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Over here in (Western) Europe most people rent a trailer when they need it, unless you are living more rural. If you need it once in a blue moon then renting isn't really an issue. Many places that sell large things, like IKEA, also rent out large vans basically for free if you purchase from them.

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Right, but if you’re willing to rent, might as well just rent a truck on demand. At this point you’ve shifted the goal posts to, “why do people buy things and underutilize them instead of renting on demand”?

Why have a guest room when there are hotels you can send visitors to?

Why have a 4 door car that incurs most of its mileage in a commute with 1 or 2 people?

Well, here at least trailers are rented because you can pick up a trailer at the gas station at zero notice. Renting a truck is a little bit different.

Where is "here?" I've never seen trailers available to rent at gas stations.

Here in Sweden they're available at most bigger gas stations.

That's a sensible way to do things. In the U.S. I haven't seen it; maybe that's partly why pickup trucks are more popular here.

New Zealand

I don't think most people have guest rooms on purpose. More often those are the rooms kids lived in before they left home and then the rooms get repurposed.

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