Amy’s Garage

I had to travel to Cleveland Ohio, so I booked my airfare and rental car online at my new travel website: www.vttravelexperts.com. It was quick, easy and inexpensive. Please feel free to book your next trip on my website!!!

I picked National because the prices were good and the logo was green. OK, so this is silly, but I haven’t really found that much difference between the various companies.

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My friend Leigh Anne dropped me off at the Cleveland airport rental car center. I walked up to the National Rental Car counter gave the gal my name, driver license and credit card. She pulled my information up on her screen, looked up at me with a smirk on her face and told me she could not give me a car, because I had been black listed.

Say What? I told her this was not acceptable and I wanted to talk to someone in charge. I had to make the phone call… and found out that someone in Texas who was a very bad rental car driver had the same license number as I did. I handed the phone to the salesperson and the person on the phone gave her the “word” that I was OK and to rent me a car.

If I was thinking coherently (it was early and I stayed up way too late gabbing with Leigh Anne all night) I would of asked for a FREE CAR!

I had a choice of any mid-size car on the lot. I picked the Dodge Avenger because it was a pretty blue (yes I let color dictate my choices a lot!), it would get good mileage and I had never driven one before.

What I Liked: My car had a 2.7 V-6 motor. It had a lot of spunk on the highway, drove very smoothly, and I felt very safe and secure passing those huge 3 sectioned semi-trucks that are so abundant on the Ohio highways.

It had an amazing amount of trunk space! I think trunk space is key in picking out a vehicle. All the seats except the driver’s seat folds down, so if you had no backseat passengers you could turn it into a hatchback.

This vehicle has Disc Brakes in the front and Drum Brakes in the rear. Some may whine about not having Disc Brakes in the rear… but the car is small enough that it doesn’t really need them, and it is way more economical to have it set up this way. Two sets of Disc Brakes can be very pricey when replacing them.

What I didn’t like:

I just hated those seats. See the way the sides curve up, well it is most annoying on your thighs.

I had 4 different passengers over the weekend and not a one cared for the seats. Seriously… I would think that designers would spend a little more time on the seats… which you sit in every time you drive the car!

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The turning radius of the Avenger was very unimpressive. I drive a Honda CR-V most of the time and am always pleasantly surprised how superior the turning radius is every time I make a sharp turn. But then if you were not spoiled like I , you probably wouldn’t notice.

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Cruising on the web, folks claim their Dodge Avenger gets on the average 25 mpg. Not bad. All in all it was a good little rental car, but next time I need to rent a car I would choose another just because of the dreaded seats!

According to the Car Care Council:

• A family of four traveling 500 miles each way by air will spend $1,324 for tickets, based on 2007 fourth quarter statistics from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. {And we know that price is way higher now!}
  
• If gasoline prices were $5.00 a gallon, the cost for a family of four traveling by a SUV would be $314.00
• That is an Average Savings of more than $1000.00
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Benefits of a Road Trip Vacation VS Flying to a destination:

1. You don’t have to get up at 4 am to start traveling
2. No airport parking
3. No waiting in line and no security lines
4. No weather delays
5. You can pack all the clothes and shoes you want
6. You can bring food and beverages for the trip
7. You can bring bikes and skateboards, golf clubs and your bocce ball set without paying extra money.
8. You can stop and stretch any time you want
9. No rental car or taxi expenses
10. More legroom and comfortable seats
11. No strangers sitting (on top of you) next to you
12. You can (escape from your family) cut your vacation short, or change your location without paying any penalties for changing your plans on short notice

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I recently had to attend a family affair out of state. The first leg was by airplane, and then I rented a car to drive another hour to reach my final destination. The rental company made renting a car a very simple process, almost too simple for my taste.

I had reserved my car online, so they had all my information in the computer when I introduced myself to the counter help. The young man did an up-sell and put me into a PT Cruiser for only a $20.00 extra one time fee. “Sure, why not!” I replied. Figured I might as well have a little fun cruising back to the old home town. He was all smiles as he tried to get me to purchase the company’s insurance policy. “No thanks. My car insurance covers rent-a-cars.” He swiped my credit card, handed me the keys and asked me to sign, sign, sign, initial, initial, initial the contract. As I began to read the contract, he kept making small talk. Nice weather, did you see the game on TV last night, where are you headed, etc. Little did he know that I have a teenager and am well versed in listening to yada yada yada in the background. The only change I had to make was that I did not want to pre-purchase a full tank of gas from the rental company at a higher price per gallon. I was very capable of re-filling the gas tank myself, thank you very much!

Once the paperwork was finished I was pointed in the right direction to pick up my car. They had it ready and waiting for me. The gas tank was full and the car was sparkling clean. The trunk was open for my luggage to be stored, and the front door was open for me to jump in and drive away. The young women handed me the keys, said, “have a nice day,” and started to walk away.

“Excuse me, I think it would be a good idea if the both of us looked over the car inside and out and mark down any scratches, dents, stains, etc. so I won’t be blamed for any previous damages.” I was not going to be hurried along just because they had the cars all lined up with other renters ready to go and my car was first in line. We looked over the car together and noted 5 scratches on the doors and a little dent on the back bumper. The inside was spotless except for a stain on the passenger floor. I had her sign her name, and add the date and time. I may not have been in a hurry, but she was. She signed the paper, ripped off my copy and turned away. “Anything special I need to know about this car?” I asked her. “Do you know how to drive?” I nodded my head up and down. “Then you’ll be fine!”

The drivers behind me were getting more impatient. What a stupid way to set up the picking up of the rental cars. They could have just left them in their parking spaces and let folks get settled and leave at their leisure. The way they had it set up there was no where to pull over to get the car set up to drive. So, I quickly got in, adjusted my seat and mirrors, put in a CD, got out my map, plugged in my phone and was finally ready for blast off. I waved to the irritated attendant as I drove away.

The Ramen Girl movie full I must admit that the PT Cruiser was not as much fun to drive as it is to look at. I know I had the most basic model, but it sure didn’t have much get up and go. It was more like a putt,-putt then a zoom-zoom. Other then lack of power I didn’t have any troubles at all, except for the night I drove to a ginormous mall to see Harry Potter.

We were running a little late, so we jumped out of the car and started running. My friends suggested we lock the car. So, I hit the lock button on the key fob. It made the horn toot and then the locks all went kuthump.

The movie was fabulous. When we left the theater we were all pumped up from the non-stop action of the movie. We were all laughing and talking at once as I walked up to the car, put the key into the lock and unlocked it.

Much to my chagrin, the blasted alarm went off. It was a major roar, with a beeping of the horn and the flashing of the lights. Oh bother! Now, I own a repair shop and have had many alarms go off in my lot. So I know that if you put the key in the ignition and turn on the motor, that will turn off the alarm. Only it did not work on this car. OK, plan B. The panic button on the key fob can turn off some alarms. No Go. The noise was soooo loud. And the parking lot was soooo full. Plan C: look in the owner’s manual in the glove box. No Manual.

Plan D? I got out of the car and relocked the door with the key fob, and unlocked it with the key fob. Didn’t work. Now I was feeling really stupid, and could feel my blood pressure rising. Just when we were about to run back into the mall and pretend it wasn’t our car making all that racket a motorcycle pulled up. The lady passenger lifted her visor and asked, “Are you having trouble?” I replied with one word, “duh!” She owned a PT Cruiser, and the secret was to hold down the panic button and not let go until the blasted alarm turned off. So I pushed down on that button and held on for dear life. Finally it stopped. With my nerves rattled and my ears ringing I mustered up what little self dignity I had left and pulled out of my space and had to pass a group of teenage boys. They were all looking at me like I was an idiot. “It’s a rental car” I exclaimed as I passed them. “yeah right” was their reply.

Moral of this story?
Don’t let anyone rush you when you’re going to drive a strange car. Get all your questions answered before you drive away, make sure there is a driver’s manual in the glove box and that you understand how to turn off the pesky car alarm!

Do you have any interesting car rental stories?

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