TALES FROM THE ROAD 33 – CAR HIRE BLUES

One of the things I have found most important when travelling abroad on business is to have as much control as possible over my transport arrangements. I’m sure many of you have been in a situation where key points in negotiations are stalled until the last minute, so that your need to clinch a deal before your taxi arrives to take you to the airport becomes more of a focus than getting the right deal. That only happened to me once, and I chose to take my taxi rather than a deal that would not have been good for the company. It was the right thing to do because the onus was then on the other party to make a concession, which they eventually did a few weeks later. Think about it. If a deal is that important, then first you will ensure your flight plans are flexible, and second you will probably arrive and leave under your own steam, and hiring a car is one thing that will give you flexibility.

I have had far more good experiences of hiring cars than bad. And in most of the bad cases, there has been something I could probably have done better. If I had my life over again, the one I would change would be the ‘economy’ car I hired with a colleague to take us from Chicago Airport to a small town in Michigan where we were to visit a potential woodworking machinery dealer.  Both of us were big blokes, and we imagined an economy car in the USA would be on a par with a Ford Mondeo or similar medium sized saloon. Well it wasn’t. Instead we were introduced to the smallest Chrysler in the world!

It was one of those occasions where we actually had more time than we thought between our flight arriving and the meeting time, so we could have dug our heels in for something better or tried another car hire company. In the end our need to get on the road in not the best of weathers, caused us not to question what was on offer. Mistake. Why is it that heating systems on cars only ever fail spectacularly in extreme cold weather? It was okay when we left the airport for our two+ hour journey, crammed into our seats like an oversized child on a kiddie’s fairground ride (that happened to me too. When I was 12. But I’m not telling you about that – too traumatic!). Then about half an hour into our journey as the snow started to fall, everything suddenly went perishingly cold.

As we drove along the interstate in our tiny and grossly underpowered aluminium can on wheels, with huge trucks passing us and spraying large chunks of dirty snow onto our windscreen, we drove into a sudden ice storm that rendered our wiper blades next to useless. The condensation from our breath inside the by now unheated car then froze onto the inside of the windows and in that sorry state we battled on to the next service area, which thankfully was only a few miles distant, with the windows open wide enough to lower the cabin temperature, but not so wide to cover us in ice. The storm passed soon after we stopped, but of course the delay made it touch and go whether we would reach the meeting venue on time.

Although we did get there on time, our journey had not been the best preparation and I don’t think either of us performed nearly as well as we should have. So five mistakes never to be repeated:

1. The timescale was too tight. Flying in the previous day would have been a better option
2. We should have hired the right car
3. We should have checked the weather
4. We should have worn warmer clothing. Suits just didn’t hack it!
5. We should have arrived fresh and ready for business 

That was in the mid-1990’s, since when we have been blessed with the invention of a vast array of communication aids: both mobile phones and a SatNav would probably have helped us with our journey, and in the case of that particular meeting, a video call would probably have told us most of what we learned there anyway – that they were not the right dealers to sell our machinery!

It is important to try and make every business trip as efficient as possible, with all available time filled. However, there are now few occasions when I travel these days where I do not reserve one day for rest and consolidation, or just to make sure I am in the right place at the right time, ready to do my job to the best of my ability. I think running my own business has taught me that sometimes it can be quite productive to give yourself a non-pressure day, to walk round the local town or city, to plan, or just to feel attuned with your surroundings and ready to tackle the task ahead. It clears your mind, and helps you to perform. I will leave the other bad car hire stories for another Tale!