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Illustration by Dennis Eriksson
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A 20-Minute Keg Run
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- Car2Go
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This past October, Car2Go peppered a 36-mile Brooklyn stretch, from Williamsburg to Bay Ridge, with 400 tiny blue-and-white Smart cars. There’s a sign-up fee of $35 (for the key card), but for only 41 cents per minute (and a maximum $15 per hour), this beats stumbling into the subway with a heavy load of groceries. And in lieu of having to return your ride to a designated drop-off location, available Car2Gos can be pinpointed via app and ditched in any legal parking space within the aforementioned radius.
A Four-Hour Couch Move
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- Carpingo
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For those who fear clunking down side streets in a U-Haul: Carpingo’s fleet includes a multitude of furniture-friendly vehicles�Dodge Caravans and Ford E250s�in parking spots throughout Brooklyn and Long Island City, from $7.50 per hour. Members can reserve for as little as one hour (or for a maximum two-week stretch) and tap the membership card (from $25) to unlock the ride. Plus, each car has a �fuel card� for complimentary gas.
A Weekend in Rhinebeck
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- Dollar Rent a Car
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Newport Centre Mall, Jersey City; 201-459-0900
Deal-seeking New Yorkers have been known to take the hour-long train to White Plains to avoid Manhattan car-rental premiums (which creep toward $100 per day) and multi-day Zipcar rates. But for those in the know, Dollar is a mere seven-minute PATH-train ride from One World Trade Center, plus a six-minute walk. Dollar has a large fleet of Nissan Versas and Kia Vioses for under $30 per day. And if you can finagle a Monday getaway, rates can dip to $22 per day.
A Month in Nashville
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- Courier Car Rental
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430 W. 37th St., nr. Tenth Ave.
Located in the shadow of the Lincoln Tunnel, Saturday Night Live’s favorite car rental for celebrity guests combines dreamy customer service�the lot’s open 24 hours a day, and there’s a one-hour grace period on returns since the neighborhood is so heavily trafficked� with full-size monthly rental costs from $1,295 (and only 15 cents per mile over the maximum 1,500). This spring it’ll be phasing out its road-weary Ford Fusions for a fleet of brand-new Focuses. And while a quick Google of monthly car leases in Manhattan turns up tantalizing rates around $500, there are often hidden costs. The rental route saves you from sifting through pages of fine-print lease documents.