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

From day 4. 4 days at the $65.40 day rate would be $261.60, but the weekly rate caps it at $261.

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

From day 22. At that point the week-and-day composition reaches the $785 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.

Portable Generator

See the listing →

Anastasios Liangis · Generators - Gas

Day: $65.40
Week: $261
28 days: $785

Daily stops winning on

day 4

4 days at the day rate would be $261.60. On the week rate it is $261.

Weekly stops winning on

day 22

22 days at the day rate would be $1,438.80. On the 28-day rate it is $785.

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 Portable Generator, days 1 to 35
Days	At the day rate	On the ladder	Difference	Rate in play
1	$65.40	$65.40	—	day
2	$130.80	$130.80	—	day
3	$196.20	$196.20	—	day
4	$261.60	$261	you save $0.60	week
5	$327	$261	you save $66	week
6	$392.40	$261	you save $131.40	week
7	$457.80	$261	you save $196.80	week
8	$523.20	$326.40	you save $196.80	week
9	$588.60	$391.80	you save $196.80	week
10	$654	$457.20	you save $196.80	week
11	$719.40	$522	you save $197.40	week
12	$784.80	$522	you save $262.80	week
13	$850.20	$522	you save $328.20	week
14	$915.60	$522	you save $393.60	week
15	$981	$587.40	you save $393.60	week
16	$1,046.40	$652.80	you save $393.60	week
17	$1,111.80	$718.20	you save $393.60	week
18	$1,177.20	$783	you save $394.20	week
19	$1,242.60	$783	you save $459.60	week
20	$1,308	$783	you save $525	week
21	$1,373.40	$783	you save $590.40	week
22	$1,438.80	$785	you save $653.80	28-day
23	$1,504.20	$785	you save $719.20	28-day
24	$1,569.60	$785	you save $784.60	28-day
25	$1,635	$785	you save $850	28-day
26	$1,700.40	$785	you save $915.40	28-day
27	$1,765.80	$785	you save $980.80	28-day
28	$1,831.20	$785	you save $1,046.20	28-day
29	$1,896.60	$850.40	you save $1,046.20	day
30	$1,962	$915.80	you save $1,046.20	day
31	$2,027.40	$981.20	you save $1,046.20	day
32	$2,092.80	$1,046	you save $1,046.80	week
33	$2,158.20	$1,046	you save $1,112.20	week
34	$2,223.60	$1,046	you save $1,177.60	week
35	$2,289	$1,046	you save $1,243	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 · 22 days: $785
Rental protection (RPP): $117.75
Service fee: $78.50
Estimated total: $981.25

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.