Why do so many people think renting a vehicle when you already own one is cost effective, or a reasonable thing to do? Especially if you won’t be using it much once you arrive at your destination.
Whereas the tow bot can be put to work while you’re on holiday, and you still have transport.
Are you suggesting that the tow bot takes your camper to the site and then leaves? It’s like a municipal resource?
I don’t buy a U-Haul truck just for the occasion that I’m moving, am I?
In a less snarky response, in case you can downscale your primary car to be more efficient and less costly, you can save significant amounts of money. In my country, weight, size, type of drivetrain and the sticker price all determine the amount of tax you pay on the vehicle. Getting a small, light vehicle instead of a big one you need for towing can definitely make sense financially, even if you are going to tow a caravan once a year and therefore have to rent a car to do so. Of course the individual circumstances really change a lot and in general people don’t do this due to convenience or the simple fact that they do this more often.
But you also missed the point of my reply. The point is that these tow bots will essentially be a second vehicle on their own. It will be expensive to buy one, it will be expensive to rent one and it will be expensive to own one. It won’t make sense as a product, even if you can still use your car when you arrive at your destination. The economics won’t work out, I’m pretty sure of that.
Why do so many people think renting a vehicle when you already own one is cost effective, or a reasonable thing to do?
The 5 year cost of a fairly base 2020 F150 is ~49k according to Kelly blue book - that’s fuel, maintainence, depreciation, loan interest, etc. The 5 year cost of either a 2020 Civic or a 2020 Chevy Bolt is $37k.
$12k / 5 years = $2,400/year. If you’d spend less than that a year, you’d be better off renting a truck when you need it and driving a cheaper vehicle daily.
Do you not value your time at all, in this scenario? Renting a vehicle every time you need a truck is a massive time sink.
Think of how much extra you’d pay for a rental service that dropped the truck off at your house, picked it up, and handled all the annoying things like filling the car up or cleaning it out.
Then, just add that into your calculations. That number is going to depend on how far you live from rental places and how much you value your time. Ballpark it.
