#19 - Renting cars from dealerships is less expensive than

[Jonathan Evans]

Yes, absolutely. As discussed in the response to your question about prephrasing for Strengthen-Except questions here (lsat/viewtopic.php?f=677&t=8914), you should articulate what you want the correct answer to do, in this case perhaps something like:

• Looking for something that doesn't give reason to think renting from dealerships is more worthwhile for local residents than it is for tourists.

You could anticipate that the distinction between local residents and tourists will be significant, and the absence of such a distinction could indicate that an answer choice does not Strengthen the conclusion.

However, again as noted in the previous response, you need not go overboard exhausting all possibilities. Have an understanding of what's going on; know what the conclusion is; notice any salient fallacies in reasoning; then proceed confidently through the answer choices.

[Blueballoon5%]

Hi Jon! I was wondering if you (or someone else) could clarify your response to another question. Your explanation for why answer choice E is wrong: "The answer to this question is no. Even if these taxi rides are the same price, we do not achieve any meaningful change in the validity of the conclusion because the conclusion concerns a distinction between what is good for local residents and what is good for tourists. If these taxi rides for local residents are the same price, we have neither conferred an advantage to them nor subjected them to any disadvantage relative to tourists"

My question to John's quote above: Couldn't we say the same for answer choice A? The fact that dealerships offer free travel service does not necessarily indicate that national rental firms don't do the same. And whether firms offer free travel service or not, the answer choice A does not touch upon the distinction between what is good for locals and good for tourists.

"In fact, one would have to make an additional assumption, that these rides are the same price for local residents but not for tourists for this statement to have an effect. Further, we would need to know what this distinction is between local residents and tourists (Are taxi rides for tourists to national rental places more expensive than they are for local residents? Are taxi rides for local residents to car dealerships less expensive than taxi rides for tourists to such car dealerships? Etc.)"

My question to John's quote above: Similar to my first question, aren't we making the same assumptions for answer choice A. We are assuming in answer choice A that locals pay more for travel expenses to national firms. We are also assuming that dealerships don't offer the same free service to tourists.

Sorry for so many questions. This question was really hard, but I hope anyone could help me! Thanks!!


My third question: What does "no less expensive" mean? (English is not my first language). This wording is found in answer choice E. In the context of answer choice E, does this mean that dealership taxi rides are either equal or more expensive than national firm taxi rides?

[Shannon Parker]

Hi Jon! I was wondering if you (or someone else) could clarify your response to another question. Your explanation for why answer choice E is wrong: "The answer to this question is no. Even if these taxi rides are the same price, we do not achieve any meaningful change in the validity of the conclusion because the conclusion concerns a distinction between what is good for local residents and what is good for tourists. If these taxi rides for local residents are the same price, we have neither conferred an advantage to them nor subjected them to any disadvantage relative to tourists"

My question to John's quote above: Couldn't we say the same for answer choice A? The fact that dealerships offer free travel service does not necessarily indicate that national rental firms don't do the same. And whether firms offer free travel service or not, the answer choice A does not touch upon the distinction between what is good for locals and good for tourists.

"In fact, one would have to make an additional assumption, that these rides are the same price for local residents but not for tourists for this statement to have an effect. Further, we would need to know what this distinction is between local residents and tourists (Are taxi rides for tourists to national rental places more expensive than they are for local residents? Are taxi rides for local residents to car dealerships less expensive than taxi rides for tourists to such car dealerships? Etc.)"

My question to John's quote above: Similar to my first question, aren't we making the same assumptions for answer choice A. We are assuming in answer choice A that locals pay more for travel expenses to national firms. We are also assuming that dealerships don't offer the same free service to tourists.

Sorry for so many questions. This question was really hard, but I hope anyone could help me! Thanks!!


My third question: What does "no less expensive" mean? (English is not my first language). This wording is found in answer choice E. In the context of answer choice E, does this mean that dealership taxi rides are either equal or more expensive than national firm taxi rides?

In response to your first question i think you missed part of answer choice A; "for local residents." Thus answer choice say strengthens the argument by giving the local residents an even greater comparative advantage over tourists by providing them with free transportation. Touching on your second question, be careful with what exactly it is that the author is comparing/contrasting. We do not need to make an assumption about how much it would cost locals to travel to national firms. This is because we are not comparing whether it is more beneficial for locals to use national firms or dealerships, we are comparing whether it is comparatively more beneficial for local residents to use dealerships than tourists.

For the third question, "no less expensive" means "as expensive" or "costs as much." So in answer choice E we are told that local residents pay at least as much in taxi rides to dealerships as they would to national firms.

Hope this helps clear it up a bit.
Shannon

[aheartofsunshine]

Hi there,

I am still having difficulty understanding why E is the correct answer choice. I chose B. I get that B strengthens the argument from the view that it supports they should go to a national dealership over a local one since there is no extra fee. But what does that mean in relationship to the locals? We don't know what the relative distance is for them to a local dealership vs an airport. What if the national dealership is closer? So I get that it strengthens the argument for the tourists but don't see how it relates to the comparison to locals.

E has the same problem like Jonathan was explaining previously. It does not compare to tourists so it does not strengthen. However, I still think it strengthens it more than B because it explicitly says national dealerships are more expensive than local. So if the price was the same to get to either location, it would still make the local one a cheaper option. To me, even without comparison to the tourists, it still strengthens the argument more to me than B does.

Please help me understand what I am missing. Thank you!

[Adam Tyson]

Remember that the conclusion here is not that anything is worthwhile, but that renting from a dealership is MORE worthwhile for locals than for tourists. So anything that makes it less or a bargain for tourists, or more of a bargain for locals, would help.

Answer B helps because we know from the stimulus that tourists DO have to pay to get a taxi to a dealership. Getting to a national rental firm for free (perhaps on an airport shuttle bus?) would contribute to the claim that going to the dealership is not as worthwhile, because at least one cost item favors the national rental firm. We don't know how much that taxi ride offsets the savings, but at least there is some cost offset by NOT paying for a taxi.

Answer E does nothing to help the claim, and actually weakens it, because it indicates that locals get no special advantage compared to tourists when it comes to getting to the dealership. If the ride to the dealership costs the same (or more) than the ride to the national rental firm, then locals are no better off than tourists. It's not about whether the dealership is a better deal - it's whether it is better FOR LOCALS than it is for tourists. Answer E indicates that they are in exactly the same position, so it may NOT be more worthwhile for the locals!

To put that another way, answer E equalizes the tourists and the locals in at least one important way. It does not equalize the dealerships and the national rental firms, but that isn't the point. It puts tourists and locals on a level playing field when it comes to the taxi ride, and thus weakens the claim that locals have an advantage.