The free rental services are usually from big department stores like Ikea or storage warehouses, and it’s not always free, but like 5-20$.
Anyway, if you have a truck you most likely also have somewhere to park a trailer. So having a normal car and using the trailer a few times per year would still greatly outweigh the costs and emissions, as I see it.
Our cars are also at least 2-3x more expensive here, depending on its emissions, so that matters I guess.
I don’t think that’s true at all. Your middle class percentage is tiny compared to most of Europe, and while you also earn a bit more, that money goes to a much stronger social safety net in most of Europe, too (at least in our more successful countries).
I would also wager that middle class workers are more comfortable here, because of guaranteed 5-7 weeks holiday, 37 hour work weeks (for the vast majority), guaranteed parental leave, and just generally a very unionized job market.