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

From day 5. 5 days at the $170 day rate would be $850, but the weekly rate caps it at $700.

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

From day 24. At that point the week-and-day composition reaches the $2,600 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 →

Kellie Morse · Excavators - Mini

Day: $170
Week: $700
28 days: $2,600

Daily stops winning on

day 5

5 days at the day rate would be $850. On the week rate it is $700.

Weekly stops winning on

day 24

24 days at the day rate would be $4,080. On the 28-day rate it is $2,600.

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	$170	$170	—	day
2	$340	$340	—	day
3	$510	$510	—	day
4	$680	$680	—	day
5	$850	$700	you save $150	week
6	$1,020	$700	you save $320	week
7	$1,190	$700	you save $490	week
8	$1,360	$870	you save $490	week
9	$1,530	$1,040	you save $490	week
10	$1,700	$1,210	you save $490	week
11	$1,870	$1,380	you save $490	week
12	$2,040	$1,400	you save $640	week
13	$2,210	$1,400	you save $810	week
14	$2,380	$1,400	you save $980	week
15	$2,550	$1,570	you save $980	week
16	$2,720	$1,740	you save $980	week
17	$2,890	$1,910	you save $980	week
18	$3,060	$2,080	you save $980	week
19	$3,230	$2,100	you save $1,130	week
20	$3,400	$2,100	you save $1,300	week
21	$3,570	$2,100	you save $1,470	week
22	$3,740	$2,270	you save $1,470	week
23	$3,910	$2,440	you save $1,470	week
24	$4,080	$2,600	you save $1,480	28-day
25	$4,250	$2,600	you save $1,650	28-day
26	$4,420	$2,600	you save $1,820	28-day
27	$4,590	$2,600	you save $1,990	28-day
28	$4,760	$2,600	you save $2,160	28-day
29	$4,930	$2,770	you save $2,160	day
30	$5,100	$2,940	you save $2,160	day
31	$5,270	$3,110	you save $2,160	day
32	$5,440	$3,280	you save $2,160	day
33	$5,610	$3,300	you save $2,310	week
34	$5,780	$3,300	you save $2,480	week
35	$5,950	$3,300	you save $2,650	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 · 24 days: $2,600
Rental protection (RPP): $390
Service fee: $260
Estimated total: $3,250

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.