When is it cheaper to rent a 4000 Watt Generator by the week than by the day?

From day 3. 3 days at the $90 day rate would be $270, but the weekly rate caps it at $250.

When is it cheaper to rent a 4000 Watt Generator on the 28-day rate?

From day 23. At that point the week-and-day composition reaches the $900 28-day rate, and the price stops climbing for the rest of the cycle.

Break-even duration

Equipment rents on three rates — a day rate, a week rate and a 28-day rate — and the cheapest one changes as the job runs long. This finds the two days where it changes, on a real listing’s real published rates.

4000 Watt Generator

See the listing →

Chuck Troiani · Generators - Diesel

Day: $90
Week: $250
28 days: $900

Daily stops winning on

day 3

3 days at the day rate would be $270. On the week rate it is $250.

Weekly stops winning on

day 23

23 days at the day rate would be $2,070. On the 28-day rate it is $900.

The working

Whole weeks bill at the week rate; the leftover days bill at the day rate but never add up to more than one extra week; and a whole 28-day cycle never costs more than the 28-day rate. That is the rule, applied one day at a time.

Rental price by duration for 4000 Watt Generator, days 1 to 35
Days	At the day rate	On the ladder	Difference	Rate in play
1	$90	$90	—	day
2	$180	$180	—	day
3	$270	$250	you save $20	week
4	$360	$250	you save $110	week
5	$450	$250	you save $200	week
6	$540	$250	you save $290	week
7	$630	$250	you save $380	week
8	$720	$340	you save $380	week
9	$810	$430	you save $380	week
10	$900	$500	you save $400	week
11	$990	$500	you save $490	week
12	$1,080	$500	you save $580	week
13	$1,170	$500	you save $670	week
14	$1,260	$500	you save $760	week
15	$1,350	$590	you save $760	week
16	$1,440	$680	you save $760	week
17	$1,530	$750	you save $780	week
18	$1,620	$750	you save $870	week
19	$1,710	$750	you save $960	week
20	$1,800	$750	you save $1,050	week
21	$1,890	$750	you save $1,140	week
22	$1,980	$840	you save $1,140	week
23	$2,070	$900	you save $1,170	28-day
24	$2,160	$900	you save $1,260	28-day
25	$2,250	$900	you save $1,350	28-day
26	$2,340	$900	you save $1,440	28-day
27	$2,430	$900	you save $1,530	28-day
28	$2,520	$900	you save $1,620	28-day
29	$2,610	$990	you save $1,620	day
30	$2,700	$1,080	you save $1,620	day
31	$2,790	$1,150	you save $1,640	week
32	$2,880	$1,150	you save $1,730	week
33	$2,970	$1,150	you save $1,820	week
34	$3,060	$1,150	you save $1,910	week
35	$3,150	$1,150	you save $2,000	week

Rental rates only. Protection and the marketplace service fee are added on top — see the checkout figure below.

What checkout will quote you

Rental · 23 days: $900
Rental protection (RPP): $135
Service fee: $90
Estimated total: $1,125

Pick a listing

The numbers come from one operator’s published rates, so the tool needs to know whose.

Where these numbers come from

The rates are the operator’s own, read live from their listing. The arithmetic is the same best-price billing engine that produces 2Quip invoices — not a second copy written for this page — run on the industry-standard terms: a 28-day cycle, whole weeks at the week rate, leftover days at the day rate capped at one more week.

An operator can agree different terms on an individual rental, and a long rental bills per 28-day cycle rather than in one lump. So treat this as what the rate card says, and the operator’s quote as what you are agreeing to.