When is it cheaper to rent a Mini Excavator by the week than by the day?

From day 3. 3 days at the $300 day rate would be $900, but the weekly rate caps it at $800.

When is it cheaper to rent a Mini Excavator on the 28-day rate?

From day 16. At that point the week-and-day composition reaches the $2,200 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.

Mini Excavator

See the listing →

Max Smith · Excavators - Mini

Day: $300
Week: $800
28 days: $2,200

Daily stops winning on

day 3

3 days at the day rate would be $900. On the week rate it is $800.

Weekly stops winning on

day 16

16 days at the day rate would be $4,800. On the 28-day rate it is $2,200.

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 Mini Excavator, days 1 to 35
Days	At the day rate	On the ladder	Difference	Rate in play
1	$300	$300	—	day
2	$600	$600	—	day
3	$900	$800	you save $100	week
4	$1,200	$800	you save $400	week
5	$1,500	$800	you save $700	week
6	$1,800	$800	you save $1,000	week
7	$2,100	$800	you save $1,300	week
8	$2,400	$1,100	you save $1,300	week
9	$2,700	$1,400	you save $1,300	week
10	$3,000	$1,600	you save $1,400	week
11	$3,300	$1,600	you save $1,700	week
12	$3,600	$1,600	you save $2,000	week
13	$3,900	$1,600	you save $2,300	week
14	$4,200	$1,600	you save $2,600	week
15	$4,500	$1,900	you save $2,600	week
16	$4,800	$2,200	you save $2,600	28-day
17	$5,100	$2,200	you save $2,900	28-day
18	$5,400	$2,200	you save $3,200	28-day
19	$5,700	$2,200	you save $3,500	28-day
20	$6,000	$2,200	you save $3,800	28-day
21	$6,300	$2,200	you save $4,100	28-day
22	$6,600	$2,200	you save $4,400	28-day
23	$6,900	$2,200	you save $4,700	28-day
24	$7,200	$2,200	you save $5,000	28-day
25	$7,500	$2,200	you save $5,300	28-day
26	$7,800	$2,200	you save $5,600	28-day
27	$8,100	$2,200	you save $5,900	28-day
28	$8,400	$2,200	you save $6,200	28-day
29	$8,700	$2,500	you save $6,200	day
30	$9,000	$2,800	you save $6,200	day
31	$9,300	$3,000	you save $6,300	week
32	$9,600	$3,000	you save $6,600	week
33	$9,900	$3,000	you save $6,900	week
34	$10,200	$3,000	you save $7,200	week
35	$10,500	$3,000	you save $7,500	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 · 16 days: $2,200
Rental protection (RPP): $330
Service fee: $220
Estimated total: $2,750

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.