FoST as a rental

[FatGuyInALittleCar]

Traveling for work and shocked to get a FoST as a rental at the Budget counter at Kansas City Int. They guy said, "you look like you can drive a stick..."

It's no FiST, but is also ain't no Hyundai Accent!



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[Joker328]

Damn, are they selling that poorly that Ford is offloading them to rental fleets now? Sad state of affairs for the Blue Oval these days.

 

[zanethan]

I feel like this is more of a mistake than intentional. I have a hard time believing that a rental car company would purposely purchase a manual car in this day and age.

 

[allpurposeben]

Budget will buy performance vehicles for certain branch offices when they think there’s going to be demand for it based on some event near that office.

If you fly into Salt Lake City, they have FiSTs because they know people going to the Ford Performance Driving Center in Tooele will want them.

Not sure why they’d have one at KCI, though.

 

[Gone in 60]

It is weird that they would have a manual trans car in a rental fleet. I got an R/T Charger rental a few years ago in Nashville. My cousin was issued an electric Chevy Spark in San Diego for a rental. That got kind of scary... she was in town for a one-day trip, and we had that car plugged in to 110v in our garage. It was charging so slowly that we didn't think she'd have enough juice to get back to the airport in time to make her flight.

 

[Intuit]

Checking into it's history, my '94 Escort 5-speed manual started out as a rental... to my surprise.

I've always used the rental agency's insurance offering as opposed to my own. Curious what the pricing differences, if any, on the performance vehicles. Besides, insurance companies have been known to weasel out of covering their insured for far less than being in a vehicle that wasn't on their policy.

 

[M-Sport fan]

I feel like this is more of a mistake than intentional. I have a hard time believing that a rental car company would purposely purchase a manual car in this day and age.

I thought that they all, as per corporate policy, were not even allowed to rent manuals.

 

[zanethan]

I thought that they all, as per corporate policy, were not even allowed to rent manuals.

That's quite possible but it seems that for every rule there is often an exception.

 

[slappy76]

I think Budget in Atlanta area will rent you a FiST (I think they have 15 in their fleet). I believe they operate independently (franchised?) so they don't have the typical offerings. Not in Savannah though, so I might have to drive 4 hours to my friend instead of 1.

 

[Seijou]

Pretty cool.

All the rental options I've ever had have been automatics, unfortunately.

 

[allpurposeben]

If you want to rent a manual, Turo is usually your best bet, especially in a relatively large city.

I had to take a couple week long trips to Colorado in the winter and was able to rent a manual Impreza for about what I would have spent at traditional rental agency.

 

[M-Sport fan]

If you want to rent a manual, Turo is usually your best bet, especially in a relatively large city.

I had to take a couple week long trips to Colorado in the winter and was able to rent a manual Impreza for about what I would have spent at traditional rental agency.

THANKS for that info!

 

[zanethan]

I'm not sure about all the logistics behind Turo but my gut says to be carful. Especially in regards to insurance and who is covered for what.

 

[Sil3nt611]

I knew about the rental FiSTs in SLC with Budget. Wish I had known that last July though when I went to the Octane academy. Rented thru Thrify when I was there and got an Elantra. Wish there was a way to tell what Budget locations had STs for when I go on vacation. Rather have that than an Elantra or similar...

 

[Intuit]

I'm not sure about all the logistics behind Turo but my gut says to be carful. Especially in regards to insurance and who is covered for what.

Good point. May be a good idea to get a peep at the policies offered by the rental agency, as well as your own. Getting "told" something is worthless if the black and white lettering says something else.

 

[PIPLUP]

If I ever go to Germany I want to rent a Diesel FoST.

 

[TrickSTer]

I've always used the rental agency's insurance offering as opposed to my own. Curious what the pricing differences, if any, on the performance vehicles. Besides, insurance companies have been known to weasel out of covering their insured for far less than being in a vehicle that wasn't on their policy.

I pay 8 or 10 dollars a year for a rider on my insurance to cover me in any vehicle that I rent. Much better than paying $15 a day for a policy that only covers you up to the window line!

While i'm at it, I should mention that you can also get a rider to bring the deductible on your glass coverage back down to a reasonable level.

 

[Intuit]

Priced that ridiculous I think I would've balked/remembered. But I've had a rental exactly once in my lifetime and that was several years ago.

 

[M-Sport fan]

While i'm at it, I should mention that you can also get a rider to bring the deductible on your glass coverage back down to a reasonable level.

This may be different in the north country, but down here in the states, it depends on the individual state's insurance laws with regards to the above.

When I lived in Joyzee, the companies were allowed to write a ZERO glass deductible rider INDEPENDENT OF your overall comprehensive deductible.
Now here in Pennsyltuckey, a separate glass deductible is NOT allowed, and must be part of whatever your comprehensive deductible is for the policy, and, from what I've researched, a zero deductible comprehensive policy cannot be written in this illustrious state (/s), but I could be wrong on this, since it could be by individual insurance company policy.

 

[our guile]

If I ever go to Germany I want to rent a Diesel FoST.

I've read about those. That would be badass