UPDATE: My strategic approach to booking a rental car for 110 consecutive days

Editor's note: This article has been refreshed with the latest information on car rental elite points accumulation. Originally published on June 5, 2020.

Since relocating to Manhattan 13 years ago, I haven't owned a car.

That's usually a positive. Public transport, taxis, rideshares like Uber and Lyft — along with a lot of walking and biking — have made urban living feasible for me.

Whenever we needed to get away from the city for the weekend, my family relied on Avis, Hertz, and National.

Then came COVID-19, transforming our lives in New York City completely. For weeks, my wife and daughter were confined to our apartment, venturing out only for short neighborhood walks. Our world shrank to just a mile or two from home.

Now that New York's stay-at-home order is nearing its end and new coronavirus cases have significantly dropped, we sought greater mobility.

This summer will be unlike any we've experienced. No camps or daycare. Museums, restaurants, theaters, zoos, and various activities are closed. While we enjoy New York's parks, they can become uncomfortably crowded in this era of social distancing.

It was time to get a car.

This is where the dilemma arose. We were hesitant to buy or lease a car because, hopefully soon, life will resume, and we wouldn’t want the expense or inconvenience of owning one in Manhattan. There was a possibility of taking over someone else's lease for a few months, but that came with hidden costs and the hassle of transferring the car registration.

I considered renting cars only on weekends, but summer rates in Manhattan often exceed $300. Each week, I would need to visit the rental location, stand in line, pick up a new car, and refuel it before returning. Plus, during the coronavirus pandemic, each new rental carries additional risks.

Ultimately, we decided to rent one or two homes this summer instead of our usual flying vacations. Weekly car rentals were costing us over $1,000, and my usual tactic of renting outside the city wasn't providing any better deals.

Then I discovered that renting a car for nearly four months would result in a significantly lower rate. It came to $3,700 after taxes for the entire summer, which was cheaper than any other options, without the long-term obligations of a $200-a-month lease.

(Yes, owning a car for just two years might seem cheaper, but parking in Manhattan presents a long-term issue, with garage costs exceeding those of monthly lease payments. Currently, my work-from-home situation and the absence of a daily commute allow me to move the car as needed for street cleaning.)

Insurance became my next major hurdle.

My wife and I already have liability insurance for non-car owners included in our broader insurance plan. However, we needed collision coverage.

I usually count on my credit cards for this, but their fine print restricts that insurance to rentals of 31 days or fewer.

I went ahead and booked cars with Avis and Hertz for 110 days. (No other companies could match their pricing.)

Avis informed me that I would have a single reservation number, but it would actually consist of four distinct rental agreements. I wouldn’t need to return the car between contracts, though I would receive calls asking for the mileage. This setup allowed me to have the car for the full 110 days while enabling credit card insurance coverage as if it were four separate rentals.

Each month, my credit card would be charged for that rental agreement.

Purchasing collision insurance through Avis would have added an extra $1,000 to the rental cost for the entire duration.

Hertz was less straightforward.

A call to the national reservations center revealed that the local rental office had the discretion to set the contract terms. In such cases, they typically offered agreements for either 30 or 61 days. I reached out to the local office twice by phone and once in person, but I never received a clear answer. Hertz was $2 cheaper per day for my 110-day rental, but without clarity on the agreement, I opted for Avis.

As a President's Club member, I received an upgrade to a full-size vehicle: a brand-new Nissan Altima with only 59 miles on the clock. It may not be as stylish as the BMW 5 Series Hertz once provided, but it gets the job done and is easy to parallel park.

I have the car until mid-September and will share updates on the loyalty points I accumulate from Avis.

Our family vacations used to nearly always begin with a flight. Now, we’re discovering all that our local area has to offer. We’ve planned day trips to nearby hikes, beaches, farms, and other outdoor activities that allow for social distancing. It’s not what I originally envisioned for this summer, but I’m looking forward to these new experiences.

Photo by Austin Neill via Unsplash