Day 149: Relaxing in Manchester

Day off today, quiet and relaxed. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep as I was stressing about returning the car, so I decided to get it out of the way early. Drove to the depot near Manchester airport (only about 10 minutes away), and filled up on the way - this rental company requires a fuel docket from a station within 5 miles to "prove" you've filled up the car. Even if you fill it up and don't have the receipt you get charged 95 pounds for a non-existent tank of fuel.

I filled up (only 1/3rd tank, since I'd filled up yesterday), and of course as luck would have it - the fuel gauge stopped working. Despite filling up, the gauge didn't move from about the 80% mark, and the "miles to zero" count wasn't right either (it's normally about 310 miles on a full tank, this read 240-ish). Worried, I filled up again until fuel spurted back out of the tank and down the side of the car (less than 1 litre!!).

Dropped the car off and explained this to the man in the drop-off who said it wasn't a problem, thankfully! He also didn't notice the tiny paint chip on the back of the car from a stone, and the scrape I'd noticed on the first day of hiring, but didn't get noted on the condition report. So I breathed a large sigh of relief.

Went into the office to sort out the excess mileage payment since we'd gone well over our allocated mileage (which we knew and were prepared for), but it took three of them multiple goes to get it right, and they still kept coming up with the wrong answer! Eventually I had to do the (fairly simple) maths for them.

days_rented x miles_per_day_allowed = total_allowance
mileage_end - mileage_start = total_mileage
total_mileage - total_allowance = excess_mileage
excess_mileage * 0.18 (pence per mile) = amount_owing (about 120 pounds)

Initially they tried to charge me 50p per mile, despite the contract showing 18p per mile. I talked them out of that, and eventually after I'd shown them all my working multiple times, they agreed. Then they punched the details into the computer and it showed exactly what I'd already shown them! Why they didn't do that initially is beyond me - either they wanted to scam me and pocket the difference, or they were just dense I don't know. But I paid up and left, happy in the knowledge that they hadn't mentioned pets in the vehicle, or taking it across to Ireland (neither of which were permitted, whoops).

Got a cab back home where we had some pasta for lunch and then spent the afternoon relaxing and working. Also had a good long nap in the afternoon since I hadn't slept well. Supermarket pizza for dinner again!Read more