Funkyjimmer's Blog

Friday, November 26, 2004

ON RENTING CARS -- Part 2

Another policy of car rental companies that distresses me is this: Once they get your credit card and your signature they hand you the key and say, “Have a nice drive!” There you are, left in a new car you probably have never driven before, not knowing where all the various dials, switches and other gadgets are located or how to work many of them. You don’t know how to activate the windshield wipers, how to operate the CD player, the radio or the heating/air conditioning unit or how to defrost the windshield. Sometimes you even have a hard time finding the switch that operates the windows. You are sitting there in the rental car company’s parking lot with them wanting you to move out of the way so they can help other customers. So you are forced to drive off while trying to locate all these operating controls and trying to figure out how they operate while trying to drive down the road.

It is especially bad (and I think even more dangerous) if you have rented a car at the airport and are in an unfamiliar city—at night—and maybe it is raining! I think this raises the potential for an accident to a very high level. That is why I take all of the insurance the car rental company offers, especially if I am in an unfamiliar city. I am very glad that the company I work for has already negotiated with the car rental company to take the full insurance package on every car they rent.

But I see this lack of instruction on the part of the car rental company as very dangerous. I wish there was a way that the car rental company could give you at least a brief run-through of where everything is located on the car and how they operate. I wonder how many accidents have been caused by the driver’s unfamiliarity with a car different from what he is used to driving?

Jim

posted by jim 10:30 PM 2 comments

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

ON RENTING CARS

The company for which I now work (that purchased my old company) does not have company cars. Their policy is that if you go 100 miles or more for the company you should rent a car. That’s okay with me because it keeps a lot of miles off my personal cars. And I was able to purchase my former company car for a really good price. Now I have a car that I have enjoyed driving for the past two years. And I know that it was serviced regularly and is in excellent condition. It is a silver Honda Accord EX with Sun Roof, six-CD changer and cassette tape player, dual air bags; dual side air bags, and all that other “good stuff”.

But renting cars has been an interesting experience for me. Until this year I did not often have occasion to drive a rental car. My new company has arranged an especially good deal with the car rental company. They will deliver the car to you and pick it up when you are finished with it if you want them to.

Driving rental cars has, for me, been a good/bad situation. The “good” is that you get to keep lots of miles off your own car and you get to drive a lot of different kinds of cars and vans that you wouldn’t otherwise drive – unless you are a car parking lot attendant. And then you only drive them short distances at very slow speeds (supposedly!) So far this fall I have driven a silver Chrysler Pacifica and a bright red Jeep Liberty. These were both up-grades. I just wanted a mid to full size car to drive for business. Not having such a vehicle available when I needed one, I guess their only choice was to give me an up-grade.

The down side of all this, at least for me, is that the car rental company delivers the car (or you pick it up), you complete the paper work, give them a credit card, sign your name and they inspect the car for damage and hand you the key and you drive away.

Two things about that have proven interesting to me this fall. First, it seems to be the policy of all rental car companies (at least all the ones I’ve ever used) to only give you one key to the car. I have never understood that. The potential, especially for me, is to lock the key in the car. I always carry two keys to my personal car that I am driving at the time. This is the voice of experience!

And I locked my key in the car when I was driving the Pacifica. But this time I did it intentionally but unknowingly. Always before I locked my keys in the car unknowingly and unintentionally. What I mean by that is that I had parked in my driveway and left the key in the car in “accessory” mode and shut the door. I just ran into to the house to quickly get something and then right back out to the car. When I returned to the car every door to the vehicle was locked with the key inside! I hadn’t locked the door when I got out. I was shocked.

Triple A came to my house about two hours later and got inside the car and retrieved the key. They informed me this wasn’t the first time they had to rescue a key and driver in this situation. He informed me that the Chrysler, the Toyotas and the 2005 Fords are manufactured to automatically lock the door when it is shut when the key is in the car. I guess it is supposed to be a safety feature to prevent someone driving off with your car if the keys are in it. I inquired how you would start the car to warm it in the winter or cool it off in the summer? The Triple A guy said, “You don’t unless you have another key, leave the window or door open or have one of those automatic starters that you can push a button and it will start.

So I learned the hard way! I am extra cautious with rental cars now. The cost to have Triple A come out was on the car rental company. So I still don’t understand why the car rental companies only give you one key. They had to pay Triple A, I was inconvenienced for a couple of hours or so. Thankfully the car was in my own driveway and the motor wasn’t running.

I’ll discuss the other problem I have with car rental companies in my next Blog.

Jim

posted by jim 7:44 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

I'M A GRANDPA!

It is a BOY. Our youngest daughter (the only one so far to have married) had him at 11:01 yesterday (Tuesday) morning. Everyone is fine and that is a praise. He was 8 lb 1 oz and 20 inches long. The baby's name is "No Name"! They had a girl's name chosen but can't decide on the name for a boy.

They have had a kitten since August and not agreed on his name. I am hoping this does not take as long!!! But I'm glad they are carefully choosing. I often wonder how some parents could name their kids the wierd names I have heard. It is sad--sometimes almost inhumane.

Well, I've got to adjust to this new factor in my life!

Jim

posted by jim 10:30 AM 2 comments

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

THE HIATUS

Two and a half months are a long time for a hiatus from this Journal. But to me it does not seem long.

The hiatus has been forced by time constraints – not because I had nothing about which to write. I have been inundated with circumstances too numerous to mention in a brief entry.

But two of these circumstances stand out in my mind when I reflect on why I haven’t been faithful to this Journal. And they seem worthy of mention here.

One circumstance is the 50-Day Spiritual Adventure which my church is completing this week. I wrote about this Adventure in my August 16th Blog. It was a great experience for the church. The weekly themes were great. The response by the congregation to the messages and to the Small Group meetings was terrific. We have had 5 small groups meeting 5 nights throughout the weeks of the Adventure.

But the preparation time on my time part has been horrendous. Just the sermon preparation for each of the 7 weeks was great. It required research, compilation of materials and sorting through all the material, then thinking through and selecting material to present on each subject and arranging the presentation in an orderly and comprehensible manner. It has all been time-consuming. The experience has been very enjoyable for me and the spiritual rewards for doing this have been great. But this intense preparation, along with the other aspects of ministry at Countryside and working full-time, has prevented many other things from occurring.

That leads me to the other time-consuming circumstance I want to mention: travel. During October I traveled over 4,000 miles for my Company. This travel has required several overnight stays. It has all been good but it has cut deeply into my time for other things. The result is there are many things that did not get accomplished. Writing in this Journal and getting very much rest are two of the many things left undone.

My travel will continue in November. I will be out over night some each week until the day before the United States Thanksgiving, November 25th. I have no guess as to how many miles I will add to the 4,000 with the November travels.

I have had a rental vehicle for all my travels and that has been good because it has saved wear and tear on my car and my Company has paid everything related to the travel.

But I am back. And I hope to be more faithful in my posts from now on.

Jim

posted by jim 5:00 PM 0 comments