You hired a car, it the broke down, and...
Discussion
Not hire, but a so-called japanese "specialist" garage in the dorset area gave me a 15+ year old clio as a courtesy car while they did some work to my old delica, which was smoking from the engine bay and wobbling and felt really quite wrong to drive (later found to be a bulged tyre)
On informing them they asked me "what do you want us to do? it's not worth recovering"
On informing them they asked me "what do you want us to do? it's not worth recovering"
I had the displeasure of driving a VW Polo hire car once. It overheated in trafic in Exeter and I rang the hire company, the conversation went like this.
Me: 'Hello, yes, this VW has overheated and lost all the coolant'
Girl at Eurocarthingyplace: 'I see, are you far from your destination?'
Me: 'Well, about 5 miles, but it's not really a good idea to drive it as it's got no water'
Girl at Eurocarthingyplace 'Oh, could you put some water in?'
Me: 'Where would I get water from? There's no garage nearby'
Girl at Eurocarthingyplace 'Could you knock on someones door?'
Me: 'What? No, are you serious?'
Girl at Eurocarthingyplace 'Um, yes.'
Me: 'No chance, I'm leaving it here and I'll take a taxi to my meeting you can pick the keys up from (hotel name here) before 3 and drop off another car, thanks'
By 2.30 I had a nice VW Golf in the car park and they'd picked the keys up. I left it abandoned on a side road on some double yellows with a 'Broken down' sign in the window.
And I claimed the cost of the taxi back in my expenses.
Me: 'Hello, yes, this VW has overheated and lost all the coolant'
Girl at Eurocarthingyplace: 'I see, are you far from your destination?'
Me: 'Well, about 5 miles, but it's not really a good idea to drive it as it's got no water'
Girl at Eurocarthingyplace 'Oh, could you put some water in?'
Me: 'Where would I get water from? There's no garage nearby'
Girl at Eurocarthingyplace 'Could you knock on someones door?'
Me: 'What? No, are you serious?'
Girl at Eurocarthingyplace 'Um, yes.'
Me: 'No chance, I'm leaving it here and I'll take a taxi to my meeting you can pick the keys up from (hotel name here) before 3 and drop off another car, thanks'
By 2.30 I had a nice VW Golf in the car park and they'd picked the keys up. I left it abandoned on a side road on some double yellows with a 'Broken down' sign in the window.
And I claimed the cost of the taxi back in my expenses.
A well known on this site porsche specialist gave me a Ka with broken power steering once.
It would suddenly lock up and need a huge effort to turn and then go slack.
When I returned it they told me it didn't have Power steering and it must have been me. Odd that it had a PS reservoir and pump etc. They also overfilled the oil and did a less than impressive paint repair on my 911.
It would suddenly lock up and need a huge effort to turn and then go slack.
When I returned it they told me it didn't have Power steering and it must have been me. Odd that it had a PS reservoir and pump etc. They also overfilled the oil and did a less than impressive paint repair on my 911.
I rented a car for a UK visit from canada three years ago. It didnt actually leave me stranded but:
Picked a zafira up at gatwick, Drove to ipswich and noted that one of the from wheels had developed a seriously negative camber. Took the car to the local rental office after a bit of debate they gave me a different zafira of a lower spec(manual instead of auto) as they didnt have a direct replacement.
I was enroute to liverpool so with further debate it was decided that the liverpool office could provide the auto version I ordered. When I got to LiverpooI was told they hadnt got an auto zafira, but could give me a C4 picasso - what a relief! much better than the dreadful zafira's
When I took the car back to the original office at gatwick the paperwork hadn't caught up with events - it all got sorted out eventually but they kept me hanging around for ages whilst faxes and emails went to all the various offices, I think I ended up getting a free tank of diesel out of the deal in the end.
Picked a zafira up at gatwick, Drove to ipswich and noted that one of the from wheels had developed a seriously negative camber. Took the car to the local rental office after a bit of debate they gave me a different zafira of a lower spec(manual instead of auto) as they didnt have a direct replacement.
I was enroute to liverpool so with further debate it was decided that the liverpool office could provide the auto version I ordered. When I got to LiverpooI was told they hadnt got an auto zafira, but could give me a C4 picasso - what a relief! much better than the dreadful zafira's
When I took the car back to the original office at gatwick the paperwork hadn't caught up with events - it all got sorted out eventually but they kept me hanging around for ages whilst faxes and emails went to all the various offices, I think I ended up getting a free tank of diesel out of the deal in the end.
i hired a car, they told me it was petrol, i drove it round the corner and filled it with unleaded...
got back in and before i started the engine, thought it was kind of weird that the rev counter only went to about 5000 rpm....
drove ita few miles and it was not happy.
called them up, they brought me out a working car, gave me cash for the petrol. had to wait about an hour.
got back in and before i started the engine, thought it was kind of weird that the rev counter only went to about 5000 rpm....
drove ita few miles and it was not happy.
called them up, they brought me out a working car, gave me cash for the petrol. had to wait about an hour.
Went through this a few months back. Except it was a bit more complicated than just the hirer car breaking down.
The TVR had a major breakdown less than half way through a 2,000 mile road trip around Spain. We knew what the problem was (and that it couldn't be fixed out there) but the insurance company insisted on getting a mechanic to look at it, which meant waiting for a day and a half as we broke down on a Saturday evening and nothing happens in Spain on Sunday.
We'd emphasised that it was an unusual engine and couldn't be fixed by the local the Seat dealership using a hammer or something and were pleasantly surprised to get trailered to the only TVR dealership in Spain! There our suspicions were confirmed. The crankshaft had broken.
We had to get the garage owner to phone the insurance company (as a responsible adult I guess ... they wouldn't take the word of my father and I who are both ex-engineers and know what a broken crank looks like) but after that things ran pretty smoothly. A taxi turned up in minutes and we were whisked off to the airport car rental to pick up a rather loathsome hire-spec Peugeot 207. Hardly like-for-like, but it got us moving.
Until we reached La Mancha that is... There it developed an intermittent engine fault (going into some sort of limp home). Unfortunately it did this right at the start of the siesta, so we decided to limp on to Toledo at 30mph. There a rather disinterested bloke on the front desk spent as long as possible doing other things before giving us a VW Polo that took two attempts to start.
After that things were fine until we reached Portsmouth. There the rep supposed to meet us never turned up. In confusion we got a taxi to the rental company's office only to find it closed. An hour and a half later the rep turned up with our Aygo claiming she hadn't been told we were arriving.
So not the smoothest experience. But actually, putting it into perspective for a second, I think things could have been a lot more disruptive than they were, given we were talking about a further week of driving in three different cars and two different countries rather than just a package-holiday runaround. Not too impressed with the car hire company, but the insurance/breakdown company did pretty well I reckon for a fraction of the price that the AA and so on were asking.
The TVR had a major breakdown less than half way through a 2,000 mile road trip around Spain. We knew what the problem was (and that it couldn't be fixed out there) but the insurance company insisted on getting a mechanic to look at it, which meant waiting for a day and a half as we broke down on a Saturday evening and nothing happens in Spain on Sunday.
We'd emphasised that it was an unusual engine and couldn't be fixed by the local the Seat dealership using a hammer or something and were pleasantly surprised to get trailered to the only TVR dealership in Spain! There our suspicions were confirmed. The crankshaft had broken.
We had to get the garage owner to phone the insurance company (as a responsible adult I guess ... they wouldn't take the word of my father and I who are both ex-engineers and know what a broken crank looks like) but after that things ran pretty smoothly. A taxi turned up in minutes and we were whisked off to the airport car rental to pick up a rather loathsome hire-spec Peugeot 207. Hardly like-for-like, but it got us moving.
Until we reached La Mancha that is... There it developed an intermittent engine fault (going into some sort of limp home). Unfortunately it did this right at the start of the siesta, so we decided to limp on to Toledo at 30mph. There a rather disinterested bloke on the front desk spent as long as possible doing other things before giving us a VW Polo that took two attempts to start.
After that things were fine until we reached Portsmouth. There the rep supposed to meet us never turned up. In confusion we got a taxi to the rental company's office only to find it closed. An hour and a half later the rep turned up with our Aygo claiming she hadn't been told we were arriving.
So not the smoothest experience. But actually, putting it into perspective for a second, I think things could have been a lot more disruptive than they were, given we were talking about a further week of driving in three different cars and two different countries rather than just a package-holiday runaround. Not too impressed with the car hire company, but the insurance/breakdown company did pretty well I reckon for a fraction of the price that the AA and so on were asking.
Use Psychology said:
i hired a car, they told me it was petrol, i drove it round the corner and filled it with unleaded...
got back in and before i started the engine, thought it was kind of weird that the rev counter only went to about 5000 rpm....
drove ita few miles and it was not happy.
called them up, they brought me out a working car, gave me cash for the petrol. had to wait about an hour.
You couldnt tell by the noise/rpm that it was a diesel? got back in and before i started the engine, thought it was kind of weird that the rev counter only went to about 5000 rpm....
drove ita few miles and it was not happy.
called them up, they brought me out a working car, gave me cash for the petrol. had to wait about an hour.
i was pretty certain that it was a diesel and was actually unsure what fuel to put in it... but navigating in an unfamiliar town, in an unfamiliar car and driving on the other side of the road for the first time was taking most of my attention
ultimately i decided to go with what i was told, since if i'd done the opposite and been wrong, the mistake would have been my responsibility... as it was i just did what i was told
ultimately i decided to go with what i was told, since if i'd done the opposite and been wrong, the mistake would have been my responsibility... as it was i just did what i was told
sawman said:
I rented a car for a UK visit from canada three years ago. It didnt actually leave me stranded but:
Picked a zafira up at gatwick, Drove to ipswich and noted that one of the from wheels had developed a seriously negative camber. Took the car to the local rental office after a bit of debate they gave me a different zafira of a lower spec(manual instead of auto) as they didnt have a direct replacement.
I was enroute to liverpool so with further debate it was decided that the liverpool office could provide the auto version I ordered. When I got to LiverpooI was told they hadnt got an auto zafira, but could give me a C4 picasso - what a relief! much better than the dreadful zafira's
When I took the car back to the original office at gatwick the paperwork hadn't caught up with events - it all got sorted out eventually but they kept me hanging around for ages whilst faxes and emails went to all the various offices, I think I ended up getting a free tank of diesel out of the deal in the end.
Your mistake is thinking an auto is better than a manual lolPicked a zafira up at gatwick, Drove to ipswich and noted that one of the from wheels had developed a seriously negative camber. Took the car to the local rental office after a bit of debate they gave me a different zafira of a lower spec(manual instead of auto) as they didnt have a direct replacement.
I was enroute to liverpool so with further debate it was decided that the liverpool office could provide the auto version I ordered. When I got to LiverpooI was told they hadnt got an auto zafira, but could give me a C4 picasso - what a relief! much better than the dreadful zafira's
When I took the car back to the original office at gatwick the paperwork hadn't caught up with events - it all got sorted out eventually but they kept me hanging around for ages whilst faxes and emails went to all the various offices, I think I ended up getting a free tank of diesel out of the deal in the end.
Not a car, but we were on a family holiday in Sicily, and rented a boat off the coast.
The silly t
t sent us out with fk all petrol (we didn't realise until we stopped about a mile offshore due to no fuel).
No boats passed for a fair while - it took about 3 hours to actually see a boat near enough to attract their attention. They didn't have any fuel, but went to get some.
Anyway, the guy tried to charge us for a) the extra time (we only booked 2 hours) and b) a full tank of fuel.
Let's just say, the police came down and it took about 2 hours to get resolved. Not recommended!!
Cheers
The Moose
The silly t
t sent us out with fk all petrol (we didn't realise until we stopped about a mile offshore due to no fuel).No boats passed for a fair while - it took about 3 hours to actually see a boat near enough to attract their attention. They didn't have any fuel, but went to get some.
Anyway, the guy tried to charge us for a) the extra time (we only booked 2 hours) and b) a full tank of fuel.
Let's just say, the police came down and it took about 2 hours to get resolved. Not recommended!!
Cheers
The Moose
Use Psychology said:
i was pretty certain that it was a diesel and was actually unsure what fuel to put in it... but navigating in an unfamiliar town, in an unfamiliar car and driving on the other side of the road for the first time was taking most of my attention
ultimately i decided to go with what i was told, since if i'd done the opposite and been wrong, the mistake would have been my responsibility... as it was i just did what i was told
I can't remember the last time I drove a car which didn't have the fuel type clearly stated inside of the filler cap, so even if you were confused, this would clear the confusion up?ultimately i decided to go with what i was told, since if i'd done the opposite and been wrong, the mistake would have been my responsibility... as it was i just did what i was told
I can understand absent mindedly filling with the wrong fuel, but if you were actually thinking about it at the time...
Use Psychology said:
i was pretty certain that it was a diesel and was actually unsure what fuel to put in it... but navigating in an unfamiliar town, in an unfamiliar car and driving on the other side of the road for the first time was taking most of my attention
ultimately i decided to go with what i was told, since if i'd done the opposite and been wrong, the mistake would have been my responsibility... as it was i just did what i was told
-2000 PH points for that one! Sorry but even if you were told it's a petrol, it is blindingly obvious what fuel a car runs on, a simple sniff of the filler cap would tell you which fuel type it is!ultimately i decided to go with what i was told, since if i'd done the opposite and been wrong, the mistake would have been my responsibility... as it was i just did what i was told
a few points:
I have no idea what diesel smells like
there was no label in the fuel cap (I have been trying to remember the exact events)
Once again, I was pretty sure it was a diesel, but I was told otherwise. Screwing up a car with my mistake would have cost me a lot of money, so doing what i was told was the most sensible option, even if I thought it was probably wrong. There was a tiny chance that I could have been wrong, and if I had gone with my instincts (diesel) and been wrong the penalty was high. So I went with what I was told
I have no idea what diesel smells like
there was no label in the fuel cap (I have been trying to remember the exact events)
Once again, I was pretty sure it was a diesel, but I was told otherwise. Screwing up a car with my mistake would have cost me a lot of money, so doing what i was told was the most sensible option, even if I thought it was probably wrong. There was a tiny chance that I could have been wrong, and if I had gone with my instincts (diesel) and been wrong the penalty was high. So I went with what I was told
R12HCO said:
Use Psychology said:
i hired a car, they told me it was petrol, i drove it round the corner and filled it with unleaded...
got back in and before i started the engine, thought it was kind of weird that the rev counter only went to about 5000 rpm....
drove ita few miles and it was not happy.
called them up, they brought me out a working car, gave me cash for the petrol. had to wait about an hour.
You couldnt tell by the noise/rpm that it was a diesel? got back in and before i started the engine, thought it was kind of weird that the rev counter only went to about 5000 rpm....
drove ita few miles and it was not happy.
called them up, they brought me out a working car, gave me cash for the petrol. had to wait about an hour.
Surely losing some PH points for that!
You can also tell if its petrol or diesel by
A. Turning the ignition key, if a heater lamp lights up for a second....its diesel
B. If it redlines at 5k rpm....its diesel
C. Lift the bonnet...HT leads running to spark plugs it petrol...non its diesel
P.S I know I know they have big press on plastic covers over the engine these days....man up and lift the cover FFS!!!....this is a car enthusiasts site get a grip!!
A. Turning the ignition key, if a heater lamp lights up for a second....its diesel
B. If it redlines at 5k rpm....its diesel
C. Lift the bonnet...HT leads running to spark plugs it petrol...non its diesel
P.S I know I know they have big press on plastic covers over the engine these days....man up and lift the cover FFS!!!....this is a car enthusiasts site get a grip!!
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