Park(ing) Day NYC

58 members. Join Group

Supplies

Edit this page

Vehicle Rental

It is somewhat ironic that creating a park almost always requires the use of a vehicle and attendant parking spot. Unless you are dedicated enough to assemble your own human-powered parkmobile, you will need to rent a car, van, or truck to transport supplies. The cheapest places to do that in New York on PARK(ing) day are:

Enterprise Rent-a-Car:

This is the cheapest chain rental in New York City -- even cheaper than ZipCar!. The cheapest locations are in Middle Village, East Elmhurst, and Woodside. In general, you can expect to rent a sedan, minivan, SUV, or pickup truck for $50-$100/day, depending on the location and vehicle.

U-Haul:

U-haul's locations tend to be out of the way, but it is probably the cheapest way to rent a pickup truck or cargo van in the city. You can get either for $20/day plus $1/mile, or a real 14-foot truck for $20/day plus $2/mile. Beware the mileage charges -- they add up quickly.

Notes about rental

Renting a car from a rental agency is a somewhat different process from renting a zipcar. In particular, you need to be over age 25 to get the best rates or even to rent at all. The best thing to do is to pay for your rental with a platinum visa or mastercard, which will provide free insurance for damage to the vehicle (CDI or CDW). You will also need to make sure you have adequate minimal liability insurance as well, which most rental companies will provide free with the vehicle (though they may try to sell you additional insurance on top of that). Also, if you own an insured private car, it will typically cover you for liability incurred while driving a rental.

Questions?

Contact Ian Turner at vectro@vectro.org or by phone at 646-508-7849 if you have any questions about vehicle rental; being an exotic fetishist, he tends to rent a car and drive off to random places with some regularity.