Travel tip: Save money on your rental car by trying a Prius

I just got back from a quick trip to Oregon. This time, I decided not to rent the usual Chevy Impala ("or similar") and instead rented a Toyota Prius. It was really just a lark: I'd never driven a Prius and this was a great way to give it a spin, plus it was only $4 more a day vs. the Impala. (Hertz's cheapest rental, the Hyundai Accent, is $11 cheaper than a Prius, but, hey, I have to have a few standards.)

Touring the area, it dawned on me that, in an age of $3.50 gas, the Prius wasn't just a green choice, it was actually a really smart financial decision, too. Of course, people purchase hybrids, in part, to save money on gas, but it turns out this also works when you rent a car, too.

One of the Prius's nifty features is its real-time fuel efficiency indicator. By the end of my trip, I'd racked up 130 miles at 41 miles a gallon. Sure enough, when I filled up the car en route to the airport, it took a mere three gallons of gas to get back to full. In a traditional car, I might have gotten 20 or so miles per gallon and used twice the amount of gas, costing roughly $23 to refuel instead of the $9.72 I actually spent. Bottom line: I spent $8 extra on the rental fee, but saved $13 on gas, for a net savings of 5 bucks. It doesn't sound like much, but I didn't really drive that far, either. Had I delved further south into the Oregon wine country, I would have saved even more. (Of course, my figures are unique to a single trip. Your mileage may vary... no pun intended.)

Naturally, the intangible benefits are worth it even if I hadn't saved any money: I spent less time at the gas station, I used less fossil fuel (and polluted less) than I would have in a non-hybrid car, and, for a tech junkie, I found the Prius lots of fun to drive, filled with displays and indicators that were enough to entertain me at every stop light over three days. (Heck, just trying to figure out how to start the Prius is amusement enough.)

Next time you're renting a car, consider a hybrid, even though it costs more. You might not instantly save the planet, but you might actually save a buck or two.