Renting a Car These Days

[Dibbons]

I rented a Toyota Camry from Hertz last week (I owned a 1996 Camry some years ago). Neither the rental agent or myself could figure out how to fold down the rear seat (wanted to transport a '72 BBody bumper to a beloved forum member). I later opened the glove box to flip through the owner's manual for an answer. Well, maybe not flip, the "book" weighed a ton and was over 600 pages! Found the answer: there are two cables inside the "roof" of the trunk that one needs to pull to release either the right or left half of the rear seat back. I guess I should be thankful I found two pull-cables and not some electronic switch tied into the mainframe computer?

 

[Ron H]

Yeah, figuring out unfamiliar vehicles is a hoot. Wife got a call from her sister yesterday. She was at a gas station near us and her SUV was dead, no power. She had driven down from her summer home and stopped there to fill the tank before her last few miles home. Her husband was still up north. I guessed it was the battery grabbing jumper cables and a couple tools. First it took some time to figure out how to open the hood safety latch. Was thinking come on here, I’ve opened hoods on countless vehicles, wtf is it? Finally figured that out, then to check the battery. Couldn’t see it anywhere…I thought might be in the back under the floor panel or something. Meanwhile SIL got the owner’s manual out and going through it then I did. Nope, nothing about the battery location, no diagrams, nothing like that.

Finally reading some tiny embossed printing on a cover, it was pretty dusty, the batt was under this plastic cover. Finagled it out under the cowling and there’s the batt, way under the cowling in a case. Less than half the battery is exposed, neg cable inaccessible. You know, one of my thoughts was maybe a loose or corroded post. The neg cable connection to ground was visible/accessible so there was the neg connection as I hooked up the cables. I just made the connection w/o starting up my car and it fired right up. This is a ’14 Ford Escape. Taking the battery out requires removing a bunch a stuff. Nice labor charges for a shop to do it, and Batteries Plus told her they won’t install the battery on that vehicle…lol, I know why.

 

[Pikser]

Yeah, figuring out unfamiliar vehicles is a hoot. Wife got a call from her sister yesterday. She was at a gas station near us and her SUV was dead, no power. She had driven down from her summer home and stopped there to fill the tank before her last few miles home. Her husband was still up north. I guessed it was the battery grabbing jumper cables and a couple tools. First it took some time to figure out how to open the hood safety latch. Was thinking come on here, I’ve opened hoods on countless vehicles, wtf is it? Finally figured that out, then to check the battery. Couldn’t see it anywhere…I thought might be in the back under the floor panel or something. Meanwhile SIL got the owner’s manual out and going through it then I did. Nope, nothing about the battery location, no diagrams, nothing like that.

Finally reading some tiny embossed printing on a cover, it was pretty dusty, the batt was under this plastic cover. Finagled it out under the cowling and there’s the batt, way under the cowling in a case. Less than half the battery is exposed, neg cable inaccessible. You know, one of my thoughts was maybe a loose or corroded post. The neg cable connection to ground was visible/accessible so there was the neg connection as I hooked up the cables. I just made the connection w/o starting up my car and it fired right up. This is a ’14 Ford Escape. Taking the battery out requires removing a bunch a stuff. Nice labor charges for a shop to do it, and Batteries Plus told her they won’t install the battery on that vehicle…lol, I know why.

Watched Advance Auto Parts install one. Took over an hour.

 

[Ron H]

One of the reasons I would nix possibly working at one of those places as a PT gig in retirement. Don't think they have garage space for doing stuff like this...fun.