I rented a car recently and on going out to retrieve my charger from the car in the hotel parking lot, I noticed one of the tires was flat. I called AAA who dispatched a technician. In the meantime, I also called the rental company because I also did not want to simply inflate the tire without knowing the source of the issue. Should I repair the flat, or return car with flat, etc. The rental agent asked me to check if there was a spare. I wondered why but duly complied. To my surprise, there was no spare. This meant that the car had to be towed and I was taken to get a replacement vehicle.

One can only imagine the many situations where having a flat without a spare could lead to a bad outcome. I can also understand the cost saving of not having a spare in one car, more so in hundreds of thousands of cars. I have since found out that two companies do not include spares, at least according to my limited research.

Is it common for car rental companies to provide cars without spare tires? Which ones do and which ones don't?