Rental car and Ownership

As I started traveling to NJ, I rent a car every week. When I see many people who drive rental cars (including myself), I can see the tendency of becoming more reckless drivers. People step on gas too much too quickly and don’t really care if the RPM goes above 4. If there are speed humps, people don’t reduce speed enough with the rental cars, either. When I got a ride with my manager’s own car, however, he drove quite differently (he’s still a reckless driver.) That’s why I am not surprised when I rented a car that’s slightly over 25000 miles on it feels like a 5-6 years old car because of careless drivers.

Why people drive rental cars differently from their own cars? I believe that’s related to their ownership of the car. When you own your car, you have to deal with the consequences of your driving habits/styles. Rental cars, however, are different stories. You rent it for certain amount of time and then, it’s not yours anymore and you don’t have to worry about it.

Ownership is also related to commitment. “Something belongs to me” means I need to take care of it while I decide to have it. In that sense, it’s important to have a nice owner. Who’s the owner of your life? I’m glad my God is the owner of my life who loves me so much.