These Are Your Best And Worst Rental Car Stories

Rental agencies are the great equalizer of this world. No matter what car you think you're getting, they're going to throw in a curve ball from time to time to keep us all on our toes. That might be an upgrade to something luxurious, or you might end up driving 'round in something that could konk out at any moment.

Because of the haphazard nature of renting a car these days, we're bound to all have at least one surprising rental story to share, right? To find out, we asked you for your most surprising rental experiences. From upgrades to bizarre finds, these are some of the top responses we received.

"There are a couple stories in here that are similar to mine: don't be a jerk.

"I flew into Halifax a bunch years ago, and on my first trip the flight was a bit sketchy. I think people on the plane were a bit shaken because the 4 or 5 people from my flight that got to the rental counter before I did were all complete jerks. Like it was the clerk's fault the plane broke on landing and luggage took longer to come out. So my interaction with the clerk went something like:

"Clerk: 'I hope you weren't on that flight too...'. (This part I remember well...and it made me sad)

Me: 'Yeah, no biggie. How are you? Do you need a moment?'

"She smiled and had a 'phew' look on her face. She looked at my reservation and said I could take a premium sedan for the same price as my small car booking and I jumped on it. The car ended up being a loaded Volvo wagon, which was pretty awesome.

"That's not the best part. This was Halifax, and the airport isn't big. Since I was flying in regularly for a while I managed to get there while the same woman was at the counter on each trip. On the second trip, she had that 'do I know you...ohhhh' look on her face when I walked up. Pleasantries were exchanged and she asked if I wanted the same upgrade again. That's an easy yes. By my third trip, she just smiled and handed me the keys.

"Which led me to a couple thoughts: it's kinda sad that a friendly encounter is that much more memorable. And, why was the same Volvo always available?"

To be honest, "don't be a jerk" is just good life advice to live by.

Suggested by: dolsh

"Specifically booked at this rental agency in Orlando because they have a plethora of Wranglers and I wanted a soft top for my sunny vacation. They have different prices for hard and soft top Wranglers (important). Like a $40 premium for the soft top. I show up and they tried handing me keys to a Jeep Cherokee...I rejected their low ball offer.

"They told me they ran out of Wranglers. I asked for my money back. They 'found' a hard top Wrangler for me. I asked if I could remove the hard top with tools. They said no. I ended up settling with the hard top and left an abhorrently awful review on Google."

If you can't drive around in a Wrangler with no roof, what's really the point of driving around in a Wrangler?

Suggested by: i86hotdogs

"This reminds me of when I went to swap out a rental at the airport and a group of women got their car stuck in the return lane, after realizing they were 20 miles away from the airport they needed to be at 🫠"

Turning up at the wrong airport is almost as bad as showing up at a concert a day late.

Suggested by: @mondaymargiela (Twitter)

"Not me but a former boss found a loaded Smith & Wesson. 38 revolver in the center console of a car he rented in Chicago.

"He called the rental agency who told him to take the gun to the police."

This feels like a very American problem to run into, but I'm happy to be corrected if this has happened in many other countries around the world.

Suggested by: greenpig

"I had to fly from Atlanta to Phila for a friend's wedding. On Valujet.

"My flight out of ATL was delayed, then canceled; the next flight was full so I took the airline voucher and waited for the next flight, which was delayed over an hour as well.

"By the time I got to the Avis counter in PHL it was almost midnight, and there was a line of about a half-dozen people in front of me and one harried Avis clerk at the counter who was having difficulty with the dot matrix tractor printer that was used to print out the contracts,

"The clerk had no idea how to fix the printer, and the person who did was out driving the bus to and from the airport terminal.

"Me, being a bit of a computer geek (and hoping to get to my hotel before dawn) volunteered to help.

"The clerk let me behind the counter, I unjammed the printer, reloaded the paper and replaced the ribbon for good measure. I hoped the clerk would bump me to the front of the line, but noooooo. Back to the end of the line I go.

"Fortunately, after fixing the printer, everything went smoothly and I was at the head of the line in 20-ish minutes.

"Now, being the cheap bastard I am, I always reserve an economy car and hope for an upgrade. I was expecting maybe a Ford Focus or maybe a Nissan Altima. The clerk handed me the keys and gave me a parking slot number. When I asked her what kind of car I had, she simply smiled and said 'You'll see. Thanks again.'

"I walk out to the lot and to my surprise there sat a black Cadillac DeVille. I thought to myself 'naw, this has got to be a mistake' but the key fit. I loaded up the car and drove to the gate. I will admit I was sweating a little when i handed the guard my contract, but he just waved me through.

"So now I have a new Cadillac for the weekend (185 miles on the odometer) for the price of a crappy Ford or Nissan.

"And the best part? One of the limos the family of the bride rented failed to show up, so the father of the bride paid me $100 to shuttle the grand parents on the bride's side from the church to the reception and then back to the bride's parents' house – a total of maybe 25 miles."

Karma is a car, purring on the lot 'cause it loves me. Flexing like a goddamn acrobat, me and karma vibe like that.

Suggested by: earthbound-misfit-i

"On two separate occasions I've been given brand new cars. Like, right off the delivery truck. 2010 Charger and a 2019 Camry.

"The Charger had a distinct odor after parking, almost like off-gassing of materials due to the first few heat cycles. Also, I nearly totalled it when someone pulled out in front of me at 50mph.

"Both cars left the factory with the rear seatbelts buckled! I guess that makes some sense."

There's nothing quite like that new car smell. Or, as this poster found out, the aroma of a car going through its first few heat cycles. Nice.

Suggested by: stephen-macarthur

"I remember that one time, truly amazing, that they had the car I asked for. It was a crazy day, no lines, rental agent was on their game, the car was right outside the door. I'll cherish that moment forever. I still get chills thinking about it..."

Oh wow, I'm happy for you!

Suggested by: @TheGarner (Twitter)

"I've actually had a lot of interesting rental cars over the years.

"In Los Angeles I've been upgraded from a regular mid-size rental to a BMW 5 series and a Mercedes C class for free.

"In Minneapolis I had a mid-size rented but it was snowing like crazy so I asked nicely if they had any four-wheel-drive vehicles available I could get instead and I got a loaded Dodge Ram Rebel edition 4x4. I hadn't driven any Ram trucks in a while, and I actually loved that truck. It was fantastic in the snow and when the snow went away it was still a nice truck to drive and surprisingly quick.

"In Virginia I was given a Chrysler Crossfire convertible back when they were new, another car I probably would have never driven otherwise but actually really liked. I didn't have much luggage so it worked fine and was a fun car to drive.

"On the other end of the spectrum a couple times they tried to 'upgrade' me to a Camaro convertible in the winter in Minneapolis?? No thanks. They were low on other cars and were hoping I didn't know how terrible that car would be in the snow. Plus you can't get a single full size suitcase in the trunk, so the one time I did have a Camaro convertible for a rental (in the summer) you had to open the roof and put the suitcase in the backseat. Definitely not doing that in the winter in Minnesota."

I was always told that convertibles were for life, not just for summer. But according to this poster, I was wrong.

Suggested by: rideorange

"Once you go National rental car with Emerald Aisle, you never look back. Book an intermediate car for our corporate rate of $35/day, and then pick whatever is in the emerald area. I've had Audi's, BMW's, Mercedes, Tesla's, Trucks, Jeeps, V8 Challengers, Mustangs, etc. I get to try all different cars with different trims whenever I rent."

Did National car rentals write this?

Suggested by: Lewis26

"2fer in the same story:

"1, I got a Lancia Delta HF !! Its 1991 and I'm going to Munich for ten-day Euro tour with my two buddies. Booked a midsize meh machine. Arrive at off airport rental place to collect the cheap, meh car. They had a Lancia Delta HF Turbo in my class so I asked if we could have it. Sure thing they say. All cool with that car, saw 135 on the Autobahn and drove through Austria, Italy and back up to Berlin and return to Munich. Far more fun.

"2. Bring Lancia back to off airport location. Building is gone, I mean demolished, flattened. Parking lot is rubble. WTF?? Call the place. Oh we moved around the corner. You couldn't have thought to tell me?"

If this happened to me, I'd be convinced aliens were involved. I'm not sure how, but they would definitely be behind a prank like this.

Suggested by: ajr666

"I once rented a Porsche Boxster from San Diego, drove it up Angeles Crest, ran a rock in the road which put a hole in the bottom of the engine. As soon as I turned it off all the oil came out. Called for roadside assistance but because I was passed the tunnel they didn't know which side they would send a tow truck from. I sat there for 12 hours.

"Finally a tow truck came and got me, took me to LAX, it was 3 in the morning, the rental car counter attendant asked me what happened, then looked to see if I got the LDW, which of course I did.

"Once they saw I had it, they just handed me keys to another Boxster and I was on my way back to SD."

Sounds like quite the ordeal.

Suggested by: @JAWIndustries (Twitter)

"We flew a small plane into the Mt. Bachelor area for a weekend of cross country skiing. We went to Rent-A-Wreck to get a car for the weekend. This was back around 1983 or so. We got a nice vintage 60's Plymouth Valiant. It was a stick shift so I got to drive up to snow country with basic tires, nothing special. As we were going up we passed a few 4WD trucks off the side of the road. We kept going.

"Pulled over and had a great day skiing. During the day the snow melted and the two big ruts in the road got deep. I had to drive in one rut with the other wheels up on top. We bottomed out a couple of times so we used skis to dig out the high centering area. After a couple times, I told everyone that the next time I wasn't going to stop. We passed a bunch of 4WD and other vehicles off the side of the road or stuck in place, so occasionally I had to blast to the other side.

"That Valiant never let us down. Great rental!"

Is there nothing the Plymouth Valiant can't do? Answers on a postcard.

Suggested by: knowonelse

"I got married in 2008 and flew to San Diego.

"Dodge Caliber 1 – got two blocks out of the car rental lot before the engine check light came on; so I returned it.

"Dodge Caliber 2 – went a little bit further before it just stopped. The entire electrics went dead.

"Dodge Caliber 3 -I drove it as far as the Shell petrol station six blocks away and it refused to start back up after I'd put petrol in it.

"Pontiac G8 – went to Chicago from San Diego and back again and never ever missed a beat.

"Lesson... Dodge Caliber... why?"

That's a question we've all been asking since the Caliber was first unveiled back in 2007.

Suggested by: rollo75