Matt_in_VA

I had a experience with an Avis rental back in 1999. When NATO was getting ready to expand and allow the Czech Republic to join NATO I attended a conference in Brno. We flew into Prague and rented an Opel mini van* to drive to Brno. When I returned the vehicle Avis's computers were down and they told me that they would E-mail me a copy of the receipt so I could expense it. Upon returning home I received an E-mail for over $2200 USD for a five day rental. The first thing that hit me was the expense. Then I realized that it was being billed in German Deutshce Marks, not the Czech Crown. When I called Avis I was given the following explanation:

• It was billed in Deurshce Marks because just after the break up of the Soviet Union the Czech Crown was so unstable.
• The reason that the rental was so expensive was because it was an Opel (a Western vehicle) and they get stolen a lot in the Czech Republic so the insurance was more than the rental it self.

* I wonder how many mini vans Opel would sell here in the U.S. with a five speed manual transmission and NO cup holders?

robb

My Mom’s car got stolen out of our driveway awhile back. It was an 84 cutlass sedan nothing fancy. I had a 300z that was parked right by it and our neighbor had a nice Firebird parked next to it but they choose the cutlass, none of the cars had alarms. After about 3 weeks the police found the car abandoned. It had a broken vent window and the steering column was popped and the battery was missing but no other parts were missing. It was a mess inside apparently the theives drove around in it during the time they had it. About a month after we got it back my Dad got a court summons in the mail for not paying a parking ticket apparently while the thieves had it they left it outside in the street overnight and the police ticketed it.

zeroptzero

my mom's minivan got stolen once, it had a full tank of fuel in it. They found it parked in a residential town-house property one week later and it still had a full tank of fuel, no damage either. They just used it to get home it seemed.