re: Is there ever anytime that renting a car to go on vacation is a good idea?

Nope.
But that’s not what you said, and isn’t part of depreciation.

No matter what your oil changes cost, you don’t depreciate your value by that.

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depends on how fast he drove

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It's well known in the OT that the faster you drive, the better mileage you get.

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Yes.

I wanted to cruise PCH1 in a convertible with prev Mrs Cars, so we did.

This was before the fires, and it was worth every penny.

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Back when my wife and I were actually people and not just our kids parents we rented Chrysler Lebaron convertibles or Mustang convertibles to go on 4-5 trips a year. Vacations and long weekends both. We both had suitable vehicles, we just enjoyed a convertible which is, if you have ever owned on, pretty impractical to own.

We have also, many times, rented a van when we had a pile of people going somewhere. Even chartered a bus a couple of times. What, we were supposed to go out and buy a charter buss????

My wife and I, before we had kids, rented a convertible to go on vacation to Pensacola. The morning we left her mama and new boyfriend showed up and said "surprise, we are going with y'all". Completely out of the blue. No warning.

We loaded their shite in the convertible, put the top down, and headed to the Gulf. I was, as one can imagine, not overly happy about this turn of events having planned a week of debauchery with my wife (we had reserved a room with a hot tub....this vacation was going to be epic!) and now toting her mama and her new beau with us. We had barely got out of sight of the house when mama and her beau, sitting in the back seat, started complaining about the wind. Her mama had on a massive straw hat with a brim about 3 feet in diameter....every time I looked in the rear view mirror she looked like she was being attacked by a hay field....and I looked a lot because I was enjoying watching the brim of that massive straw hat whupping her arse. After about 10 minutes of listening to both of them whine about the wind my wife said, in that voice that husbands understand the hot tub is now in question, "pull over and put the fricking top up so they will shut the frick up". Yeah, it were like that.

Hope springing eternally and still hampered by visions of us frolicking in the hot tub I pull over and do as I am told. I am not happy about it but I had already became adapt at masking my feelings, especially when there is still some shot of a week of debauched behavior. As one can imagine my wife's attitude had cast quite a pall on what was once a festive atmosphere. The wife, her mama and the boyfriend all quit talking to one another and fell asleep. We had been gone from the house all of 15 minutes and the whole lot of them are snoring and sleeping as if they were at home in bed. Still envisioning all manner of depraved activity in that damned hot tub I decide the faster we get to Pensacola the faster we can get them a room (without a hot tub 'cause frick them) and get started on the fun. I set the cruise control on 100 and away we go!

We get almost to Montgomery, about an hour and a half of that Lebaron being at 100 MPH, and the transmission burns slap up...literally caught on fire. I pull over on I-85 and of course they are all awake by then, possible because of the string of profanity I had let loose which was still hanging heavily in the air. This was before cell phones were a thing, at least for us. so I have to walk about a mile, mid day in July, to a pay phone and call the rental car company. They don't have another convertible available....but they have a Ford Taurus Station Wagon. I walk back to the car and of course the lot of them are whining and bitching like the end of the world had just happened. Luckily I still had visions of that hot tub and had though to keep the piece some snacks and drinks were in order....and it did help, until of course the lot of them had to pee and there we were.

Two hours later a ramp truck pulls up behind us with what looked an awful lot like the Family Truckster. Keep in mind my daily driver at the time was a 1 year old K5 Silverado Blazer...about as nice a "station wagon" as you could get in 1988....it was sitting at home on the west side of Atlanta and here we were in Montgomery looking like Chevy Chase.

We load our shite up in the Truckster and away we go....and mama's boyfriend, who had more or less not been a problem thus far, quips "man, this thing is way better than that damned cramped up convertible....". At that moment all images of that infernal hot tub left my mind....it wouldn't have made a difference if it had been in the palace of virgins from "History of the World" I was no longer "in the mood".....I reminded the lot of 'em that we had a convertible because it was supposed to just be the 2 of us....and they were lucky I didn't leave their asses in Montgomery. Yep, at that point any sort of relations that did not involve an attorney were taken off the table....all 3 of them turned on me, as I should have known they would, and for about 15 minutes the air inside the truckster was thick with regret and recrimination....then they were fast asleep again.

As far as the hot tub the hotel did not have any other rooms available so there 4 of us in a room with a sofa bed and a king. But that's another story. I will say that, to my wife's credit, we did take advantage of that big old Truckster at Fort Pickens under the stars twice during that trip.....

I'm retired and I rent a vehicle for road trips. I don't want to put the miles on my 2003 Silverado

Flying and renting is fine. So are a lot of other scenarios.

I think what the OP is suggesting is that if your vehicle isn't trustworthy or roomy enough to accommodate your entire family and you can't afford to change that then maybe you shouldn't be going on an expensive vacation and should instead put that money towards a new car fund. That's a fair point and people taking vacations they can't afford is a whole separate debate.

But I also think people have too much paranoia when it comes to traveling and taking a road trip. I doubt your old daily driver is any more likely to get in an accident or break down 3/4 of the way to Florida then it is taking your son to school but people just "feel" like that's the case because of travel anxiety.

It's the same thing with people trying to cram a weeks worth of luggage into the overhead bin and under the seat in front of them. 99% of the time your checked luggage rolls out onto the baggage claim with no issues but everyone on the plane still thinks the airline will lose or destroy their suitcase and their vacation will be ruined.

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you have a rental you just call for a replacement. If you’re in your own car you’re stuck trying to figure where to take it for repairs, knowing it won’t be seen until Monday at the earliest. And at that point you’re

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No way!!

Good info.

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Both are fun for a little while?

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Very true. If you mainline too hard you’ll end up living in that car.

Depending on where we are going and for how long, I will rent a vehicle. Just to drive something different. And I definitely get my money's worth.