Rhonda Bracey: At Random

I had booked a rental car (Compact) through National Car Rental via the internet before leaving. The process at the counter was quick and easy and I didn’t get asked every sullen question under the sun about insurance. That was nice.

But the big surprise was how they deal with allocating cars there! The lady behind the counter said “Go out to the lot and to the Compact section. Pick a car, any car. Whatever you want. The keys are in the door.” And so it was! What a great idea. No hassling with “I booked a [insert name and model of car here] but you’ve given me a [insert other car name/model here]” and the whole “We’re sorry Ma’am. We’ll upgrade you for no extra, but we have to print out all the forms again… blah blah blah … and did you want the CDW, LDW, PITA insurance with that?”

Another good thing about that system — if the car doesn’t work, you just try another one! This happened to the other guy in the lot at the same time. He got to the car he chose, tried to start it, but it wouldn’t start. So he gets out of the car, grabs his suit jacket and bag and just hops into another one in that section. Cool!