When buying, borrowing or stealing a car isn't an option
Filed under: Budgets, Transportation
I hate sharing a plan that smacks of desperation, but sometimes, desperate is just what one needs. So for anyone who is desperate to buy a car but can't, here goes... I had dinner at a restaurant with a relative recently, and when we went out to the parking lot, I didn't recognize his car. It looked strikingly different from what I had seen him driving a couple months ago, which back then looked different than what I remembered him last driving. And that's when he told me that he has been renting cars for the last six months.His credit score, due to years of inattention and financial struggles, is scotched, and so he can't buy a car, or not without paying an astronomical interest rate. His current car won't drive, and he can't imagine sinking more money into it, to try and fix it. He lives in a town that has city buses, but nowhere beyond the border of his community. He needs a car, and so he finally just made up his mind to rent one.
I know that car rental companies are having a hard time with people driving less. Their stocks are falling. But their absolute warfare against their customers fought with ridiculous fees and soul-crushing hassles can't be helping. There's hope that the gas refueling charge will go away, but it seems like Avis is trying to recoup their potential losses with pet hair and other absurd fees.
When I went to book a rental car for a family vacation up to the Adirondacks yesterday, I was surprised to find SUVs renting for less than small cars. 
