thewayofthefuture

Borrowing an idea from the United forum (link), let's see how often we are driving the same cars.

Instructions
1) Use a piece of scrap paper (e.g., Post-It note, index card, back of a page from rental agreement, etc.) to write the following information:
FT - <username>
<Pickup Location> - <Return Location>
<Date of Rental>
<Mileage>
<Additional Notes>

2) Leave the paper inside the back cover of the owner's manual.

3) If you spot another signature, add your signature to the paper and post a pic in this thread.

I left my first note today. If this catches on, I will keep a leaderboard in this thread. Good luck

Elola

I think this is a great way for Hertz to figure out whom to charge when they have to replace the manual with a clean copy prior to selling the car/returning it to the manufacturer!

thewayofthefuture

Valid point. Maybe we should leave dates (and mileage?) out of the equation.

mew24680

Long time lurker, saw this game and I will join, hope to rent soon! Thanks for all the discounts I've saved a bunch renting vs busing!

Dave Noble

so you propose defacing the manuals in the car just for the sake of a "game" ... really?

GW McLintock

I like this idea a lot, I think it would be fun But as Elola pointed out it could backfire in the long run. Is there enough white space in the SiriusXM leaflet for something like this? Of course this is assuming the car has XM and the leaflet too.

It's not exactly "defacing" (as you put it) since that section of the manual is specifically for writing notes

-J.

AndDee

Don't like this at all really !

The owners manual stays with the car and whoever buys the car next won't like having pages missing/written on etc etc

The United Airlines sign-in game is different, it's a magazine which is thrown out monthly (?)

xero9

I know it's not as easy, but how about one of those 5x8 pads of paper.. First person leaves the slip of paper in the owners manual, and any subsequent renter signs in on it. The odds of someone removing it are low I believe, and can be easily discarded when the car is sold.

GW McLintock

I was thinking about something like this. I'd make an effort to bring a piece of paper to get this started, especially if others would.

-J.

thewayofthefuture

I don't really accept the premise that a potential buyer of a rental car is going to care about a few words on the blank pages of the owner's manual, but I digress. The manual made sense to me because anything other than the owners manual or registration paperwork is likely to be removed from the car at some point and writing on the registration would actually be a problem.

To be fair, the Hemispheres magazines are replaced at least once a month and they still have sightings somewhat regularly. We could try the index card approach or, for those without index cards, the back of one of the pages in your rental agreement. I would still say the back of the owner's manual is the best place to leave said index card/contract page, as I doubt removing scrap paper from the manual is part of the regular cleaning process.

Crazyhotelguy

I guess it beats etching one's initials into the paint job with a key

andysh

I'm renting a car this weekend in Vancouver. I'm going to put it on post-it notes at the back of the manual.

cordelli

The Hemisphere's magazine clearly states on the index page, that it is your complementary copy

They put it there so you could take it if you want to.

I don't remember seeing that on the owners manual of any car I've rented.

It's sad that people can't see the difference between writing in something that is meant for you to take, and defacing other's property.

thewayofthefuture

As stated in a previous post, we will move forward with jzweighaft's idea of using index cards or similar rather than writing in the manual.

I have updated the first post in the thread to reflect this change. Please let this be the end of the 'defacing' argument.

xero9

Will do the same at EWR next month