Would it cost more to rent a car or buy a plane ticket?

Question

Would it cost more to drive FROM New York TO Chicago in a rented car or just to buy a plane ticket? I would be staying a week and at a friends house, no hotel.

Answer 1

renting a car would be cheaper

Answer 2

Depends....

If you are just counting cost of rent with plane ticket then renting will be cheaper.... but

If you are driving from New York to Chicago then you need to add cost of gas, you need to add cost of room charge if you take a break, you need to add resturant charges on the road.

The more people are sharing the car it will be cheaper by car.

Answer 3

it would be about the same.  but flying would be faster and could spend more time with the friends

Answer 4

Are you in  New York City or upstate New York? A plane ticket can be gotten for pretty cheap from NYC but not nearly so cheap from Buffalo.

Car rental, costs not only the rental fees but also driving time and fuel and a one night layover, unless you can drive that far in one shot.

Will you need a car when you get to Chicago?

So there's lots of things to concider. I'll just give you one option. If not living in NYC take public transportation (Greyhound or Amtrak) to NYC and get a cheap flight to Chicago. Buy the ticket as far in advance as possible and buy the cheapest ticket, no matter what time of day it departs.