Rate my BS :) (Hire car delay because of "wheel bearing")

In message , Jethro_uk writes

Was this some small rental firm?

On both occasions that I've been told the right car became unavailable, I've been presented with a much posher car for the same price.

Couldn't an encounter with a Great British pothole cause that?

I once knackered a wheel bearing in seconds by drifting the car sideways into a high curb.

More likely a great british traffic calmer

A modern sealed-unit bearing ?

I know the old 2-cone-type were more susceptible to sudden failure.

But the modern single unit sealed ones usually take thousands of miles to "fail". And even then the noise makes it impossible to drive long before there's any falling off.

Unless I am mistaken.

Yes the care is not there or its been knackered for some time and now somebody sent it to be repaired without checking if it was hired. Brian

This. I regularly hire cars in my name, credit card for work and claim the costs back as I get to keep the credit card points/cashback. Never had an issue, hire company has always bumped me up many levels to keep me sweet if there have been issues. Only once had to take a smaller car and was offered the chance of changing it 24hrs later when they had another available. But I hire from the same company 4 times a year, may that stands me in good stead with them as a repeat customer.

• several times.

Really? The old Rover has adjustable taper bearings to the front. Know from the club they very rarely fail. Even after 30 odd years.

The all in one pre-loaded type so common on modern cars may be far better from the free play point of view, but I've had a few fail on other makes.

Yes- they do usually get very noisy before collapsing. Not sure I'd hire out a car in that state. Asking for trouble.

When renting in the US, in 9 out of 10 cases, I am simply told: "go outside and choose the car you want" regardless of what I/the company paid for.It probably helps that I have their gold card...

When travelling on business I usually take the fanciest one. When on holiday I take the one with the smallest engine (i.e. 3 litters...), as I am paying for the petrol, and we tend to cover serious mileage.