breaking down?

[brent44]

hi all counting the days just a question regarding the hire car,i assume your covered by some organisation re beaking down,that comes with the car and a emergency tel no is given to you?appreciate any comments thanks

 

[keith&carol]

Hi,
Yes you are covered. If you hire from a well known company they will have their own vehicle.
We 've had several incidents over the years.
We were in Fort Myers once when a warning light came on the dash. They asked us to ride out to their office on the Airport and changed the car immediately for a better model.
Same thing happened on the Keys one year.
DD has returned cars because they haven't been cleaned properly in side and again had no problems getting it changed.
Our worst breakdown I have to say was on the road from Las Vegas to a place called Barstow. We'd been given a brand new car and had been driving on hair-raising mountain roads from San Francisco to Las Vegas. We hadn't been on the road long and were going down a long steep hill when something in the engine started to rattle like a trapped stick and we lost all the power. Fortunately we were able to coast and come off at the next slip road where there was a garage. They took one look at the engine and shook their heads sadly!
We phoned Dollar but they had no cars left in L.V. so they had to send one out from L.A. which is about a 6 hour drive with a tow truck. We waited in a Denny's nearby and they duly turned up with a nice car on the back of the truck and swapped them over. Long wait but could'nt complain about the service .

The one thing to watch though is the incident we had in Tampa . There was a big electrical storm and we thought it would be wiser to get off the road and have a meal while it blew over. My grand-daughter forgot her Cardigan which she needed in the aircon so Hubby went out to fetch it and dropped the car keys onto the table. At some point during the meal the waitress swept them away with the debris and altho they later searched the trash bags there were no keys to be found.
In that instance you have to call out a locksmith and pay yourself (i think if you lock the keys in as well).
It wasn't cheap but the service was excellent and when he'd done he gave all the Ladies a red rose - nice touch and lesson learned!
Carol