IsleTraveller

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?

dayone

More than a third of new cars don't have a spare tire.

teddybear99

Most states require that a rental have some type of spare whether it be a full size or a donut, unless the vehicle comes with run flat tires. We are required to notify the local branch if a vehicle in for maintenance is missing a spare so that it won't be rented until the replacement tire/rim is installed in the vehicle.

dayone

"Most states"? Can you provide a source for that claim?

IAHtraveler

What kind of car did you have? Was there a void where the spare should have been? I've not seen any rental car company intentionally take out spare tires. But, as noted above, many new vehicles don't have a spare any more. It allows for more cargo space and less weight (ie, better fuel economy). Most cars without a spare either have run flats and/or a fix a flat inflation kit.

writerguyfl

This is from a May 2019 article on Auto Slash. If anyone is going to know how the car rental industry works, it's Auto Slash. (Emphasis mine)

"Increasingly, new cars are sold without spare tires. That's entirely legal, and it's also legal for a rental car company to rent a car without a spare tire. When a rental car is issued, the company has to provide a car in operating condition and the renter is responsible for any damage that occurs during the contract period (such as running over road debris)."
https://www.autoslash.com/blog-and-t...-spare-a-spare

LondonElite

Many new cars are sold without a spare, but instead with a deflating kit. I’m sure this is in compliance with state laws.

m907

It's a stupid practice implemented by cost-cutting city-dwelling bureaucrats who never drive farther than the suburbs.

LondonElite

I agree.

cestmoi123

So, it provides a benefit (more cargo space, better gas mileage) to the vast majority of Americans? Makes sense to me.

m907

Have you ever been out on a country road in the middle of the night with no cell service? What benefit is "call roadside assistance" or "tow it to the nearest dealer" in those situations?

cestmoi123

As I said, it's a tradeoff, but a worthwhile one. Benefits to the vast majority the vast majority of the time far outweigh inconvenience in a very small number of cases.

LondonElite

Not really. The vast majority don't really get much more storage space, nor any noticeable improvement in gas mileage, but the minority are asymmetrically affected if they are stranded somewhere with no replacement tire. Call it what it truly is, a way to cut costs. Period.

CMK10

Yep, I learned this last year when I got a flat in a 2018 Ford Fusion Hybrid and found one of those. It brought my PSI all the way from 0 to 1. Real helpful.