Five Humiliating Rental Cars To Ruin Your Vacation

January 21, 2009 at 10:02 AM | by juliana | Comments (12)

Picture this. You're on vacation. Or maybe you're on a make or break business trip. Either way, you've just landed at the airport after a (hopefully) stress-free flight, picked your bag off from the baggage carousel and now you're heading to the rental car company.

Maybe you got a bargain on the rental, maybe you didn't. The clerk points in the direction of your car and as soon as you see it you cringe. It just screams Rental Car. While it's no hooptie and it could very well be in top condition, it's still probably not a set of wheels you would buy or lease for yourself. Worse, it's probably the same car being driven out the rental car lot by 100 other folks that day.

Thus, it's probably one of these Five Humiliating Rental Cars

1. A PT Cruiser
Remember those rumors back in the '90s about the Ford Crown Victoria's new redesign being so ugly that they gave all of them to police departments and taxi companies? Did the something similar happen here with the Chrysler PT Cruiser and the only place to send the overstock was to rental car companies? We have rented a car in Florida three times in the past three years and we've always gotten a PT Cruiser. Us and seemingly everyone else at the rental car lot too. However, despite looking funny, we did like how this car drove.

[Photo: Chrysler]

2. A Mustang Convertible
Again, remember back in 1995 when driving the new edition of the Ford Mustang was cool? No? Ok that was only our high school in New Jersey. Anyways, after a few years of novelty--"Look, they redid the Mustang!"--this car has come to embody a cheesy vacation rental. It's the car you no doubt will receive when you rent a car in Hawaii, Los Angeles (we're guilty of it), Arizona or Florida.

[Photo: Wikipedia]

3. A Bright Yellow Chevy Cobalt
This is an actual car that we were given at an Alamo in North Carolina. This puppy practically glows in the dark. And just like #2, it's a total cop magnet.

4. A Mercury Grand Marquis or other similar boat
Our 93-year-old grandfather has consistently driven this model of car for at least 20 years. Do we want to drive this car down Ocean Avenue in Miami? No. We'd rather hitch a ride by holding on to the shirts of a roller-blading duo than be seen in this car.

[Photo: Grand Marquis]

5.Any Car with a Rental Car Company License Plate Frame or Sticker
Nothing says "rental car" like a big bumper sticker or license plate frame advertising the rental car company. Yeah Enterprise, we're talking to you.

Have you experienced your own Rental Car Humiliation? Let us know what make and what model.

Related Stories:
· Rental Cars Coverage [Jaunted]

Comments (12)

Return to » Five Humiliating Rental Cars To Ruin Your Vacation

Family vacation. Mom requests a minivan or a small SUV, but instead she gets an Escalade. Which she insists on driving 5 miles under the speed limit in the right lane. She won't even put the radio on. What a waste.

I had a "mid-size" reservation in San Diego and was presented the option of the PT Cruiser (above), or its evil twin the HHR.

Thankfully I was allowed to wait for a silver Pontiac G6, my favorite rental wreck.

is frightening. that makes me happy about the PT Cruiser!

Honda. Element. Oh wait, two more words: Saturn Vue.

I recall a few bleak years in the rental car world when I would always end up with a white Oldsmobile Alero. I think the Chevy Cobalt has taken its place.

It never fails...when I travel for work I always get stuck with the PT Loser or the Suzuki (Low Self) Esteem. Ack!

What's worse than the PT Cruiser? A knock-off PT Cruiser! I was "upgraded" to a red Chevy HHR in LA and had to drive that family car around for 5 days. Did I mention it was red, and a knock-off? Also, the only time I've driven around a car with dealer decals was when it was a Vespa, and I don't mind it then.

Bright Yellow Chevy Cobalt, and it practically broke down somewhere between Durham and Charlotte. To the bright cars credit, it did not actually stop working, but I did have to stop twice and ask Alamo where the nearest drop off point would be, just in case she didn't make it.

To roll big pimpin' style from LA to Vegas.

I moved to L.A and rented cars from LAX a few times from several different rental car places at the airport. Most of the time I would get the pt cruiser.... one time I got the yellow(I didn't know this car was that popular as I hadn't seen any other one out there)chevy cobalt. I really liked the car...alot of power.

Rented a convertible (first mistake) in California. Thought it would be cool to drive the PCH with the top down. And it would have been, if the convertible wasn't an electric blue PT Cruiser. Not that I was in any way deterred from putting the top down and freezing my ass off all the way from San Francisco to Eureka.

Thanks for the suggestions but I think it's also a matter of choice, if your choice is to drive a Mustang then why is that humiliating? If you search on auto dealer websites you'll see that "old fashioned" cars are not that badly rated after all on customer satisfaction scales.

Jaunted

Select a Destination:

Rental Cars / Five Humiliating Rental Cars / Rental Car Hell / → All Tags