Car Chat General discussion about Lexus, other auto manufacturers and automotive news.

It's just a rental! Or is it?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 01-14-24, 10:36 PM
  #16  
Fizzboy7
Lexus Test Driver
 
Fizzboy7's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: California
Posts: 9,724
Received 167 Likes on 99 Posts
Default

I personally detail all rental and loaner cars I come across. It's great fun and you learn a lot about the quality of the car when going hands on.
Fizzboy7 is offline  
Old 01-14-24, 10:59 PM
  #17  
Margate330
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
 
Margate330's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: FL
Posts: 7,120
Received 1,004 Likes on 799 Posts
Default

I can tell us members are an older and more mature crowd, plus we have some class.

Makes me wonder if there should be a minimum age to rent cars.

In my young and dumb years I was way too hard on vehicles and they'd have a good chance of getting their car back with a check engine light.

Might have to shampoo the interior too. Haha 😂
Margate330 is offline  
Old 01-15-24, 07:03 PM
  #18  
SW17LS
Lexus Fanatic
 
SW17LS's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Maryland
Posts: 57,325
Received 2,737 Likes on 1,959 Posts
Default

Originally Posted by Margate330
Makes me wonder if there should be a minimum age to rent cars.
There is, most car rental agencies wont rent you a car until you are 21 and sometimes 25.
SW17LS is offline  
Old 01-15-24, 08:12 PM
  #19  
patgilm
Lead Lap
 
patgilm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Maryland
Posts: 4,122
Received 294 Likes on 210 Posts
Default

I’m in Tampa right now and rented a car. I know a lot here care about what cars they rent on vacation but I just don’t care. I just need a car to get from A to B. I just got a Malibu and it’s pretty rough. 17k miles on it and it vibrates like crazy (didn’t know it until after I got on the interstate going 70mph) and there are two cigarette burn holes in the drivers seat. It’s had a rough early life.

Me personally, I don’t drive rentals as hard because the ones I rent are slow economy cars that aren’t fun to drive so why bother flogging them, no reason to.
patgilm is offline  
Old 01-15-24, 08:32 PM
  #20  
ronkelley
Instructor
 
ronkelley's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: CO
Posts: 1,228
Received 143 Likes on 97 Posts
Default

--

I drive and treat a rental ANYTHING as if it were my own. Never mistreat. It's called "integrity". Sometimes the item goes back better than when it was taken.

--
ronkelley is offline  
Old 01-16-24, 05:17 AM
  #21  
KennyFSU
Instructor
 
KennyFSU's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: FL
Posts: 873
Received 335 Likes on 212 Posts
Default

Most of the cars I rent for business are generic and boring NPC cars so I drive them as such.

KennyFSU is offline  
Old 01-16-24, 06:43 AM
  #22  
mmarshall
Lexus Fanatic
 
mmarshall's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
Posts: 91,306
Received 87 Likes on 86 Posts
Default

I've only had a few rentals in the last few years, but I treat them pretty much as I would my own vehicle. My philosophy is not to be selfish......I figure that someone else may have to depend on this vehicle after I turn it back in, and I would not want some careless jack-*** trashing a vehicle that I myself was going to use.
mmarshall is offline  
Old 01-17-24, 11:07 AM
  #23  
RX469
Pole Position
iTrader: (1)
 
RX469's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: MD
Posts: 2,804
Received 50 Likes on 39 Posts
Default

I rent quite a bit and I treat them as if they were mine. It's just not in me to abuse anything even though it's not mine.
I live along, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I'm also leading by example, teaching my kids to be respectful of others and their properties.
RX469 is offline  
Old 01-17-24, 01:54 PM
  #24  
link13
Lead Lap
 
link13's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: CA, Mid OC
Posts: 4,049
Received 45 Likes on 39 Posts
Default

Originally Posted by SW17LS
There is, most car rental agencies wont rent you a car until you are 21 and sometimes 25.
True and at 21, there’s guaranteed to be a surcharge for drivers 21-25 and there still may be a surcharge after that depending on the company.

I admit to having some fun in rental cars when I was young. I did return the cars with no damage and took one through a wash due to tons of unexpected mud. When I was a management trainee at Dollar 30 years ago, we as employees were sometimes hard on the cars. We had to turn them over quickly with wash and vac. Both were offsite, so we flogged the cars a bit.

We got a lot of returns with an SCCA Autocross number still grease penciled on a window. We got a few back with impound lot numbers on the windshields. I was amused when people told me they buy used rental cars as DDs because all the service was done at factory intervals. Maybe sometimes, but it would pop up as out of service (OS) with service required. We would just override it.

Most rental cars don’t sit still for long. We had pressure to get customers in a car and if we had 3 cars and 2 are OS, we would remove the OS to get the customer on the way.
link13 is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Ravill
LS - 5th Gen (2018-present)
3
12-05-18 11:45 AM
6Sp33d
IS - 2nd Gen (2006-2013)
16
09-28-10 06:46 AM
eyezack87
Automotive Care & Detailing
15
05-05-08 06:09 PM
b1ackhawk
SC430 - 2nd Gen (2001-2010)
6
12-12-05 01:54 PM



Quick Reply: It's just a rental! Or is it?



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 05:38 AM.