Leviticus

Was there a "no off roading"-clause? From what I have seen many rental companies in AK do not let you drive on unpaved roads or north of Fairbanks unless you pay a fee.

pinniped

My hunch is "yes", hence the quick trip through the carwash to remove the evidence...

piper28

For me it was the Jeep I had gotten pretty muddy on a few roads on Kauai. It was getting a little tough to tell that it was a white jeep. The valet people at the hotel we were at took one look at it and started laughing. Poor guys were wearing all white outfits, but they had no problems with taking the car as dirty as it was. (Probably didn't hurt that we'd brought left-over pizza from a place there on the island that was very popular. The restaurant suggested giving our leftovers to the valet people at our hotel since we didn't have any way to store it ourselves, and it definitely appeared well appreciated.) Somewhere I've got a picture of that Jeep, but not sure where I've put it.

I had a black 300 once that I'd driving on the loop road outside of Miami before they'd fixed it back up in the last year or two. The chalky white dirt from all the puddles on that road really show up on a black car, and apparently is an absolute pain in the neck to actually get washed off the car.

Insides of the car I'd only basically remove trash that I'd generated. I'd probably vacuum it somewhat if I'd gotten it real bad, but I've never had one that I'd ever gotten close to that bad inside.

rowingman

OK, rigorous debate here in the office, BUT, trashing a rental car (not lasting damage/body etc, but used coffee cups, strewn French fries, burger wrappers, newspapers etc) is a social good.

I learned this axiom early in my business life and have adopted it. The people who clean rental cars probably do not get paid a whole lot, and may really need the job. If we don't trash the rental, and return them vacuumed and clean, the rental car cleaning professionals of the world will likely be judged to be redundant by their rapacious employers, and might lose the job they may so dearly need.

I realize that I may be stereotyping rental car cleaning professionals as "needing the job". They may in fact be financially independent individuals, but to maintain free will for these people, regardless of their socio economic status, trash the car.

If you have an ounce of social conscience, and care for your fellow man, just drop that Starbucks cup on the floor, leave your newspaper, throw the last 20 French fries into the back seat. And feel good about it. PS, I have NEVER been charged anything for cleaning.

yyznomad

I've rented over 800 vehicles in the past 17 years and not once did I clean them.
I also have never received any cleaning bills or additional cleaning charges after returning each vehicle. But I'm pretty sure there's a cleaning fee already baked into the surcharges somewhere... never really paid attention.

Schweden

Reading through this thread has explained a lot about why rental car conditions are the way they are. In Asia, Toyota, Honda, and Isuzu rental cars are commonly still rented out by top tier agencies with nearly 100,000 miles in conditions better than a 5,000 mile car in the US or Canada. With the higher cost of labor here and relatively low rates, Hertz/National/Avis really isn't doing much cleaning beyond removing the most obvious garbage. I've gotten very new cars with sticky juice residue on the backseat, center consoles full of trash, super dirty carpets, etc. It's sad that people can't even take a minute to tidy up.

And yes, I have taken a few rental vehicles through the car wash if necessary. What's the point of taking a 440i, A6, Mustang GT, et al if the car will be a dusty, water spotted mess?

xooz

Never cleaned a rental, though I did have a scrape repaired on one rather than turn it in with a scrape.

yyznomad

I did that once as well.

DeepUnderground

I try to pick up the trash before turning it in but if I have get down and bend myself to do it, I leave it for the guy whose job security depends on my laziness.

yyznomad

My clients won't pay/reimburse for the car wash. So I return it with some bird poop on it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

COSPILOT

rowingman

My personal car is spotless, and has nothing in it. My current rental car (on a trip now)? Coffee cups, this morning's WSJ, crumpled napkins (from the coffee), coffee cup lids, hotel parking tags, boarding passes all over the floor. It is for societal good. Believe me. Join me in my quest to provide full employment for the rental car cleaning profession.

And you shouldn't "throw away" plastic water bottles. Recycle.

COSPILOT

COSPILOT

rowingman

I am not advocating anything that causes actual damage.

And if the gas station doesn't have recycling, all the more reason to leave your plastic bottle in the car.

Don't pour coke on the seats, or do anything that is (a) hazardous to anyone (dirty diapers etc) or (b) isn't easily picked up without invoking illness(e.g. any exercises with spoiled dairy products). Empty McDonalds wrappers OK. This morning's newspaper OK. Yesterday's boarding pass OK. Spilled coke not OK. Cuts in the leather not OK. Damage to wheels not OK.

Randomly strewn French fries, empty coffee cups, the odd newspaper, and the crumpled boarding pass causes no economic damage, is not vandalism, but it keeps people working. Easily picked up and put in the trash (and/or recycling), but necessitates someone to go through the car and pick it up.

Join me. Save society and preserve economic mobility.