Sounds a little bit like a new children's book series from C.S. Lewis, but it couldn't be farther from it. Nope, this little adventure was anything but fascinating. It was a day that started like any other day. Yet, it changed dramatically with one phone call from my wife about an hour after she left for work. She barely made it into the parking lot of her employer as the Vue (we have a 2009 Saturn Vue) started dying. So, she calls OnStar, they ran some diagnostics and they believe the problem to be the gas pedal sensor; that when it gets wet in the 2009 Vue it can short and shut down the entire vehicle. OnStar arranges for the vehicle to be towed to a nearby Chevy dealer. This, of course, after the towing guy has to battle the parking lot security at my wife's place of employment just to get into the lot and let him hook the Vue up to be towed. Apparently, they've had a lot of repo incidents lately in the lot. That's comforting to know when my wife's there 5 days of the week. Anyway, the dealership confirms the problem, but, of course, they have to order a part, which will not be in until tomorrow. So, now we have no choice but to accept the dealership's offer of giving us a rental while the car is in the shop. They call it in to the Enterprise almost directly across the street and we're told it will be ready for us when we arrive. Now, my wife works across town and it's probably a 45-minute drive from our house on a day with light traffic; which is NEVER around here. So, I leave the house to pick up my wife around 1 pm. I get to her employer about 2 pm, and we arrive at the Enterprise office about 10 minutes later. The guy does his thing in the computer and tells us he has a Cheverolet Aveo available, the only GM car he has left. We say "we'll take it" and he proceeds to tell us that we now have to travel another mile East and 4 miles South to another Enterprise office to pick it up. The key thing to keep in mind here is that we have to be back out on the East side by our house by 4 to pick up our daughter from school. So, we go the extra miles, so to speak, and finally get the rental. I've never seen an Aveo on the road before and now I know why: it's the smallest damn vehicle in existence today! Worse yet, we had to tell the kind folks at this particular Enterprise that they needed to stop cleaning the car - for which they had at least 20 minutes to do from the time they got the reservation until the time arrived - and give it over pronto as we had to bolt back towards home for our daughter. In hindsight, we probably should have let them finish and taken our chances with the journey back home as the last passenger who rented it must have been the late George Burns! The ashtray was filled and the odor in the car was God-awful. I drove the rental back home, while my wife made the stop for my daughter. The funniest part of this whole escapade? When the kids saw the Aveo parked in the garage, they loved it! They kept asking if we could get one for our next car. I told them I would think about. But, I haven't given it one thought about it since they asked. And, I don't see that trend changing any time soon.
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