Extra Vehicle Capacity

[VetteOwner]

lol that remind sme i have to get the brake lights working again on ours, been broken for a year or more...

turn signals and running lights work tho.

most reason i run into people that have SUV's and why is because they like to have it hen they go to the lake one a year.... then i ask why dont u just rent a nice suv to do that? oh but that would be a huge hassle.

lol more like you wouldn't dare get caught driving anything less IMO(how often do you see the tiny 110 lb lady driving the Suburban?)


lol and yes im the friend with the truck too...dont know how many times ive helped people move, load of dirt, load of gravel, load of sand, etc amazing it i belive has a 900 some lb load capacity yet ive put 1100 in it before and was fine lol. still got up to 55mph in a decent amount of time for a 4 banger

[dkjones96]

Not to just start crap or anything, but what ever happened to America being the 'land of the free'? If someone is able to afford a certain lifestyle shouldn't they be allowed to live said lifestyle?

Lets take me for example. At least once a month I go to a mountain biking trail or a hang gliding launch site that I can't get to in a normal car(those are the fun/hard ones) that don't always require 4wd, but it helps a lot. Do I regularly need the ability to tow over 5000 pounds? No. Do I need to have a vehicle that seats 6 and has an 1800lb payload capacity? No.

I am, however, 23 and unable to rent without paying big fees on top of the outrageous price for a days worth of renting an SUV. I'm living over 1000 miles from any family other than my sister who owns a Neon so borrowing a truck or similar 2-4 times a month is out of the question. I'm able to pay for the extra fuel of having a real SUV and still come out under the cost of renting a truck.

My situation at the time of purchase also caused me to get this vehicle. It was between an overpriced economy car with a bunch of potential problems because it's high mileage and economy cars are normally owned by people who hardly even change the oil or getting a low mileage SUV that was obviously taken care of.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Originally Posted by dkjones96

I am, however, 23 and unable to rent without paying big fees on top of the outrageous price for a days worth of renting an SUV.

The original point of this post was to discuss the merits of a more useful rental system.

As far as people having the "right" to waste, I would agree save for the fact that there are serious hidden costs that our current economic model fails to price accurately. Those neglected costs are borne by us all one way or another. Some examples would be pollution, resource depletion, increased safety risk for those driving smaller vehicles (who are struck by larger ones), traffic congestion caused by low occupancy commuting, etc. It can be a very complicated issue.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Almost everyone I know that own trucks take extremely good care of their vehicles. A truck is a tool, a very expensive tool. People who need trucks to to their work make sure that they are maintained well because if the truck breaks, they can't do their work. I would have chosen the truck as well.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

I'm sorry, but I don't recall anyone arguing against owning a vehicle if there is a legitimate reason for doing so.

[dkjones96]

I do see your point on being wasteful, don't get me wrong. I feel bad for using so much fuel driving back and forth from work and unfortunately I have realized that I don't really care for the motorcycle as much as I thought I did. There is something about the fact that there are no 'small incidents' with a motorcycle and the fact that I just totaled my car a few months ago that really makes me not want to ride the thing anymore.

I'm actually looking for a little Neon or something to drive around and keep the Durango as my weekend vehicle.

[Wyldesoul]

Originally Posted by dkjones96

Not to just start crap or anything, but what ever happened to America being the 'land of the free'? If someone is able to afford a certain lifestyle shouldn't they be allowed to live said lifestyle?

Amen! Seriously! Come out with SOLID proof that SUV's are killing the world, or draining all the world's oil, or even that they are the cause of the price of oil... And maybe we'll talk.

Until then... If you can afford to live that way, by all means, live that way.

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by maximilian

I'm sorry, but I don't recall anyone arguing against owning a vehicle if there is a legitimate reason for doing so.

exactly! if they use it for its purpose (ie like dk needing 4wd and ground clearence) then i dont have a problem, or if they do it as a recreation (like jeep people)

its the suburbia USA people who are afraid to go thru a puddle in thier 4wd huge suv thats its designed to do and then some, people who say they need 4wd in the wintertime when it snows. (these are the same retards that 4wd entitles them to go 60mph+ on snow... 4wd or not once you try to stop its all the same)

what when and where does it snow in middle of IL where you need 4wd??? i havent gotten stuck driving around a 2wd s-10 yet or a chevette....nor have my parents in a tarus, ariesK, reliant, capreece, escort, aerostar, ram van, sc2, neon...

SUV's arent killing the world, they just replaced the 12 mpg detriot dinosaurs from the 50-70's nothings changed nothing will, history repeats itself.

just a thought for you guys: if this is America land of the free then shouldn't i be able to buy any car from anywhere without paying ridiculous fees/flatout cant get it? if i want a 80mpg British economy car by golly i should be able to have one right? what about a economy 4 cyl diesel pickup from Brazil that gets 50+ mpg? what if i dont care it didnt pass X safety regulation? Wouldn't it be MY problem if i got into an accident? why should govt step in and say what i can and cant buy? double edged sword isnt it...

[Wyldesoul]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

just a thought for you guys: if this is America land of the free then shouldn't i be able to buy any car from anywhere without paying ridiculous fees/flatout cant get it? if i want a 80mpg British economy car by golly i should be able to have one right? what about a economy 4 cyl diesel pickup from Brazil that gets 50+ mpg? what if i dont care it didnt pass X safety regulation? Wouldn't it be MY problem if i got into an accident? why should govt step in and say what i can and cant buy? double edged sword isnt it...

I actually completely agree with you on that. But... Too many people don't.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Not to be a broken record, but the original point of this post was to discuss ideas for improving access to rentals as a way of allowing people to make the most of what they have. We're sort of getting off topic. That said, discussions should be fun, right?

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

Wouldn't it be MY problem if i got into an accident? why should govt step in and say what i can and cant buy? double edged sword isnt it...

Well, if you have a family or become so injured that you wind up on public disability or just have large medical expenses that raise other people's health insurance premiums, then it wouldn't just be your problem, right? Libertarians often don't think things through completely, I've found. I don't expect everyone to take the time to work through all the hidden costs that are out there to the penny or anything, but I do think that they should at least be aware that hidden costs exist. It's admirable when someone makes a sincere and accurate attempt to minimize that waste. Keep in mind that this can be difficult as, for example, hybrids aren't nearly as green as many believe when every little effect is factored in. C'mon guys, the name of the website is "GasSaver.org", not "LiveFreeOrDie.org"!

It reminds me of the raw milk debate. It's been shown pretty conclusively that raw milk has no real health benefits and also that it does in fact pose a greater risk of illness if you consume it. So should it be regulated? If you assume that everyone is perfectly informed and rational, then the obvious answer is "no". The problem is that everyone ISN'T perfectly informed and rational! Something like 10% more people will buy a product that's $59.99 than one that's $60.00. Half the people who buy a product with a rebate never send it in. Air travel is widely viewed as more dangerous than car travel, despite the reverse being the case. We are imperfect biological machines with real mental limitations, just as we have real physical limitations, yet we frequently act as though we don't have these mental flaws (check out the book Predictably Irrational). Imagine if everyone had to independently verify which medicines did more good than bad and that snake oil was still legal to peddle. It'd be chaos. In fact, we don't have to imagine: it WAS chaos. Throw in the fact that parents might give dangerous things to their kids and the issue of personal responsibility becomes much more thorny. There's also a false assumption that we should not impinge on access until there is iron clad evidence that something is harmful, but this is not how rational risk management is done. What matters is the expected harm, which is probability * consequences. If you wait until it is 100% likely that the flood waters will come, it's too late to build the levies. You cannot pretend that uncertainty does not exist. This is the real world and uncertainty must be managed.

Please don't overgeneralize what I'm about to say and take it as a personal attack or anything. I think there's a little confusion between being free to do something and being admired for doing something. People are perfectly free to talk with their mouths full, eat junk food and never exercise, work a job they hate to buy crap they don't need, wear tacky clothing, not bathe regularly, neglect saving for the future, believe in Santa, or just be rude. That doesn't mean other people have to respect them for it. They're free not to!

This thread's never getting back to improving the rental system, is it?