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From: wcs@ho95e.UUCP (Bill.Stewart.4K435.x0705)
Newsgroups: net.travel
Subject: Re: Car Rental Companies: Are There Any SPECIAL Ones?
Message-ID: <180@ho95e.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 18-Sep-85 23:27:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: ho95e.180
Posted: Wed Sep 18 23:27:12 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 20-Sep-85 04:43:54 EDT
References: <50@joevax.UUCP> <603@hlwpc.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 28

...
> 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

I once rented an Avis car at O'Hare.  They asked if I minded a stick,
and I replied with my normal "No problem, it's *your* clutch."  When I
returned the car, they attempted to charge my $51/day+$51c/mile for it
(a Chevette!), including $5 for "extra equipment" - the manual
transmission.   (This wasn't the ONE time that Avis actually charged me
the amount on the contract.)

Rental cars in Hawaii are almost all subcompacts, and about half of
them are manual transmission.  Partly this is economics, partly it's
the large percentage of Japanese tourists.

-- 
## Bill Stewart, AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ 1-201-949-0705 ihnp4!ho95c!wcs


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