This can’t be true!
Did you know surveys say that 87% of people consider themselves to be above-average drivers? I’m no math major (my wife is) but I don’t think that can be true.
I rent a lot of cars. I estimate I have rented more than 3,000 cars since I started my business career. In retirement, for the past 20+ years, I have driven rental cars about 30,000 miles each year. That’s more than 600,000 miles right there.
Knock on wood…in all my time renting cars, I have never had a chargeable accident. I have had my share of “incidents”, but not accidents. I am going to take a moment of your time to tell you about these incidents. In the space of a few minutes, I was able to recall ten of those situations. I know there have been many more. I think when you have finished reading, you are going to conclude that I am a good driver despite having my share of “incidents”.
No spare tire!
I am not the most mechanically inclined individual. While traveling out in the Midwest my rental car had a flat tire. I looked in the trunk. There was no spare tire. That being the case, I immediately called AAA.
Pretty soon a guy showed up in a tow truck who was mechanically inclined. You know the type. He looked in my trunk and lifted part of the carpet to expose the spare tire. I did feel a little sheepish. However, it was a 95° summer day with 95% humidity. I was more than glad that I wasn’t changing the tire.
The snowstorm in Quebec.
This one was a classic. Probably the nearest I ever came to having a chargeable accident was up in Quebec, Canada. I was driving late at night in a snowstorm. I might have been looking at my phone and I might not have been looking at my phone.
Suddenly, when I did give 100% of my attention to the road, I noticed what appeared to be a fork in the highway. The road seemed to be splitting. This was unexpected. I didn’t have much time to make a decision. It looked like if I drove left, I might be driving into the oncoming traffic. I quickly took the right side of the fork.
This decision immediately took me into a 45° right-hand turn in snowy conditions. I was traveling around this turn at about 50 mph. That was way too fast.
I immediately used my professionally trained race car driving skills. I have raced on ice several times. I was able to navigate this wide, sweeping turn at a much higher rate of speed than I needed to be going given the weather conditions.
This right-hand turn took me into a nearly vacant highway rest area. I was still going way too fast without any real control of the car. I slammed into a huge snowbank at about 30 miles an hour that was surrounding a light pole. From the sound of my impact, I was surprised the light pole was still standing. I didn’t really want to see what kind of damage I had created.
When I got out to look around, I noticed there was one car in the rest area. The driver had stopped and was standing outside of his car taking a smoke break. Mind you it was nearly midnight. This fellow’s eyes were as big as saucers. I ignored his gaze and surveyed the expected damage to my car.
To my great surprise, there was no visible damage to the tire, wheel, or any part of the car. I was shocked. I smiled at my good fortune. I gave a thumb’s up to my smoking friend and he did the same. I can only imagine the story he told his friends later.
Soon I was back on the highway driving 60 mph in a snowstorm for another 50 miles. I was headed to a small town in Quebec where I was staying for the night.
In order to get to my hotel, I had to drive up a rather steep hill. That part of the road was nearly 50 yards in length. This town had just gotten about six inches of snow. Given the time of night, they hadn’t done any plowing at the stage.
You might think of me as a California surfer dude who has no experience in driving in the snow. That’s not actually the case. I grew up in Illinois. I’ve done my share of driving in the snow in the Midwest.
I had just about crested the snow-laden hill. I was only about 20 feet from getting back to level ground when I begin to lose traction. Instinctively, as I almost started to slide down the hill, I gave it more gas, and that held my position. The RPMs on my tires probably went to 100 mph.
Right at that moment, I heard a huge sound coming from the car’s front suspension. The RPMs stopped. The left front tire, the same left front tire that hit the snowbank at a high rate of speed had collapsed. I got out of the car to survey the damage. The left front tire stood at nearly a 90-degree angle from where it should have been. This rental car wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
The gods of good fortune were shining on me. I was only a block and a half from my hotel. I left the car in the middle of the road at midnight in French-speaking Quebec and waded up in the heavy snow to the hotel with all my luggage.
I found a very sympathetic and understanding woman behind the hotel’s front desk. I explained my problem. Not only was my car disabled in French-speaking Quebec in the middle of the road but now I didn’t have any transportation to tomorrow’s morning’s race track.
I was able to check in and put my bags inside my hotel room. Then I walked back to my car. My rental car was no longer deserted. It was surrounded by two Quebec police cars. The officers had already ordered a tow truck to take my car away. The flatbed was loading up my car at that very moment. The officers didn’t speak English. I don’t speak any French. As a matter of fact, they didn’t seem to have much interest in speaking with me at all. They gave me the tow truck paperwork. I trudged back in the snow to my hotel.
Carol says I am an opportunist. I take that as a compliment. She doesn’t exactly mean this as a compliment I don’t think. I started chatting up the hotel clerk. It was now approaching 2 a.m. I explained my situation about seeing racetracks. I told her it was very important for me to see this race that was scheduled for 12 noon….in just ten hours.
I just about had her talked into letting me borrow her personal car tomorrow since she had the day off. I was so close to finalizing that deal. I was already taking notes in my head for the story that would provide. Then in the end things fell through. So close!
Whenever I have rental car trouble, I don’t get too concerned about the trouble itself. In my mind, I immediately fast-forward to what it’s going to take to correct the problem with the rental car company.
I had rented my car from National Car Rental. For the next couple of hours, in the middle of the night, I talked to the National people in Boston where I picked up the car. They kept telling me they couldn’t do anything because the incident occurred in Canada. Then when I talked to the National people in Canada, they said they couldn’t help me because I had picked the car up in the United States. I think you know how that game plays itself out.
Ultimately, I made some arrangements to pick up another rental car at the local airport. Believe it or not, this small airport was open for flights for only one hour each day from 8- 9 AM. My race was starting at 12 noon.
I couldn’t rent a car from National because my contract was still open from the first car that was now in the storage lot. I was able to get a reservation with Avis and drive to the race. That worked out well but there was more work to do.
When I finally did get someone at National to help me with the problem, they told me that I had to have the car towed from the police-recommended lot to the National Car Rental required lot at the airport. You can imagine in a French-speaking province that was not an easy task to get accomplished.
I had the National Car Rental tow truck operator pick me up at the airport after I dropped my Avis car back there. He drove me to the first storage lot. I watched as he put my car on his flatbed truck. Then he drove my disabled car and me over to the airport. From there I could fly to my next destination.
My disabled car has been in the first storage lot for exactly 25 hours. This enabled the storage lot to charge me for two days of storage at $300 per day!
When I finally could talk to a National Car Rental representative about the situation, I told them that it wasn’t my fault that I was driving up a snowy hill and the car’s suspension failed.
Before you get too upset with me and say that I caused the problem by slamming into the snowbank I want to plead my defense.
Yes, I did drive my car into a snowbank. However, when I checked for exterior damage, I didn’t see anything whatsoever. Then I drove my car at 60 mph for the next 50 miles with no problems. Maybe my impact with the snowbank did have some effect on the outcome. I don’t know. Remember, I am not mechanically inclined.
However, when I finished talking to the National Car Rental rep, she was convinced the problem wasn’t because of me. Carol says I am an opportunist. She’s right but I don’t apologize for that.
I gave the National customer service agent every honest piece of information that I could share. She agreed to cover the storage charges in their entirety. She agreed to comp my entire rental at no charge. Then she added five free days to my frequent renter account. That was nearly a $500 value right there. You do recall my background was in sales, right?
Bad boys, bad boys whatcha want. Whatcha gonna do when sheriff John Brown come for you tell me whatcha gonna do. Bad boys bad boys.
This was one of my wilder rental car experiences. During Covid, I was driving along on one of my trips in Youngstown, Ohio.
My normally trusty Toyota Camry decided to slow down to about 20 miles an hour when the prevailing traffic was going seventy. I was in the passing lane when I slowed. I had only one option. That was to turn left and park in the freeway’s median. In hindsight, because the median was so wide, that was a better option than pulling over to the side of the road on the right-side shoulder.
Then I began the long song and dance with National Car Rental to get someone to come and help me. This is never easy. The people I talk to are always trying to be helpful, but the suggestions they offer never work in my world.
When I have a rental car, I am always either driving at a rapid rate of speed to get to the next race track or I am driving at a rapid rate of speed to get back to the airport to go onto my next destination. I never have much time so “traditional” solutions that are going to take time aren’t my favorites.
Yeah, I was standing in the median of a four-lane freeway along I-80. Traffic was heavy. From time to time there would be five or six seconds between cars speeding past. I had my 22-inch rolling bag and my computer briefcase. On the other side of the freeway, I saw a hotel. I entertained the idea of trying to run across the freeway in that five-second interval. However, the traffic was just a little too close to chance it. I do lead an exciting lifestyle, don’t I?
I also didn’t know what was on the other side of the freeway. I could see a very steep hill between the freeway and the hotel. What if I ran across the freeway and didn’t get killed, and there was a fence separating me from the hotel? There’s always something, isn’t there?
Finally, when National discovered that they couldn’t get anybody out there that quickly they called the state police. Soon, a state policeman pulled up in his grey patrol car. I explained my situation. The officer agreed to give me a lift over to the nearest hotel where I could call an Uber. I would simply leave the disabled rental car to be picked up after I left by a towing company.
Before I could get in the patrol car for “both of our protections” as the state patrolman explained to me, he would need to pat me down for weapons. Oh my. I didn’t sign up for this kind of experience.
Here I was on Interstate 80 leaned over with my feet spread, and my hands on the roof of an Ohio State police car. If you were driving past, you may have recognized me. The officer searched me for weapons. I am not a gun owner. Luckily, in this circumstance, I was not “carrying”.
I did get to ride in the back of a police car. This was my version of the TV show, “Cops”. There was no soft upholstery in that backseat. It was 100% hard surfaces. At least I got a chance to feel like a criminal!
Soon the officer was dropping me at a hotel while I called an Uber driver. I can still remember the stern disapproving look that the woman working behind the hotel’s front desk gave me when I asked if I could use her bathroom. She probably doesn’t get a lot of “guests” dropped off at the front door by the state police…then maybe she does.
Soon, an Uber driver was driving me one hour to the Pittsburgh International Airport where I would pick up another rental car. We were having a nice time talking when the conversation turned to Covid. Neither one of us was wearing a mask.
The lady began to tell me her life story as Uber drivers frequently do. She had various and sundry pitfalls in her life as Uber drivers frequently do. The latest misadventure in her life involved her roommate leaving their apartment. Even though Covid was still raging my driver had to return to driving for Uber to pay the bills.
I asked my driver why her roommate had departed. She told me her roommate had Covid and she had to kick her out. As she explained this situation to me, my driver coughed periodically. Finally, I had to say that we were going to have to each wear a mask. She asked me if I was kidding. I told her that I wasn’t. She quickly donned a mask and I continued to listen to her life story. The story came with more than her share of bad luck and likely bad preparation. Folks, I’m no Stephen King. I can’t begin to make up these stories.
Good night, Colorado coyote.
For whatever reason, Carol has not been with me for most of my rental car “incidents”. I guess that’s a good thing. However, one night after seeing a race in Kansas, we were headed back to Denver, Colorado on I-70 at about midnight.
At the last minute, I looked up and saw what appeared to be a collie. Driving at 70 miles an hour there was no chance to avoid impact. Folks would later tell me that what I ran into was likely a coyote.
There was a loud thud on the left front of the National Car Rental Racing Toyota Camry. Amazingly after the heavy impact, the car still appeared to be drivable. Off we went. We were probably 20 miles outside of the Denver city limits.
Then, almost immediately, the car’s temperature gauge flung itself over to the extreme hot range. I think whatever I had hit made my radiator toast. We were lucky to be able to get to the very next exit where we could stop and assess the situation.
We were lucky that the exit included a truck stop, but unlucky that at this time of night, which was now approaching 1 a.m., the entire truck stop was closed. We were just within cell phone range but barely enough to have a phone connection.
I finally did get in touch with National. They tried to call an Uber. I tried to call an Uber. It’s not that easy to get an Uber driver to drive 20 miles outside of the Denver city limits at 1 o’clock in the morning.
Carol and I waited. I’m a little more laid-back in situations like this than she is. There were a couple of truckers sleeping in their trucks at this closed truck stop. I thought of this as a good thing in that others were nearby, in case we needed help. She thought of these folks as potential axe murderers and ready to chop us up as soon as we nodded off. We weren’t all by ourselves, but we nearly were.
Finally, from one of my phone calls, an Uber driver answered our distress. I didn’t want to think about what kinds of situations might confront a female Uber driver driving out into a secluded truck stop so far outside of Denver in the middle of the night.
She was a nice lady. We grabbed all our stuff and hopped in the car and headed to our hotel in Denver. About 5 miles down the road I remembered I had left something back in the rental car. I really didn’t want to run that thought by the Uber driver and especially Carol now but I had to. At the next exit, we were making a U-turn to grab what I had left behind.
Once we got back into better cell range, I was able to talk to National again. They agreed that I could leave the car at the truck stop and a tow truck driver would pick it up the next morning. We finally got checked into our hotel at about 3 a.m.
The next morning, the tow truck driver gave me a call. He told me he had my car and wanted to know where he should take it. Since National had decided for the tow truck driver to get my car I told him that he needed to get in touch with National to find out where to take it. I was done with that car.
About five days later I got a call from National. They asked me when I was going to return my car back to the Denver airport. Oh my. Nope. Not smart enough to make up the stories.
This wasn’t the border crossing I was looking to have.
One night at about midnight, yes, it seems like I’m always driving somewhere at about midnight I was in Illinois. I was getting ready to cross over the bridge into St. Louis, Missouri.
At about 70 mph on the freeway, I hit a pothole. The pothole was so big and so deep that it sounded as if a bomb had gone off. Two seconds later I had a flat tire.
You tell me. What kind of freeway has a pothole so deep to cause so much damage? We don’t have stuff like that in California.
The best I could do with the flat tire was limp across the bridge into Missouri at about 30 mph. That bridge must have been a mile long. Fortunately, at this time of night, there wasn’t all that much traffic.
Downtown St. Louis is not really the best place to have a flat tire. I guess there’s not really a good place to have a flat tire, but some places are much worse than others. You’ve heard of Ferguson, Missouri, right?
The first exit off the bridge in St. Louis dumped me off into the parking lot of an upscale river Casino. That was a huge stroke of luck. It was from here that I called the rental car company.
I have been fortunate in one way. It seems as if in most situations I have been near my destination when I’ve had a car rental problem. It is not unusual for me to drive 500 miles or more in a single day. Most of the time I am not near where I have just departed or where I expect to arrive.
When I do have a rental car problem, I want to notify the rental car company as quickly as I can. Once they get the gist of the situation I can better judge how long it’s going to take to get help. If help is going to take some time and/or involve replacing my car I’m going to want to leave my car where it sits.
On this night, I was able to leave the car in the casino parking lot. I explained my situation to the valet parking attendant. Then I ordered an Uber to take me to my hotel.
It’s never that much fun to drive a car more than a mile with a flat tire especially over a two-lane bridge at a slow rate of speed. I was lucky with this one.
I ain’t gettin’ no stinkin’ police report.
Just a couple of weeks ago at the Chicago O’Hare Airport Carol and I had just picked up our rental car from National. We immediately drove over to the United Airlines terminal to pick up our son and daughter who were arriving for a family reunion.
I was moving forward at about 5 mph in my lane in the pickup area. Everyone was picking up and dropping off passengers. It was crowded. Right at that moment Carol and I felt a huge impact. A driver had slammed into my left-side driver’s door. The impact forced the left side mirror forward into a very awkward position.
At first Carol and I didn’t really know what happened. I got out to inspect the damage. Lots of damage!
I told the guy who might have been an Uber driver that he had just run into me. That seemed pretty obvious. His car didn’t have a lot of damage. He told me it wasn’t his fault. I asked him how my left-side mirror could be facing forward if he hadn’t hit me. There was no way that damage could’ve happened if I had hit him.
I told him I would be going to file a police report. He didn’t want to do that. I did get a photo of his car’s license plate and his driver’s license. I forgot to get any information about his insurance. How is it that when I get involved with someone else and they are clearly at fault they will never admit it?
Just 30 seconds after the accident, our son and daughter with big smiles on their faces and luggage to be placed in the car, arrived. From their side of the car, they had no idea that we had just been involved in a wreck. I was a little unnerved with first the impact of the accident, and then the uncooperative attitude of the driver who ran into us.
With our business car rental program, we used to get something called “collision damage waiver” with our cars. That benefit went away a few months ago. Luckily, my credit card, Chase Sapphire Reserve, provides primary coverage in situations like this.
We got our police report. I called National. They told me that since the car was drivable, we could continue our trip. That was good. We were on a tight time schedule and there was no time to exchange cars.
When I returned the car, the agent told me they would get the car repaired and send me the bill. I could pay it myself, or have my credit card company pay. We are now in the process of resolving that. Those situations are never easy.
I like meeting young people but maybe not like this.
I was out in rural Wisconsin on one of my trips. I was filling up with gas at an independent station just before midnight. When I finished filling the tank, my rental car wouldn’t start. This was a hybrid car. A Honda hybrid.
I knew what this meant. I was going to go through the entire song and dance with the rental car company. This was going to take time. I didn’t have time because I never have time.
My destination was about three hours away. The gas station was just getting ready to close for the night. The station owner tried to jump-start the car. No go. Then he helped me push my car away from the pump, a distance of about 50 feet. At that point, he closed the station and the lights were turned off. Folks, it’s a very lonely feeling when you’re in the dark by yourself and your car won’t start.
Soon, the rental car folks sent their crack team of repair people to get my car started. They had one of those portable battery jumpers/chargers.
They tried, but they couldn’t get things to work. Who exactly were “they”? The folks trying to help me were a young man about 20 years old and his girlfriend. His girlfriend was riding with him until his shift ended at midnight. They had driven nearly an hour from their home base to my gas station.
I had made arrangements with the rental car company that if they couldn’t get the car started, they would have someone drive me to my destination three hours away. That was a key concession in all of what was about to transpire.
Just to recap here’s the situation. It’s now past midnight. I have a rental car that is not going to start. I need to get to my hotel three hours away. Someone needs to drive me there. I looked around. Who did I see? Two unsuspecting youngsters. This 20-year-old old and his girlfriend had no idea when they came out on this call that they were just beginning their work night. Yep. They were on the hook for driving me three hours out of their way so I could get to my hotel.
Once the situation became clear to them in terms of their time commitment, I think they saw dollar bills dancing in their head. They would be paid nicely for this trip, even though it was totally unexpected. Devin told me the tow charge would be $700 and he would get 30% of that.
When was the last time, at 1 o’clock in the morning, this happened to you? You jumped in a car with two young people whom you have never met and proceeded to ride down the road, a rural two-lane highway, for the next three hours. I don’t know about you. I don’t do that often.
I am a gregarious fellow. I have a sales background. Soon the three of us were bonding and telling stories about our life experiences. When people hear about my travel life, they always seem to have a lot of questions. These two did as well. Of course, I had a lot of questions for them because I don’t get a chance to talk to 20-year-olds all that often.
At nearly 4 o’clock in the morning, they were depositing me in the parking lot of my hotel. They now had more than a three-hour drive to return home. Although the rental car agency was going to compensate them, I gave them a healthy tip and wished them well.
The Ozark possum incident.
I do a lot of driving late at night. Animals are on the prowl at these times. I was driving down toward the Ozarks. A possum ran across in front of me. There was no time to avoid him. My right front tire ate him up quickly.
As the possum was taking his 360° ride to death, he/she tore out the entire inner liner of the right front quarter panel. That was gonna leave a mark. The car rental company would certainly notice that.
I didn’t have collision damage waiver insurance on this car. Whatever the cost of the repair was going to be would be my responsibility. I was sure the rental car agency was going to give me an inflated price for this repair. That would go against my $1,000 automobile deductible for situations like this.
Fortunately, I was picking up Carol at the airport the next morning. We were going to spend three days in Branson, Missouri watching shows and having fun. If you’ve never been to Branson, I highly recommend it. Lots of stuff to do and some great music to be heard. By the way, did you know that Branson has more theatre-style seats than Las Vegas?
On a whim, I called a local autobody shop. I asked if they might be able to fix my car’s damage on very short notice. They inspected things and told me they had just the right parts on hand. For the grand total of just $90, they fixed the entire thing. We were lucky. Getting someone to do that work at that price probably saved us nearly $1,000.
No red carpet for us in Cannes, France.
Carol and I were traveling in Cannes, France. We were at an intersection waiting on a red light. Truth be told I might not have been in the correct lane. A young man driving a beat-up old van ran into the back of us while we were stopped. This was going to be a problem.
The young man told us he was in a rush to get to work. He was only a block from where he was employed to put up signs for the upcoming Cannes film festival. He told us he couldn’t be late for work.
I told him that seemed like a problem that was more for him than us. I insisted that we exchange the appropriate information. He told me he didn’t have time. Then…he gave me his brand-new iPhone as collateral. He pointed across the street when his job was and asked us to meet him there.
I am amazed at the stories and situations that I encounter. In my wildest imagination, I couldn’t dream up stuff like this.
The young man who ran into us didn’t speak much English. Fortunately, his boss was more than cooperative. He helped us fill out all kinds of French forms that were going to be required for us to make a successful credit card insurance claim against the damage.
I think this rental was with Avis. My credit card insurance would reimburse us. However, dealing with rental car companies in France and insurance companies in America was a huge challenge.
I don’t think the damage was any more than a thousand bucks. However, the time and paperwork it took almost made me want to walk away from those thousand dollars and not be sad for doing it.
The granddaddy of them all, “Just take it around the block”.
This wasn’t so much an “incident” as it was an “adventure”. Years ago, I had just finished making a sales call on a Friday afternoon at the Target Stores headquarters in downtown Minneapolis. I needed a ride to the airport. I hailed a yellow taxi with just the driver…no passengers.
The driver stopped at the curb for me. He told me he had a “small package to deliver”. After the delivery, he could drive me to the airport. The cabbie told me he would double park for just a few seconds in downtown heavy traffic and “run the package” inside the building. He told me this would take 30 seconds at most. That sounded good to me. I hopped in the back seat.
When we got to our appointed stop a policeman was standing outside the skyscraper building directing traffic. The cop wouldn’t let my cab driver double park. Now what?
I’ve got to give the taxi driver an “A” for creativity. He immediately turned around to me in the back seat and said, “This won’t take long. Get in the front seat and drive the cab around the block. When you get back, I’ll have my package delivered”. I have a very positive approach to life. I don’t project “negative future outcomes”. This plan sounded workable to me!
Dressed in a three-piece business suit I slid behind the wheel. At three o’clock on a Friday afternoon downtown Minneapolis is a madhouse with traffic. I made would loop around the block. No cabbie. I made another circuit, turning down potential fares along the way!
When I finished my second lap the cab driver was now waiting at the curb. We exchanged positions and he drove me to the airport.
Could things have gone south with this impromptu plan? Yes, I guess. Did they? No, they didn’t. However, the experience did create one of my best all-time travel stories from a group of travel stories that surpasses most people’s. I’ve told this story thousands of times!
So that brings us to the end of my rental car “incident” experiences. I’m just happy these were all incidents and not accidents.
This could have been a lot worse.
There was one serious accident. This wasn’t in a rental car. I was driving my own personal 1970 Ford Mustang to a job interview. I had just come back home after finishing active duty in the Marine Corps. I was out on a rural Illinois road. I was stopped while some city workers mowing the grass alongside the highway did their work.
While I was stopped a lady driving 60 mph ran into the back of my little Mustang. Her car made a heavy impact and then flew over my car landing on the automobile in front of me. Apparently, she had blacked out coming home from the doctor’s office.
Carol and I had only been married for a couple of months. I woke up in the hospital with no recollection of the accident or anything that happened in the hour preceding the collision whatsoever.
You’re going to think I’m making this part up but I’m not. The guy in the bed next to me in my hospital room was in a full-body cast. I looked up. The room’s TV was playing the show, “Emergency”.
I kept surveying my body and repeating to Carol several times, that I was amazed that I still had all my appendages, and nothing seemed to be out of whack other than possibly my head.
One of the best things about traveling the way I do is that I can never fully anticipate exactly what’s going to happen. I always have a plan. I also have a mentality that lets me be comfortable with uncertainty. I think being comfortable with uncertainty is a tremendous trait to have.
Drive safely.
Randy Lewis…comfortable with uncertainty.