[EmpressJenny]

I have a new car. It's got less than 9,000 miles on it. I want to drive it to FL again in January when I go, but everyone is squawking at me about wear and tear. But renting a car for 9 days to go 2300 miles is expensive! I have a new, reliable car, and I want to enjoy that. But I have this guilt about "wear and tear". What should I do?

[tiggerfan74]

I am in the same situation. We are driving to Illinois in April for a wedding and my DH wants to rent a car because he doesn't want to put the miles on my new car. I agree w/ you that it is just so expensive. I would also love some input on what would be the best thing to do.

[MrDisneyfan1]

Cars are bought to be enjoyed. I would def. enjoy your new investment and drive it down. You might want to look into the Auto train, we did it once, and survived. (keep in mind the bar car stays open way late, and you may not arrived "rested and refreshed" as their commercials say.
Den

[E&B's Mom]

I am a firm beliver in getting a new car and taking care of it, and making it last forever. If you keep it well maintained and it lasts longer, the cost of driving to WDW will be even lower. I think the wear and tear is more affordable than renting.

[ddoll]

My understanding is that long distance highway driving is not really hard on your car. It's the stop and go of city driving that is deleterious.
I wouldn't hesitate to drive to WDW in a new car. We've done it ourselves, and it's a much longer drive from New England to FL.

[mwalter]

Why buy a new car to have it sit at home while you drive an expensive rental? I agree with ddoll that highway driving is not as hard on a car as city stop and go. Just set the cruise control if you have it and relax. By the way ddoll, "deleterious"? Great word!

[Jen]

Jenny -

It's a tough call. If you anything like me, in the areas that we live, we put a lot more miles on a car a year than the average person does. My poor 3 year old Mitsu truck had 101,000 miles - and the farthest I've gone in the the Jersey Shore.

We faces a similar decision when we first planned this trip. We originally planned to drive and it's expensive to rent a vehicle with unlimited miliage. Taking our truck was an option, but with 4 kids and luggage - even with my 3 row seating - it would have been a very cramped ride.

If you purchase this car knowing that you were going to put about 25,000 miles on it a year, I'd say go for it, drive it, and enjoy it. If your the type that trades the car in every few years, than at the rate of two Fla trips a year, the extra 6000 miles a year might put dent in your plans.

Jen

[ddoll]

Originally Posted by mwalter

By the way ddoll, "deleterious"? Great word!

LOL!!

[hiner]

If you bought the vehicle, I would say drive it. If you leased it, it all depends on how many miles you signed on for...you may want to rent to keep the mileage low.

It's like a catch 22....why put miles, wear and tear on your new vehicle when you can do it on the rental. Then again, it is nice to drive something you enjoy, you are very comfortable in and you know it is a safe vehicle. Then you have...if something happens, it is not your vehicle.

You have a mind boggling decision to make. Good luck making it.

[tigger]

I would have to say that the cost of a rental might be more then the dollars value of wear and tear the trip would put on your new car.

If you are really worried about wear and tear I would say put the rental money towards an extend warranty (I know, I know but it would be better protection then getting a rental for a trip and cost about the same) on your car.

Take care of your car and it should take care of you

[sandanv1]

Won't you get charged extra for driving the rental out of the state?

And you know you have a reliable NEW vehicle to drive, rather than one that has seen countless rental drivers. you can't be 100% sure the rental will make the trip.

We made a trip from S. FL to Virginia beach when our truck was less than a month old. It was a pleasure to make the trip in the new truck. We have owned it for about 9 months and have a little over 16,000 miles on it.
Why have a new vehicle if you don't want to drive it?

[lawwin]

We drive from TN to Disney every year. I would not hesitate to drive my car whether it was new or not that is what I buy a car for. I would never consider renting a car to drive it somewhere else while my car that I am paying good money for is sitting in the driveway then I am paying twice. Once for the car I own and again for a rental car. That seems kinda of strange to me. I would save the money from the rental car, drive the car I am paying good money for, and spend the money that I saved at Disney. But then again that is just my logic, a car was meant to be purchased and enjoyed and one way or another you are going to put the miles on it. There were a lot of mechanic in my family and they all said that the stop and go traffic is rougher on your car than the straight through type of highway driving that you would do going to Disney. That's just my 2 cents.

[tiggerfan74]

Originally Posted by lawwin

We drive from TN to Disney every year. I would not hesitate to drive my car whether it was new or not that is what I buy a car for. I would never consider renting a car to drive it somewhere else while my car that I am paying good money for is sitting in the driveway then I am paying twice. Once for the car I own and again for a rental car. That seems kinda of strange to me. I would save the money from the rental car, drive the car I am paying good money for, and spend the money that I saved at Disney. But then again that is just my logic, a car was meant to be purchased and enjoyed and one way or another you are going to put the miles on it. There were a lot of mechanic in my family and they all said that the stop and go traffic is rougher on your car than the straight through type of highway driving that you would do going to Disney. That's just my 2 cents.

I completely agree, but can you tell me how to convince my husband of this ???

[lawwin]

Well, I don't have a husband , so I'm not really sure but maybe if you break it down financially because they really seem to understand financial savings and that in the end they are not going to be saving any money by doing this. There are also some really good car reference info guys on the web and I am trying to think of their names (I'll look them up) and you can use them as reference points to prove that it will not put excessive wear and tear on your car to drive it to Disney. That's what I would do. Maybe that would work.

[15 mins to wdw]

I can see that from both sides of the issue, when I moved down here I had a relatively new pickup truck, I work as a mechanic and I looked the truck over several times in depth knowing it would be towing a heavy trailer and be at max capacity on weight. Event with all the looking over I did of that truck that was 1.5 years old, it still broke down on me in North carolina, toyota was no help on the phone. The whole problem was I had no marker lights (headlights worked but no tail lights) And it was 2:30 am and I had intentions of being in WDW for dinner. Like I said earlier I work as a mechanic and pulled my truck up under the some lights at the hotel bypassed a few wires and got the truck going, and I made it to wdw for a late dinner (9:30 PM). however had I not of been a mechanic with a full tool box in the back of the trailer I would have had 2 options drive by daylight, or wait till the morn and try to find a dealer to look at it on no notice. to top it all off when I got settled down here I took the truck to the toyota dealer to find out the bad switch was a special order part and was backordered at toyota.

something to keep in mind, cars depricaite so fast now a days I pretty much write mine off for a trade in value as it leaves the new car dealer lot with all this 0% financing cars are loseing there resale value quickly.

With a a rental car thought the above situation would be simply solved by calling the rental company and they would take care of the problem.