Althouse: How clean should you expect a rental car to be?

October 28, 2007

How clean should you expect a rental car to be?

Here's how my car from Alamo looked:

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32 comments:

Trooper York said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/28/07, 7:47 PM
rhhardin said...: As a cute girl related to my girlfriend, about going naked on the beach, ``Sand gets in everything.''; 10/28/07, 7:57 PM
Trooper York said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/28/07, 7:59 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: *ALAMO* for (*&('s sake. Why didn't you ask me first? Their idea of good customer service is to *think* about lubricants and condoms while they perform unnatural acts on your helpless person.; 10/28/07, 8:01 PM
Ralph L said...: Looks cleaner than I kept my last car.
The first car I ever rented was a Renault Alliance in 1985 in San Diego. When I pulled out of the parking lot, the car was such a slug I was nearly creamed by a mammoth Lincoln.

Trooper, if you remember that SNL sketch about J Bond, Pussy should be the one doing the inspecting.; 10/28/07, 8:19 PM
Anonymous said...: Eeuw, looks like dandruff.

Also looks like ash from our fires here in California--it's everywhere.; 10/28/07, 8:27 PM
Meade said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/28/07, 8:58 PM
Meade said...: I suspect squirrel dander.

rhhardin said...
As a cute girl related to my girlfriend, about going naked on the beach, ``Sand gets in everything.''

Supposedly, "going to the sand" was a rape prevention method employed by Plains Indian squaws while the U.S. cavalry was massacring their braves. Vagina silica.; 10/28/07, 8:58 PM
therapydoc said...: This is not in the rape prevention forward I got last week.

dust is okay, sticky is not.; 10/28/07, 9:17 PM
Ralph L said...: I wonder if Ann realized that "rental car" would become a metaphor for casual sex partner.; 10/28/07, 9:17 PM
blogging cockroach said...: ralph--

everything

becomes a metaphor for something sexual around here

and here i am trying to be a family cockroach

btw is that sand or crumbs...
if crumbs you can take me for a ride; 10/28/07, 9:21 PM
Joan said...: I rented a car this past summer from Budget or National. I was renting over the peak of the summer on Cape Cod, and was amused by the rental agent's typical spiel, which included a penalty charge of $75 if the car was dirtier than typical use would warrant. She warned me specifically about pet hair and sand.

I ended up vacuuming it out before I returned it, because even though I didn't actually take it to the beach, it still got covered with sand, and there was no way I was forking over $75 when 5 minutes of work would save it.

I guess not everyone is as cheap as I am, and Alamo isn't too handy with their vacuums.; 10/28/07, 9:29 PM
George M. Spencer said...: But while customers and car-rental companies debate whether the quality of rental cars is sliding, the rental companies are indeed implementing stingier policies as they look to cut costs. Vanguard Car Rental, which operates National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car, says that there are about 2,000 more miles on its vehicles on average fleet-wide now compared with a year ago. Hertz is being less generous with its loyalty program and after-hours drop-offs. And some customers say rental-car companies are being more nitpicky about where they refuel, with some renters being slapped with fuel fees if they fill up more than a few miles from the airport.

Rental-car companies have been pinched because auto makers, desperate to get their own finances under control, are curtailing the practice of selling less-profitable "program" cars to fleets. Program cars are vehicles that rental companies buy at a reduced cost, then resell at prearranged prices through auction lots, usually after around nine months. The auto makers used that avenue to rid themselves of excess production. So rental companies are now filling their fleets with a larger share of "risk" cars -- cars they ultimately have to sell themselves, possibly at a loss.

WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119137170889247162.html; 10/28/07, 9:55 PM
Bilby said...: It looks like someone was smoking in the car.; 10/28/07, 10:47 PM
Brent said...: Enterprise.

They are the only car rental company that grades and rewards it's employees - in all job positions - on customer service above all else.

Just last month, due to a death in the family, I had to extend a vacation rental 2 weeks past it's return contract. I called Enterprise: they said no problem, and when I returned it, I was charged all 4 weeks at the 2 week, expire-at-the-end-of-August price, a savings of over $300. In addition, the person receiving the car asked about my family - she had a note about it on her computer.

My company switched to Enterprise 3 years ago when it became apparent - after 2 failed and rude experiences with the nation's "largest" car rental company, that they didn't care about the business of our 60+ rentals annually. Enterprise filled the bill - still does to this day - since then.; 10/28/07, 10:50 PM
john said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/28/07, 11:21 PM
john said...: Checked out of your hotel yet? If not, take some of your room bathroom floor in the corners, and maybe the dark corner next to the bed (need a flash).

Did you think about the bedsheets first night?; 10/28/07, 11:23 PM
john said...: Titus -

Your UGLY guys won.

Congrats,; 10/28/07, 11:24 PM
blogging cockroach said...: sox win sox win sox win sox win

4 game sweep

yay

a little nail-biting in the last two innings
but they came through
mike lowell wins mvp
couldn't be more deserving
papelbon did his job as a closer

go sox

and yes they are ugly
no chiseled profiles
like the rockies; 10/28/07, 11:40 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Previous drivers: Sandy and Dusty.; 10/29/07, 12:28 AM
reader_iam said...: Well, at least one thing's right hopeful in the world:

SOXSOXSOX!; 10/29/07, 12:35 AM
reader_iam said...: And I'll take right hopeful anywhere, anytime I can get it.; 10/29/07, 12:37 AM
Revenant said...: Also looks like ash from our fires here in California--it's everywhere.

I was thinking the same thing.

They definitely did a rotten job cleaning out that car, though. You should complain about it.; 10/29/07, 1:16 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I think it's mostly salt, as if the previous driver/drivers drove while eating Doritos. There's no smoke smell to the car.

I chose Alamo because, using Travelocity, I searched all the companies, and it was the one where I could get a convertible. I wanted to try out a convertible because I'm seriously considering getting a convertible when the lease on my current car is up.; 10/29/07, 2:45 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "You should complain about it."

Doesn't this post count?; 10/29/07, 2:46 AM
MadisonMan said...: A convertible? In Wisconsin? I don't see the allure. Half the year you can't use it.; 10/29/07, 7:25 AM
bill said...: pessimist: A convertible? In Wisconsin? Half the year you can't use it.

optimist: A convertible? In Wisconsin? Half the year you can use it!

************
Also, has our hostess guaranteed a movie back to Madison?; 10/29/07, 8:05 AM
knox said...: Did it stink? if not, no harm done.; 10/29/07, 8:27 AM
JackDRipper said...: Termites........; 10/29/07, 8:28 AM
Ann Althouse said...: MadisonMan: "A convertible? In Wisconsin? I don't see the allure. Half the year you can't use it."

It's like the Madison guys with their shorts. Is it 40°? You put your shorts on and I put the top down.; 10/29/07, 5:09 PM
rhhardin said...: 39° is my own limit for bicycling in Bermudas. Below that I add sweat pants.

Below 15°, two sweat pants.; 10/30/07, 4:26 AM
MadisonMan said...: You put your shorts on and I put the top down.

And then all the salt spray from the melting snow splashes on the fine Corinthian leather. And you thought the rental was dirty!!; 10/30/07, 8:39 AM