Weekend out of town trip (Tacoma or Car Rental?)

I worked out the math (assuming math is correct) for a 600mile round-trip with the cost of gas being about $4.50 a gallon. If I take the Tacoma (well maintained) just the cost of gas alone versus using a car rental with a smaller car like a Corolla or Sentra. Even with the rental cost added on, it'll only cost from $30 to $100 more (this depends if I rent for 2 or 3 days) I guess the question is what is the cost you put on wear & tear? Thoughts? I can explain the math I did in more detail if anyone cares lol

I have a 2001 with 117k miles on it
(in California driving conditions: mostly highway & Grapevine LA area - mountainous)

 

With that logic, most of us don't need Tacomas. They can haul much, they suck gas, they ride rougher than a car, but we like them. Unless the cost of fuel and maintenance is killing you, take pride in having an older Tacoma in good shape and drive it on the roadtrip. It's only 2 tanks of gas. They're known to last 500X your road trip length. Enjoy it!!

 

Depends where u are going … sometimes a rental is a smarter choice …so u don’t have to worry about someone messing with your truck when u are in an area u are not familiar with .

 

IRS allows .67/mi for business in '24.

Subtract your per mile fuel cost and the rest applies to everything else. Yes, it's an 'allowance' and not vehicle specific. But if you don't track TCO, it's a reasonable number to use.

That said, for me it would depend on exactly where I was going and what I was doing.

 

alternatively, one could also purchase a 100k+, 10+ year old vehicle, use it exclusively for the trip, then sell afterwards to roughly break even. if we're talking about transportation options...