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Comment by elteto | Hacker News Reader

With current prices this could be a bit of a stretch. A 2 day rental from MIA with Enterprise is $140 for a compact (just checked). I’m sure you can find cheaper but probably no by much. So you are close to $160 all-in with gas and tolls.

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You can do a fair amount better that that on price with a major rental company, but it still might make sense to use the train if you are solo. But if you are a duo or trio, the train pricing starts to lose big.

https://i.imgur.com/uSHiZdS.png

If you are willing to risk using one of the lower tier car rental companies, you can really cut the price.

https://i.imgur.com/iOHxxw3.png

By the time you're done paying for insurance, the nickel and diming on the rental, the tolls, and the physical toll of driving long stretches in a country you are not familiar with, it starts to sound like a better option to take a stress-free train ride and then a Lyft to your destination.

Well, last time I booked a car last minute (from one of the big ones, I think it was Enterprise), they confirmed my confirmation but didn't have any car available when I showed up the next day. I'd imagine the train is somewhat more reliable.

Problem is then you're depending on a rental, which your (alleged) reservation doesn't actually guarantee.

You always depend on the business to provide the service reserved whether it is plane, train or automobile. I'd worry more about the flight into/out of MIA than the car rental.

Rental car agencies oversell far more than is typical of most industries, including the airlines.

Airlines, hotels, car rental agencies all overbook as a matter of course. You assert that car rentals are worse than airlines. But you cite no numbers, no sources, so... Maybe?

Not sure it is even the best comparison since we are talking reliability. Airlines manage overbooking very well, but flights delays and cancellations are the reliability issue.

You can rent a Tesla from Hertz for $40-50 per day, and they are currently including the Supercharger fees (at least I didn't get charged for it the last two times I took one).

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