Road trip for the first time vs flying to Vegas

For the inaugural time, we drove to Vegas for our trip during the first week of May 2024. We made the drive to and from Vegas  in a day each.Routinely in the past, we've always flown SW and subsequently rented cars during Vegas trips ( once we rented a U-Haul van as an act of rebellion against high rental prices). 

From our home area, the drive required roughly 11.5 hours (650 miles) with stops only for refueling and food before arriving at our Vegas  hotel valet. Historically the average plane and airport experiences required roughly 5 - 7 hours for nonstop direct flights including 1.5 hours to and from our local  departure airport. Multi leg flights with connecting flights add at minimum two to four hours to the total time flight mix provided there are no delays, which can be a crapshoot.The associated logistics and pain of air travel ( and  rental car experiences) was not missed at all on this trip. And we saw some decent country in western NM and eastern AZ along the way.

Costs / cost savings:

Fuel costs for this trip were about $225 (total, both ways). That was weighed against two round trip SW airfare totals of roughly $560 on the same travel dates with taxes and fees. We avoided all the logistics and hassle of flights, airports, and rental car requirements as well ; that's worth something of variable but measurable and real value for many visitors who make the decision to drive  (where feasible; mileage distance, costs, able and willing to drive,etc). Driving from ..say..Hackensack, NJ to Vegas is obviously a different animal trip and might be prohibitive for many involving those kind of distances / mileage / time, etc.

We also saved about $250 in rental car fees for a week-long trip. Sum total we saved over $500 by driving vs flying. That allowed us to increase our Vegas gouge fund contributions, etc.

We'll likely use this transportation means again on the ensuing trip after this initial toe-dip. We know we can somewhat easily make the trip in a single day ( to avoid motel costs). Even though the total time required to drive vs flying was still significant, it was liberating in several ways ( including significant cost savings). Now if those AZ transportation departments/ road crews would just get that leg between Kingman AZ and Vegas ( US 93 / I-11) completed..big jostle - chughole factors particularly on the southbound lanes with those routes. 

After multiple future driving trips, we could change our approach on getting to / from Vegas if SW offers some super sale on nonstop direct flights. We'll see.

     Your choice makes sense if the time and money savings make the trip worthwhile. Getting to and from Vegas has gotten more expensive when flying, along with the ever increasing car rental charges. I make several trips a year and am finding the car rental expense far out weights all of my other expenses.Having a Southwest Rapid Rewards card makes my flights free in most cases because of accrued points and the card perks (annivesary points, 4 free boarding upgrages, $75 yearly deduction for flights). I have a trip scheduled for next Tuesday and have finally gotten reasonable rental car charges after checking multiple times daily for weeks. This trip will cost me $308. for 14 days - $22/ day, which I find reasonable. I always fly non stop ( 3 hrs. to Vegas and 2 1/2 hrs. returning home to Houston). My commute to and from the airport (12 miles each way) is only 25 minutes or so. I don't mind the to and from part of my trips because the time spent is considerably shorter than driving both ways. My biggest concerns if driving to and from Vegas would be the traffic and the wear and tear on my car., plus driving time. But if driving works for you, then by all means it sounds like a great choice.

My historical home-to-Vegas trips used to be about like yours; SF Bay Area, 9.5 hours one way (the quickest way) when driving, or a plethora of flying options. Flying always took as long or longer, when considered door-to-door, and was more expensive. I always traveled solo, but if there had been more than one person in the equation, driving would have been a complete no-brainer.

The tie-breaker, for me, was to arrive in Vegas already having my own car. I hate (hate hate hate hate hate) the hassle and expense of a rental car, not to mention the extra time it takes.

  I have found a way that works for me as far as the getting and returning of a rental car goes. I either rent from a rental car agency at the Car Rental Center or Fox.I take the shuttle bus at the airport to the Car Rental Center ( if renting from Fox, I then take their shuttle to the Fox location). The trip to the Car Rental Center or Fox takes less than 30 minutes. Either way, after getting my vehicle, I go to South Point, which is normally where I first stay. Since my visits are usually for 10 or more days (I stay at different casinos), I make South Point the first and  last casino I stay at during my visits. South Point is a short distance from Fox and the Car Rental Center. After returning the car, it is just a short 7-8 minute bus ride to the airport. I always rent a car which allows me to come and go whenever I please and I don't have to deal with a taxi or a ride service and pay their fees. One ride (one way) in a taxi or ride service usually costs more than the daily rental car fee. I have done this for over 30 years.

Fortunately for us, my wife and I, we live 3 hours from Lost Wages, so it's always the car for us.  Like you, we want to have our own transportation to get around.  The only time I flew was when we had a weeklong trip planned and I had a track meet the day we were leaving.  My wife and son drove out in the morning, and I flew in that night, after the track meet.  A coach drove me to the airport as our meet was within 20 miles of the Ontario Airport.  Back then a one way flight was only $45 and I just had my coaches bag with me.  Easy-Peasy!

Driving vs flying to Vegas is just like any other decision..there's always tradeoffs. This initial driving foray for us including one-day drives both ways was preferable after years of the flight / airport / rental car gauntlet .In this instance with  our driving distance and overall lower total costs, it was liberating in several ways. After potential future multiple driving trips and over time ( or some ridiculously cheap SW airfare sale for early AM direct flights), we might change our approach.

We too like the control and spontaneity of having our own in-town transportation vs taxis, Uber, Lyft, or skateboards. This time we just drove our own vehicle vs the cost and hassle of securing a rental car. In the end, driving vs flying is a personal decision based on a trove of issues..and the approach can certainly change with each trip. Tradeoffs.

The fact that you can do it in one day makes this a great option, especially with the money you save on the airfare and rental car vs. just paying for gas and food.  

To be fair, wear and tear on your car is a cost you should consider over and above that of gas...but as someone who has habitually driven long distances all his life (by choice, rather than flown), I can tell you that the way around that is to drive some old reliable beater that gets great MPG. My last roadtripper was a Mazda 3 that I owned from (its) cradle to grave, buying it new in 2004 and selling it (still running, sort of) in 2014 with 425,000 miles on it.

I do remember the deal-breaker as far as flying to Vegas was concerned--I got off my flight, waited waited waited for my bags, and then...had to wait another half hour for the rental car shuttle...and a half hour after that to actually rent a car...and another half hour to pick it up...blah blah blah...whatever convenience afforded by flying as opposed to driving slowly eroded away as I stood interminably at baggage carousels and check-in lines.

Sure, there's real costs for maintenance / wear and tear..and depreciation, etc. AAA stats (FWIW) indicate those two combined costs run about 20 cents a mile for our car type ( gas engine, 30 mpg small sedan). Using those templates , our trip costs were $260 for maintenance and depreciation during this trip. Add in the actual cost for fuel ( $225 ) and we arrive  at roughly $480 total for fuel, maintenance, and depreciation for the trip.

Other costs of ownership can't be totally ignored either..taxes, insurance, licenses, financing costs..ad infinitum. If one starts adding in all the potential ledger entries, one eventually could end up in a deep state of chronic, drooling depression..not worth it; like a woodpecker incessantly pecking a barn wall or those women who recently conducted  a sacred rage ritual in the woods in Scotland during  a secluded event involving their societal anger issues.

The IRS allows 67 cents a mile for business vehicle deduction use this year. Maybe we'll conjure up some official means to deduct a Vegas trip for business purposes. I'm sure this is a common practice for some nefarious visitors. Sneaky.

Our car is fully owned / paid off, odometer is at 140K+, and we maintain it semi-religiously; we'll drive it until it blows up..spontaneously combusts, etc. We'll be driving to Vegas next trip unless some unknowns raise their ugly heads. 

Well, not to belabor the issue, but I don't count costs that would accrue whether I was driving the car or not--taxes, registration, insurance, blah blah. And of course, depreciation lessens and then disappears once your car is fully depreciated...at 160,000 miles, mine certainly is. I actually would feel worse about driving a new car 1,000 miles than I would driving my existing car.

Yet another consideration might be that as we age, we want to spend as much time as possible in Fun Land (wherever that may be for us) and as little time as possible getting there, whereas while we were younger, it was all about the trip, not so much the destination. Of course, that decision may be influenced by how rancid the prospective drive or flight may be. For instance, I may never drive to Vegas from California or the Pacific Northwest again. Similarly, I will never fly through Sky Horror Airport in Feenicks or LAX again.