Things to Consider if Driving on Vacation

Vacationing is often a giant game of money Jenga. Costs keep adding up and hopefully everything doesn’t come crashing down. After all, vacations are not cheap. Normally when thinking about and planning a vacation, the big expenses are food, lodging, entertainment, and travel. While all four of these topics are researched and considered, normally travel is not budgeted correctly.

The issue with travel is that typically only getting there and getting back is considered, whether that’s flying, driving, or another mode of transportation.

What is often overlooked is traveling while actually on vacation. Depending on the trip, this can add up to quite a bit. Oftentimes, a question that gets discussed is whether or not to drive a car, be it driving out to the destination or renting a car.

Here are a few considerations when making that decision.

The Quantity

Driving a car gets more attractive with every additional person traveling. For example, if a car gets 20 miles per gallon and costs $4.00 per gallon, a 40 mile trip costs $8.00 for a single driver, in which case it may be worth trying to find a bus or a subway ticket. However, if the group is four people, the cost goes down to $2.00 per person. Now it seems like a pretty obvious choice to drive.

Most transportation modes are a per person charge. This includes phones, most taxis, trains, and subways.

Time

If on a seven day trip, time is very valuable. The question is how valuable? A ten hour drive is essentially an entire day each way. If the cost to fly the same distance in two hours is $150 more per person, that needs to be considered. For some, the $150 is worth the extra day of vacationing. For others, it may not be worth it.

There is something also to be said about having car access while on a trip. Not needing public transportation or a shuttle service can save quite a bit of time, which again, is money in a way.

Safety

Safety is the biggest deterrent to driving while on a trip. Different states and countries have different laws and ways of enforcing those laws. While you may trust your own driving skills over a public taxi driver, if an accident were to happen, it wouldn’t be your problem to deal with.

If something does happen, it’s very important to have a plan, especially if you’re out of state/country. Having a good understanding of your policy and having an attorney review the policy, particularly for odd situations like out of state travel, is important.

Again, hopefully an accident never happens, but if it does, it is important to be able to move past it as soon as possible and continue on with the trip.

Convenience

This was touched on previously, but there is no doubt that having a car is more convenient than any other kind of travel. There are no concerns about a train arriving on time, having a good Uber driver, or trying to understand a subway route.

A car also allows for spontaneous trips to the store at midnight, going out for a late night activity, or being okay to arrive at an event a bit late without having to look up and consider the transportation options.

Proximity

The last big consideration to look at is the proximity. If staying at a Disney World Resort with no plans to really explore Orlando or the local beaches, getting a shuttle from the airport to the resort is cheaper than getting a rental car that won’t move until going back to the airport at the end of the trip.

On the flip side, exploring Los Angeles can be a disaster if you’re trying to use public transportation or shuttle services. Los Angeles is so big and the beaches are just far enough to make any transportation outside of a rental/personal car very expensive.

Budget the Expenses

After all of the considerations mentioned above, budgeting different scenarios is probably the safest route to go. No two trips are going to be exactly the same. As a general rule, if the costs come out to about the same, leaning on the side of a car is probably the cheaper option because there will almost certainly be an extra taxi, a lost ticket, or a spontaneous extra stop somewhere that will cost more if not driving.