So Kind of You

Labor Day weekend saw me and my sons in Philadelphia watching the Phillies, followed by sightseeing the next day. Naturally, knowing the kinds of cars I drive (me Grandpa Joe would be proud) I decided that I would rent a car for the trip. When time is critical, well, even I play safe. He'd snort at that.

When I picked up the car I informed the management I'd be driving several hundred miles on toll roads. "We'll just put the fares on the credit card we have on file for you if that's all right, Mr. Cosgriff." Sure. It's about the most convenient way to handle it.

Yesterday I got an email assuring me they had succeeded in that task. There were $72.10 in tolls from the Pennsylvania Turnpike charged to my card. Oh, and did we mention the $4.95 convenience fee?

Really? Look, I'm as capitalist as they come (guns don't make America great, the free market does) but after I paid you $552 for the actual car rental you ding me five bucks for charging another $72.10 to my card? How, um, ah, er, convenient. For you. How long did that action take, ten seconds of AI?

I think they do it because it's virtually all profit for them and too low for me to fight. What, I'm going to get a lawyer to battle such a paltry amount?

If money were no object, I would in fact. Just to thank them for their convenience.

Marty has car trouble

Anyone who knows me knows the kind of vehicles I drive. There were probably eye rolls and incredulous looks when those people heard I was driving to Arizona. But I'm not so bad as to go that far in any kind of questionable car or van. I rented a car for the trip.

About twenty miles before my destination the car began making the most awful noises. I thought I had blown a tire, yet a quick inspection showed nothing like that. But when I got back on the road again, there was the same terrible noise. I popped the hood and looked under the car, yet there was no obvious cause.

Thankfully I was close enough to my daughter's to limp the car there; I found I could drive it at surface speeds with no problems, and as such why wait for a tow or the rental company when you're so close to home? But at freeway speeds, wow. It's a really bad thumping, flapping kind of noise.

I'll go to Enterprise this morning and get another car of course. And I'm glad I was so close to the end of the trip when my troubles occurred. My good fortune is further made in that there's an Enterprise six blocks away. I'll drive the car there to get a replacement. But it goes to show that you can do the right thing and it still doesn't always work completely as planned. And I just know that me Pops and me Grandpa Joe are looking down on me saying, "You should have just driven your own car, boy."