A 2008 Chrysler Town & Country. Image: Chrysler Group LLC
Dr. Charles Preston needed a minivan to deliver food to the homeless, but didn’t want to pay full retail price for a new one. While we’d never advocate buying a used rental car (since we know how they’re driven, and also how they’re maintained), that’s exactly what the good doctor did. Choosing a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country from a Thrifty Rental Car sales lot, the doctor didn’t bother to check if all the vehicle’s systems were functional.
Just over a year later, the minivan needed brakes, so Preston asked his local mechanic to check out why the windows wouldn’t fully lower as well. The mechanic quickly diagnosed the problem: $500,000 worth of cocaine, wrapped in purple cellophane, was blocking the window tracks.
Preston turned the stash over to police, who advised the doctor to get rid of the van, in case there were hidden tracking devices onboard. The man tried to exchange the Chrysler at the same Thrifty lot where he’d purchased it, but was offered some $4,000 less than his purchase price of a year earlier. As Autoblog and the Mercury News explain, once management at Thrifty Rental Car heard of its error, it was happy to exchange the van for a new (used) one. Good press, we suppose, trumps depreciation every time.
What’s the moral to this story? Be sure you check out any used car, from top to bottom, before you take delivery. If you’re buying from a rental car agency (and we wouldn’t), check it out twice.
Kurt Ernst has been passionate about automobiles and driving nearly his entire life. His early years were shaped working in the family service station, though his real passion was auto racing. After graduating from the University of Colorado, Kurt spent a year club racing with the Sports Car Club of America, before focusing on a business career in marketing and project management. Later, his passion for writing and the automotive hobby found him freelancing for a variety of automotive news sites, including Automotive Addicts and Motor Authority, where his work was syndicated and appeared in several national publications. Recognized as an expert in the automotive field, Kurt joined Hemmings Motor News as an Associate Editor in 2013, and in the years since has progressed to Editor, Hemmings Daily; Managing Editor for Hemmings Motor News, Hemmings Classic Car, Hemmings Muscle Machines, and the Hemmings Daily; and now, Managing Editor, Hemmings Auctions. Kurt was instrumental in organizing the Hemmings Motor News Concours d’Elegance from 2013-2019, and has served as a judge at this event and The Vintage Racing Stable Concours d’Elegance. A Skip Barber Racing School graduate and prolific writer, Ernst is also skilled in copyediting, project management, brand development, and public relations.
