So Thursday the 29th of June my Abarth got rear ended. It went into the shop on Monday the 30th and picked up a rental car on the 1st...Then I took off :)
10 days, 5142 miles. I'm not quite sure what to expect when I return my "local" rental tomorrow.
Damn kids wouldn't get off my damned lawn...... So I left for a little trip.....
Well, local is a relative term, isn't it?
I though that you had the CV for that trip, what happened to that?
HappyAndy wrote: Well, local is a relative term, isn't it? I though that you had the CV for that trip, what happened to that?
Well...CV..22 mpg, questionable reliability antequated gizmos (no bluetooth)
Free (paid by insurance) Toyota rental, 35mpg, bluetooth, not my darn problem if it breaks.
On the upside (for my explaining) it was a 50k corolla with noticeable damage to all body panels so I think it was nearing end of rental life anyways
50k! That rental is like the town whore. Everyone has had a turn.
JohnRW1621 wrote: 50k! That rental is like the town whore. Everyone has had a turn.
Indeed which is why I felt very little remorse having a long turn with it. I'm pretty sure it was her last. 53k when they gave her to me, 58k now. "Mr Thwaite, let's see 10 days, averaging 500 miles a day that sounds about rig....wait...what?!!?"
And FWIW, terribly boring little car and I honestly do think its running better after a 10 day flogging. Most of the trip the auto trans was hunting, even on flat ground. Well, climbing the rockies it was getting really weird and they it did something kind like a downshift, kinda like a small explosion, seriously, the car jumped. I thought it was a goner. After that, it ran great....weird little car, painfully uncomfortable seats.
But it had room for a giraffe and a t-rex so that was good.
Epic
I gave a Jeep Liberty an off road test drive when I had one as a rental a few years ago. But that's nothing compared to the rally test my old roommates gave a rental PT Cruiser....
If they have a problem with it not being 'local', just tell them you didn't actually go anywhere. You just put the car on jack stands, put it in Drive, and let it run. When they ask you why, just tell them that you're pretty sure thats what rental cars are for.
Local is relative. You didn't drive to the north pole. You stayed in your own country.
you drove right past me and didn't stop to buy a rambler? for shame.
patgizz wrote: you drove right past me and didn't stop to buy a rambler? for shame.
I'm getting flak from a lot of friends and relatives for the no visit thing but the trip out was all business (running the rally) and the trip back was drive, sleep, repeat. I wish there had been time for visits, the long days of driving were tedious after I got out of Utah and Colorado.
Motivation for such an epic road trip being......?
NOHOME wrote: Motivation for such an epic road trip being......?
He had a free rental car, what more motivation do you need? 
http://asphaultadventures.com/wordpress/?page_id=28
EvanB wrote:NOHOME wrote: Motivation for such an epic road trip being......?He had a free rental car, what more motivation do you need?
Yep, that's pretty much got it. Sorry I try not to whore out Asphault Adventures too much around here since I don't have the $$ to pay for advertising and I don't want to abuse my forum membership. (but seriously follow the site or the Facebook page if you want to know when the next round of insanity is, next event is late Spring/Fall in the northeast)
We plan group events doing crazy stuff like this, although the AA trip was just Rolla, MO to Vegas via Rt66, the rest of the trip was just me getting to and from.
I expect there will be no need for 'splainin'.
The hourly worker checking you in really doesn't care.
I once had a Fusion rental with 50k miles. I was amazed how well the car ran after that much "abuse."
Other than well spaced oil changes, and maybe a recall, rentals get very little attention or pm.
Shoot, I'd do that every 2-3 weeks. Never even got a second look. Most of the time they didn't even say have a safe trip. The last one was a brand new F150 rental that I put 2200 miles on in 3 days.
It's a good thing you didn't drive the CV. You would have come out of the motel in Rolla to find it missing. 
N Sperlo wrote: It's a good thing you didn't drive the CV. You would have come out of the motel in Rolla to find it missing.
If it made it outta there I'd have lost it in Tulsa (we ended up at the worlds shadiest Days Inn in Tulsa)
you could always try this......
I rented a car with under 2k miles... returned it with over 5k a week later... was a '13 camry i4 averaged about 35mpg and carried the 4 in my family to my grandmas funeral with ease...
donalson wrote: I rented a car with under 2k miles... returned it with over 5k a week later... was a '13 camry i4 averaged about 35mpg and carried the 4 in my family to my grandmas funeral with ease...
I'd bet that's pretty typical. Theres probably lots of people who seldom do road trips, and don't want to trust their Corolla for that trip, or don't want to risk being the guy in the back seat.
i think it was this board where everyone tried to tell me to rent a car for my trip to Texas 2 years ago because there was no way my Camaro would be reliable enough to make it and the price of gas would kill me and that's the kind of thing that rental cars are for..
looked into the rental option, and the cost wasn't that bad... but Camaro averaged 24mpg over 2900 miles in 8 days and only had a couple of easily fixed mishaps (loose band clamp let exhaust fall apart in Dallas- fixed in motel parking lot- and torque arm moutning bolt fell out in Austin, fixed in Super America parking lot with some bailing wire a Mexican guy had in his truck.. the trip just wouldn't have been the same in a Corolla or something like that..
In reply to novaderrik: Was that the trip in the summer in the black, no AC, windows down/T-tops open Camaro? If so I didn't realize the thread about that was that long ago...
That's the one.. except the t tops were glued in place because they leaked and rattled..
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