Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Need a Heap For My Son To Drive in Portland For Two Months

A taxi totaled his car.  He is moving back to Boise in mid-December, so he needs basic transportation for a couple of months.  It is silly to buy a replacement car for such a short period--and renting a car for two months is expensive and impractical.  If you have a car lying around that isn't getting used, and wouldn't mind letting him borrow it to get back and forth to work, I would appreciate it.

He has been looking at other solutions--but they all have serious problems.  He manages a pizza parlor, and gets off quite late--late enough that catching the bus becomes a problem.  Bicycling at that hour is dangerous, especially once it starts to rain regularly.  The cheapest taxi is $15 for a three mile trip--which seems pretty absurd to me.

UPDATE: This might be an interesting alternative for situations like this: zipcar.com.  Okay, the car sharing thing sounds so hippie, but it might be just perfect for a situation where you need a car occasionally, but with more convenience than you get from a car rental company.

3 comments:

  1. Sounds like something the Taxi company ought to be taking care of?

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  2. The taxi company isn't responsible for solving his long-term car problem. The insurer totaled out the car--it just isn't the best time to buy another car.

    The normal car rental makes sense when you have a high paying job. Managing a pizza parlor, no.

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  3. Depending on the terms of your son's and the taxi company's insurance poliices, your son may be able to get a rental car (probably for up to 30 days) at the taxi company's (or his insurance company's) expense. Of course, 30 days doesn't make it to mid-December; on the other hand, if ZipCar or its Portland equivalents are significantly cheaper, he may be able to get them to pay for that for the two months he has left in Oregon.

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