It's finally time!! Tomorrow is the first day of our Anniversary Adventure Road Trip, and of course, it had to start with picking up the rental car.
I bussed over to our tiny local airport and headed to the Avis counter. A flight must have just recently landed, because there were people making their way out of the airport, or picking up their baggage, but I didn't think anything of it at the time (literally just realized it now). I originally rented a Full-Size SUV (previously got a Toyota Forerunner, for comparison).
When the clerk pulled up my reservation, she stated that all she had available was a Jeep. I said I was fine with that, thinking it'd be like a Compass or a Cherokee). I got the keys and headed out to the parking lot, only to see that she gave me a Wrangler. Okay... not exactly the vibe I was going for, but I guess I'm stuck with it. (I looked it up later, and this reservation would have been $1,400!) I headed out of town, so I could feel how the vehicle handled on an open road with a higher speed limit.
I wasn't impressed. It felt... wiggly. The steering was loose, like I felt like I had to turn the wheel 90 degrees just to change lanes. It wobbled any time I got above 75mph. The front window was small, and close to my face, which was off-putting. The cabin was tiny and claustrophobic, and not very comfortable. Because there was so much exposed metal, it was very echo-y, too. I knew within 5 minutes that I hated it. But what could I do? I picked up Hubby from work and we headed back to the house (he hated it, too, so it wasn't just me being picky). Hoping to get some information, I tried to call Avis, but all I got was their national phone-tree nonsense. I tried to call other Avis' (Avises?) to see if I could get a human, but no luck. I hopped on the Intarwebz and learned that I could simply go back to any Avis rental counter and swap out vehicles. Okay, thank goodness!
I hopped back in the Jeep and drove back to the airport to swap out. The person I originally dealt with was gone, and the guy I dealt with this time was very cheerful and understanding. Luckily, they had more vehicles available at this point, so he gave me the option of either a VW Tiguan (7-seat), or a Mitsubishi Highlander. My brain said "Oooh, VW is more of a luxury brand than is Mitsubishi, choose that one!" So, we went with the VW. Again, I headed out to the lot and found my gorgeous white VW. Now this is more like it! It had heated seats, dual climate zones, and a cool panoramic moon roof thing!
But ...
Ow, lawd, she smelled like pot. Big time did she smell like pot. How in the hell did a vehicle that just got turned in smell like weed? And if it smelled this bad when it was turned in, how in the hell did they put it back into inventory!? Was the guy in the Washing & Detailing Department sitting in this car, smoking a fattie before putting it in its parking spot? Like, honestly, WTF?!
Surely it will air out before tomorrow, right?
(As a previous cigarette smoker, this may be the stupidest thing I thought...)
Not wanting to be "a Karen" or "That Customer" who went back in and traded a car for a third time, I decided to suck it up and deal with it. I'd let the rental agent know about the stink when I returned the car and everything would be fine!
Feeling virtuous and smart (lol), I drove the SUV home, where I showed off the vehicle to hubby. The moment we opened the doors, he physically recoiled from the stank.
Okay, maybe it's worse than I thought. Nothing a little Febreze can't handle, right?
Nope. She still stank the morning of our trip. In fact, she stank every single day of our trip... we just got a little more used to it, I suppose.
Anyway, today was quite an eventful day, when I wasn't expecting one! Here's hoping we don't have any other issues on this road trip!
No comments:
Post a Comment