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Rental Car Experiences?

740 messages,  Last post on May 22, 2013 at 11:12 AM

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Messages Page 45 of 75

#434 of 740 Re: . [lemko] by fintail

Jun 12, 2012 (4:12 pm)

Replying to: lemko (Jun 12, 2012 7:03 am)
Not as cheap as one of those, but one of the best things you can rent on normal terms in the US. Nicer cars are coming around more - you can also rent MB from Hertz, and National and Avis have BMW in their fleet now.
 
Speaking of normals, the company had insane deals on regular cars, "economy" for like $5/day, "fullsize" for like $7/day. I noticed mostly Hyundai and Ford on the lot for the more usual cars. I stopped by again this morning on my way out of Miami to ask a question about the toll pass I bought - they had 2 other Es on the lot, and a red SLK.
 
I am not worried about spurious damage claims - I use the Amex premium coverage. I have also used the company multiple times in Germany and never had an issue - they are huge in Europe and have a rep for nicely equipped cars.

#435 of 740 . by fintail

Jun 13, 2012 (7:28 pm)

Fun rental day... Yesterday the check engine light came on, but when I filled up the car, I noticed the cap seemed to not be tight, so I guessed that was it. It was on all day today, and I looked into it and read the car often throws the light because of fuel system issues. So, I went to Orlando and exchanged it - I'd have felt bad if I somehow made the problem worse. Got an identical white car, but with beige interior. They had a couple more Es in stock, along with several MLs, GLKs, Cs, but no open MBs.

#436 of 740 Re: . [fintail] by steve_ HOST

Jun 13, 2012 (7:52 pm)

Replying to: fintail (Jun 13, 2012 7:28 pm)
Should have stuck with regular.
 
May not want to buy a used one.
 
"Three of the nation's four major rental car companies won't agree to a blanket pledge to not rent or sell unrepaired or recalled vehicles, safety advocates said Tuesday."
 
3 Rental Car Firms Balk At Repair 'Pledge' (Detroit News)

#437 of 740 Re: . [steve_] by fintail

Jun 13, 2012 (7:59 pm)

Replying to: steve_ (Jun 13, 2012 7:52 pm)
I was thinking maybe if the car has been running on regular all of its 9K miles, maybe it hurt something. The replacement will get premium too - it's cheap as water here, and the car was technically designed for it.
 
That repair/recall thing all depends on the severity of the problem with the car. When makers sell directly to these firms, they should arrange for recall issues to be dealt with immediately anyway.

#438 of 740 Re: . [fintail] by steve_ HOST

Jun 13, 2012 (8:02 pm)

Replying to: fintail (Jun 13, 2012 7:59 pm)
I understand the companies not wanting to take a car out of service when the recall is for updating the owner's manual to make some corrections, but it still sounds dicey to rent out a car that's under a recall without fixing it first.
 
Didn't Enterprise special order cars not that long ago without side airbags that were otherwise standard equipment and then sell them to the public?

#439 of 740 Re: . [steve_] by fintail

Jun 13, 2012 (8:23 pm)

Replying to: steve_ (Jun 13, 2012 8:02 pm)
There'd be a big risk of legal liability for sure. Of course, with the way corporations who are people are allowed to act, if the settlement paid from the loss of a human life is less than the cost of fixing the problem, the person will die in the name of being business friendly.
 
Anyone buying an old rental should be leery in many ways - fleet only equipment (were they Malibus or something?) is seldom a good thing.

#440 of 740 Re: . [steve_] by fezo

Jun 14, 2012 (9:34 am)

Replying to: steve_ (Jun 13, 2012 8:02 pm)
Didn't Enterprise special order cars not that long ago without side airbags that were otherwise standard equipment and then sell them to the public?
 
Yes, they did. That's my number one reason I don't want to hear the "well, we could be talking about a semicolon in the owner's manual. If there's a problem fix it.

#441 of 740 . by fintail

Jun 14, 2012 (4:47 pm)

New car is identical to the old one, but has the IMO nicer two tone interior, not a bad place to rack up the miles:
 

 
Damage at the end of the day's journey, not bad as it counts a few stops and some slow stop and go in town driving - no interstates used, only mellow state highways:
 

#442 of 740 Re: . [fintail] by steve_ HOST

Jun 14, 2012 (5:22 pm)

Replying to: fintail (Jun 14, 2012 4:47 pm)
Mmmm, plood. Reminds me of my Outback. The seats do look nice.
 
Wonder if they'd freak if they pulled up the message screen and the average was over 90ish for ~300 miles. Might get you blacklisted.

#443 of 740 Re: . [steve_] by kyfdx HOST

Jun 14, 2012 (5:53 pm)

Replying to: steve_ (Jun 14, 2012 5:22 pm)
Plood?
 
I'm betting it's the real stuff...

Messages Page 45 of 75

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