>> Car makers call it "contingency anxiety," the urge to buy a mechanically overqualified vehicle because maybe, once in a blue moon—or a hurricane on a high tide—the car buyer might need the extra functionality. The personal-use pickup market is a creature of contingency anxiety. After all, once a year, you need to bring home a Christmas tree.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142412788732443980...

Full disclosure: I drive my daughter to Montessori school every morning in Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.

I have a GMC Canyon that sits in the garage next to our Prius. I bought it a year before the Prius, but it has about half the mileage on it.

That said, I generally find myself having to move something big once a week during the summer months for landscaping, remodelling, maintenance, play, etc, and those are the times when I find my pickup to be indispensable.

Maybe when relayrides is more ubiquitous, I'll rethink the truck, but right now it's a luxury at about $17k.

Lowes and Home Depot have by-the-hour pickup truck rental in many locations.

UHaul is always an option, too.

Yeah, I had a Cherokee and knew that the road out from my house flooded every 3 or 4 years. When if finally did ... the police got there first and blockaded it. I had to drive around anyway.

That was funny, I cussed for the next few miles.

In the 1970s in Colorado, I used to hear that a Volkswagen Beetle could make it up any road that a Jeep could--I guess that the short turning radius helped, and the lower ground clearance didn't matter that much.