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From: cb@hlwpc.UUCP (Carl Blesch)
Newsgroups: net.travel
Subject: Re: Car Rental Companies: Are There Any SPECIAL Ones?
Message-ID: <603@hlwpc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 16-Sep-85 13:19:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: hlwpc.603
Posted: Mon Sep 16 13:19:01 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 17-Sep-85 05:59:12 EDT
References: <50@joevax.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Short Hills, NJ
Lines: 28

> Friends and fellow travellers,
> 
> This is a topic which has probably been batted around in
> net.travel before, but do net people have some information about
> good -- dare I say, even *special* -- car rental companies? 
. . .
> Aside from the obvious desirables (like reasonable prices, convenience,
> availability, etc.), I'm looking for a few special features that I
> haven't yet found anywhere.  Specifically:
> 
>  - Availability of cars with manual transmission.  I assume the
>    reason that this is rare (if not non-existent) is that a significant
>    part of the population doesn't know how to drive a stick, but
>    there must be somebody who has 'em.

In the past, I have asked for manual transmissions, but as you note,
they are as scarce as hen's teeth.  Imagine my surprise when last week,
an Avis agent in Boston asked me if I could drive a five-speed, and if so,
would I like to rent one!  I said, "sure"!
I told him how I had given up asking for stick-shifts,
because it's usually a futile request.  He said that
they get a lot of foreigners renting cars at his location,
and these foreigners don't know how to drive all-American automatics!
He also explained that the reason most rental places don't stock manuals
is because people rent them to LEARN how to drive a stick,
and they chew up a lot of clutches and gears in the process!

Carl Blesch


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