The Worst Car Hire Service
When David Schwartz left university in 1972, he set up Rent-a-wreck
as a joke. Being a natural prankster, he acquired a fleet of beat-up
shabby, wreckages waiting for the scrap heap in California.
He put on a cap and looked forward to watching people's faces as he
conducted them round the choice of bumperless, dented junkmobiles.
To his lasting surprise there was an insatiable demand for them and
he now has 26 thriving branches all over America. "People like driving
round in the worst cars available," he said. Of course they do.
"If a driver damages the side of a car and is honest enough to
admit it, I tell him, `Forget it'. If they bring a car back late we
overlook it. If they've had a crash and it doesn't involve another vehicle
we might overlook that too."
"Where's the ashtray?" asked on Los Angeles wife, as she settled
into the ripped interior. "Honey," said her husband, "the whole car's the
ash tray."
-- Stephen Pile, "The Book of Heroic Failures"
