I live in a large city and do not currently own a car. I use public transportation, ZipCar, Uber, and a bike to get everywhere I need within the city. For bigger trips outside the city, I have been renting a car on weekends here and there, but have been considering buying or leasing a car.
Does it make sense to buy/lease a car to only use it somewhat infrequently on the weekends? The way my math works out, I could buy a $20k car and sell it five years later for perhaps $10k, costing me $10k for the duration. Supposing a rental car is about $50/day, I could rent a car for 200 days for the same price (40 days/ year), and not have to worry about any maintenance, parking, insurance, or other issues related to ownership. I estimate I'd only really rent a car for around 20 days a year, putting me well below the break-even point. Even though short-term rentals are expensive in the long term, it doesn't seem worth it to buy/lease a car I'm never using on weekdays. Downsides to renting include the time needed to actually go rent the car, but I would expect this to about even out with needing to take an owned car to the shop, as well as moving it between on-street parking spaces to avoid street cleaning tickets.
Am I missing something in my reasoning? Is short-term rental a viable option for a scenario in which the car will be driven only on infrequent weekends?