.

[KJP]

Fueling up at a country gas station, the country boys looked at me with the deepest envy I've ever experienced.  Seriously, I can't believe that pickup trucks really mean that much to people. 

First time I've seen this. That's hilarious. And what a contradiction in values.... You, who apparently held the car in such relatively low esteem that you didn't own one. They, who held motor vehicles in such high esteem that they almost tripped over their tongues at the sight of "your" vehicle. If only those good ol' boys knew the truth.

Since I view all the world as my own personal test tube, I would have been tempted to see their reaction upon telling them "Sorry boys, not only is this not my truck, but I don't own any vehicle at all. In fact I can't stand these friggin' things and the clod-kicking morons who usually drive them."

Wonder what them thar fellas woulda thunk about that??