Renting a car is difficult. Joanna Heath recently discovered the hardship while attending a family wedding in a remote part of western Arizona.
The Chevy Blazer she and her husband picked up in Las Vegas looked nice on the outside. But on closer inspection, it wasn’t.
“It clearly hadn’t been cleaned and smelled faintly of smoke,” recalls Heath, a marketing director from Langhorne, Pennsylvania.
A landlord told the couple that they could wait for another vehicle, but they were already too late to check into their vacation rental.
The smell wasn’t the only thing wrong with the car. The next day, halfway between their rental and the wedding, the “Check Engine” light blinked. The car rolled to a stop. Frantic calls to the company’s roadside assistance number resulted in a recording.
The pagans missed the wedding.
“What a nightmare,” she says.
Why is it so hard to rent a car this summer? Car rental companies are in the middle of the “carpocalypse” – a historic vehicle shortage paired with a historic surge in demand. They are slow to replace their cars or buy used cars to replenish their fleets. But these rentals are often not as good as new.
Reality check: rental cars have been devastated for as long as there have been rental cars.
The worst offenders are added to the company’s legendary “do not rent” lists. Some receive bills for the damage. But sometimes problems are not recognized immediately and are inherited by the next driver.
The current carpocalypse is about more than the lack of rental cars. Car rental companies also keep their cars longer because business stalled during the lockdown, making vehicles older and more prone to breakdowns.
In addition, fewer cars mean more pressure on car rental companies to process returned vehicles faster so they can rent them again quickly. Also, due to the labor shortage, there are fewer workers for processing. You might overlook a few details – or skip cleaning altogether.
As a result, the car rental experience is no longer what it used to be. My last two rental cars each smelled of smoke and had nearly 50,000 miles on the clock.
Cindi Shank discovered how bad it had got when she recently picked up a Jeep Grand Cherokee in Anchorage. She assumed the car was clean and didn’t bother to carefully inspect it after a long flight.
“The next morning, in daylight, we noticed how dirty the car was,” she recalls. “The cup holders were dirty and sticky, and the seats had lots of crumbs, etc. The steering wheel was sticky from a sugary donut or other pastry. The floors weren’t vacuumed and it was downright creepy between the seats. “
Shank, a government employee from Cheyenne, Wyo., Suspected the car rental company was so understaffed that they skipped cleaning. Fortunately, she had packed disinfectant wipes and was able to clean the car herself.
Patrick Peterson, editor of AutoDetective, a vehicle database, agrees that renting a car is harder than ever. But he says there are a couple of ways to make it easier.
“The demand for rental cars is now so great that unfortunately it is already a win to get a rental car,” he says.
There are a few things you can do to avoid a car rental surprise. Renting from a well-known brand can help. Some of the non-brand car rental companies have struggled to weather the pandemic and are more likely to give you a high-mileage vehicle with minimal maintenance.
If someone gives you the keys to a car that isn’t clean or smokes, ask for another one right away. If you keep the vehicle, you can pay a cleaning fee for the smell – even if you don’t smoke.
Peterson says you can also check the vehicle identification number (VIN) on the windshield. Then use a website like AutoDetective or Vehicle History to check for any previous repair or maintenance issues. If you see a long history of problems, ask for another car.
Just one thing. If something goes wrong, make sure the company confirms the return. Heath assumed she was off the hook when the tow truck showed up.
“I got a call from the Las Vegas office later that week and asked where the car was,” she recalls. After they found it, the company charged her an additional $ 50 for not returning the vehicle with a full tank.
“It took a few weeks and a lot of emails, but finally someone called me back and credited me with the gasoline fee and a one-day rental price reduction for the broken car,” she says. “I’m not sure that made up for a missed wedding.”
