News and notes from around the interweb:
- Amazon Autos will sell used Hertz vehicles (HT: @crucker). I flag this as a warning – and not just because you might wind up arrested for stealing a car you actually own! Whether from Hertz or another rental company, ex-rental cars had better be cheap enough to account for:
- Rentals are driven by people who don’t own them and don’t treat them gently, plus they’ve been driven by hundreds of different people who are often unfamiliar with them and drive them badly.
- Rental agencies do basic upkeep but rarely the kind of preventive or detail-oriented maintenance an owner might do.
- Many rental cars sustain damage and are repaired quickly and returned to service — but not necessarily with the highest quality repair work.
- Plus, rental cars are usually base models or fleet-only trims, often missing desirable options.
- Galt’s Gulch! I’ve often seen “Diamond member parking” at suburban Hiltons, but never a space reserved for… John Galt. I guess the owner wants people asking Who Is John Galt?
This sign is “next to a hotel in downtown Grand Junction” where “three [hotels] share a parking lot downtown.” I think that means the Hampton Inn Grand Junction Downtown / Historic Main Street; SpringHill Suites Grand Junction Downtown / Historic Main Street; Fairfield Inn & Suites Grand Junction Downtown / Historic Main Street.
Saving space for John Galt treats him biblically like Elijah the Prophet who will one day return and signal the messiah and savior? That’s sort of ironic considering Rand’s atheism, but I love it.
If only my 19 yro self were here to see… pic.twitter.com/o6jExPhmfi
— Kara Rowland (@kararowland) August 18, 2025
- Virgin Atlantic Flight Attendant Crashed Her Car On The Way To Airport, Abandoned Vehicle And Was Removed From Plane Drunk
[T]he flight attendant was found to be four times over the legal alcohol limit for airline workers. …[She] claims she was recently diagnosed with a liver condition that makes it harder for her to metabolise alcohol.
As for the car crash, Scott says there was a problem with her car’s steering that caused her to crash the vehicle at a roundabout close to Heathrow Airport. The crash is believed to have been so bad that the car was no longer drivable, so Scott abandoned the vehicle at the side of the road and flagged down a passing motorist who drove her the rest of the way to the airport.
- Here’s why I probably wouldn’t have gone with Atmos Rewards (“At Most You’ll Earn Some Rewards”) for the new Alaska Airlines loyalty program… I’m surprised their pricey consultants didn’t warn them off it…
ATMOS (Atmospheric Omission System) was a sat-nav system in Doctor Who (2008 season) that supposedly cut carbon emissions but actually poisoned Earth’s atmosphere. So it’s pitched as something beneficial to people, but turned out to be devastating. Not the allegory you want for a new program! Fortunately this one is largely good so far.
- Missed this earlier in the summer – unruly United passenger from Newark to Dublin violently assaults officers on arrival, gets pepper sprayed and flees the aircraft.
Unruly passenger gets pepper sprayed on plane
from
r/AirRagers - I actually think new new Embraer E-175 interiors look pretty good tbh.
Simple reason I would never buy a rental . . . I once rented a car in New Mexico and one of the places I visited with the car was Chaco Canyon. It is an amazing site and I highly recommend going. However, I would warn that getting there requires patience and dedication. IYKYK.
Anyway, I’m sure the car I drove during that trip found its way to the used market at some point.
Hard disagree on buying rental cars. Wouldn’t recommend a luxury vehicle, but nobody’s doing donuts in a Camry or struggling to drive it due to “unfamiliarity”. And age/mileage is often low enough that lack of maintenance is pretty low risk.
Also I can’t speak for Amazon purchase, but historically when buying direct from rental companies, they let you “rent” the car for a few days before committing to buy it. You can use that time to take it to your mechanic and ask them to do a complete inspection. Usually just pay $100-$120 for an hour of labor to get piece of mind that the car is in top shape.
Whatever “risk” their is, it’s definitely lower than any other means towards buying a used car.
Another great recap, Gary ! I’m guessing that most of us frequent travelers will agree with you on the thought of a used rental car purchase, that was hammered home to me on a business trip to Minneapolis long ago. It was 30 below 0 one morning, and in the hotel parking lot I saw more than one business traveler revving their engine to 4 or 5000 rpm while parked, to warm up the car fast (who cares about permanent engine damage). As for John Galt, love it, would be a fun road trip but Grand Junction is BFE.
This may sound weird, but there was a John Galt who was driving load of dynamite from Joplin, Missouri to the lead mines in Central Missouri on September 30, 1970. The trucking company was involved in a driver’s strike and one of the striking drivers shot at the truck from an overpass just west of Springfield, Missouri. The shot hit the load, detonating the dynamite, obliterating John Galt and the truck, leaving a 50 foot wide, 30 foot deep hole in Interstate 44 and shattering windows within a 12 mile radius.
If the parking spot is reserved for him, he may not be using it for a long time.
Over the last ten years I’ve rented three cars per year for about a week each, often from a major airport but not always. I joke that I’m a “Hyundai Elantra or similar” kind of customer when I reserve a car… so, pretty vanilla. (Probably a very similar customer profile to the “Jeep Cherokee/Ford Explorer or similar” crowd.)
During the summer of 2022 (post-covid) I rented a few more- maybe it was my own luck but I noticed a distinct ebb in rental car mechanical condition- things like wheels out of balance, obvious noises coming from the brakes or just from anywhere on the car at highway speed. I figured it amounted to a manifestation of the economy being disrupted, particularly new car production, car spare part production, whose job was deemed “essential” (auto mechanics? dealer mechanics?)
Where do the big rental companies send their cars for maintenance? Does Corporate have a national contract with the manufacturer to use the local car dealer nearest each rental location? Do they do anything in-house other than add windshield washer fluid?
When I drop off a rental car, a staff guy pretty much drives it around the block to hit the carwash and top off the fuel as required. I don’t think they get fast enough to notice that right rear wheel wobble above 50mph or if it does shake a bit going 20, the guy probably ignores it. Is it possible that some rental locations might just reset the “service required” light themselves and send the car out to the next customer? (Don’t answer this last question, lol!!)
The John Galt space reminds me of the spaces reserved for God and God’s Mistress at the MONA (Museum of old and New Art) in Hobart, Tasmania:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eannieb/15656961663/
worth the trip if you can get the unicorn of Qantas first
As a former Hertz employee, let me tell you, the customers baby the vehicles compared to the employees- mainly the “Transporters” who’s teams move hundreds of cars between locations daily. In the New York market, real estate (Parking spots) are so valuable to rent out to commuters, most rental cars are moved to the burbs when not needed. Because many residents of Manhattan don’t have their own cars, the rental business takes off on Friday Afternoon/Evening, and comes back to earth on Sunday. That means on busy summer weekends, 10-20 teams of 10 drivers will each “Move” a car 6-12 times a day. Do the math and you’ll get the picture. Now throw in that we got paid by the mile, and look out. The rental car version of the Indy 500.
‘
I bought a Kia Rio from Hertz. Great car and great deal. As said above, research models first, and stick with basic cars not driven by extremist drivers. And be aware of the ability to return within a few days, and have a competent mechanic check it out as you should with any used car buy.
Great reference, Gary! While I’m not an anarcho-libertarian, I still got it.
In South Florida, there’s a row of condos called ‘Galt Ocean Mile,’ and I’ve always thought of it as inspired by Atlas Shrugged.
Sure, you but the car and then 3 months later you get a felony stop by cops with guns drawn for driving a reported stolen car.
Hard pass on anything Hertz. I canceled my “Gold Membership.” Whether or not they actually cancelled it…who cares. It felt good to send the email and I haven’t used them for over a year.
RE: rental car servicing. I work in the corporate division of a large rental car company but worked at a branch for many years. The cars are serviced regularly – our system won’t let one be rented if it’s X miles past-due for an oil/filter change or if there is an outstanding recall (goes on a hard hold). The maintenance schedules for each model are devised using manufacturer recommendations. During the “Covid-adjacent” years (~2021-2023), cars in our fleet really got up there in mileage due to unavailability of new cars. So yes, you’d see vehicles in need of alignments and such, just by virtue of the mileage. We rely heavily on customers reporting such issues to us, as cars are not driven extensively between rentals, so please speak up if such a thing happens. Yes, I’ve seen some mishandling, but overall the cars are kept in really good shape. I personally would not hesitate to buy a pre-owned rental car. Some makes/models are known to have more issues at low miles, but that’s a different topic.
Does using the new Alaska ATMOS card at the ATMOS club in Bangkok give a drink discount? Or discount on the Japanese shoes of the same name?