When we think of road trips, we think of long drives, messy cars full of food leftovers and empty soda cans, dusty roads and a lot of fun. But there’s also the matter of the wear on the car owner’s car, from the engine to breaks and tires and anything else that can be easily worn.

Lately, when we go on road trips, we’ve been choosing the rental option. Car hire prices are sometimes high, but there are ways to make them a little cheaper, and we enjoy the peace of mind. So unless a friend happens to have a car that’s perfect for a road trip, we try to rent the perfect car.

The piece of mind of being able to do whatever we want, within reason, to the car and then be able to drop it off in whatever dirty state we leave it, again, within reason, totally makes up for the price and the somewhat added responsibility. We try to be smart about the way we rent it, too: a minimum of 4 people for car, renting over the weekend, renting online and very much ahead of time and an insurance policy that’s adequate to what we need.