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
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