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Friday, June 16, 2006

Want a Hertz Donut?

My day began in El Centro. It was hot; it was probably 90 degrees. The top on the rented Ford Mustang was down, and I was cruising through the desert. I scaled the mighty In-Ko-Pah Mountains.

I was approaching the summit, between Jacumba and Boulevard. The temperature gauge was rising fast. I turned the heater to max. The overheat light came up; I stopped at the next call box.

Hertz has a roadside assistance program. Luckily I had cell coverage, and I called. There were problems because she couldn't figure out where I was just based on the interstate mile marker. She kept asking me to locate myself; she didn't like the middle of nowhere reply.

Hertz would dispatch a car from San Diego, and it would be there in 2 to 3 hours. This did not please me. In 3 hours, it was going to 110 in the shade and I had no water.

I called AAA. They arrived within 30 minutes, and towed me to the Hertz place at the airport.

They gave me a significant discount, but I'm not too pleased with them. And this serves as yet another reminder (and I didn't need another) that Fords are not the car for me.

3 comments:

  1. Huh -- I thought the Hertz Donut was a creation of the Lahey family. Guess not.

    ReplyDelete
  2. For those of you who missed some of the more sadistic elements of childhood, it goes a little something like this:

    "Want a hertz donut?"
    "Mmm.. donut! Sure!"
    [wham]
    "Hurts, don't it?"

    ReplyDelete
  3. is a ford really the car for anyone, anymore?

    ReplyDelete