Renting a car with manual transmission in the US

wrote in message
oups.com...

Perhaps one of your friends who has automatic would let you drive their
car a little for practice. Even if it's just a few minutes driving
around an empty parking lot, it still might help you feel a bit more
comfortable about it before your trip.

He'd be lucky to have a friend with an automatic if he's coming from the
likes of the UK. They are not exactly thick on the ground.

x-no-archive: yes


usatraveler wrote:
"Pred02" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi,
I need to rent a car for two days from IAD (Dulles) in Washington. Does
anyone know if any of the rent-a-car places are offering such vehciles?
Really don't like driving automatic, not used to it.

Thank you,
george

There is virtually no learning curve to an automatic transmission.

Here's your lesson:

1. Put car into Drive ("D")
2. Apply gas to move in forward direction.
3. Brake when necessary.

There. You're done.

You forgot the part about not ever using your left foot. I have ridden
with many a stick shift driver who inadvertantly step on the brake
thinking it was the (non-existent) clutch.

Brian K wrote:

In the US there's an extra charge for a Manual Transmission if you are
going to buy one. Automatic is the norm for just about every car. I
don't think that rental agencies would want to pay extra for adding a
Manual to their fleet when so few people need or request one.

I had heard that the rental agencies discontinued them because they
found people were renting them to teach their kids how to drive a manual
transmission and so they were having more problems keeping them in repair.

These days, though, I think it's just that most cars sold in the US are
automatic transmission, so that's what the companies buy.

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
Believe those who are seeking the truth;
doubt those who find it. -Andre Gide

Well, I am sure its not going to be a problem to drive an automatic,
however, I would still prefer to have the manual. I was just wondering
if anyone was able or had experience renting one in the US, but
apparently does not seem to be so.

When and if I purchase a car in the US, I know that the VW will be
manual -

Thank you for the information.

Regards,
george b.

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 04:36:45 GMT, Brian K
wrote:

In the US there's an extra charge for a Manual Transmission if you are
going to buy one. Automatic is the norm for just about every car.

That is simply not true. While there are numerous autos built only
with automatics, there are only one or two isolated models on which an
AT is standard and a manual costs extra. For the vast majority of cars
and trucks offering both, the manual is standard, and the AT is an
optional extra charge.

Many rental agencies don't trust customers to treat a clutch properly,
and would prefer to avoid the maintenance charges resulting from poor
driving technique.

-- Larry (lucky enough to have a wife who also prefers manuals... 8

pltrgyst wrote:

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 04:36:45 GMT, Brian K
wrote:


In the US there's an extra charge for a Manual Transmission if you are
going to buy one. Automatic is the norm for just about every car.


That is simply not true. While there are numerous autos built only
with automatics, there are only one or two isolated models on which an
AT is standard and a manual costs extra. For the vast majority of cars
and trucks offering both, the manual is standard, and the AT is an
optional extra charge.

Many rental agencies don't trust customers to treat a clutch properly,
and would prefer to avoid the maintenance charges resulting from poor
driving technique.

-- Larry (lucky enough to have a wife who also prefers manuals... 8



For rental companies the real problem is that they have a rotten resale
prospect.

I've bought four new cars in my life: two Hondas and two Suburus.
Each was had (has) a standard transmission. In each case, the
automatic would have cost at least $800 more.

But to answer the original question, I doubt if it would be easy to
find a standard transmission on a rental.

In message "Rog'"
wrote:

"Pred02" wrote:
I need to rent a [manual] car for two days from IAD (Dulles) in
Washington. Does anyone know if any of the rent-a-car places
are offering such vehciles? Really don't like driving automatic,
not used to it.

When I went to teach my wife how to drive a manual transmission
in preparation for trip to Europe

And that is probably why -- Too many people didn't want their own
transmission to get trashed by a new-to-manual-transmission driver, so
they rented instead -- As a result, the transmissions take a beating.

Not only that, but just about anybody can drive an automatic, regardless
of how you were trained (or rather, the learning curve is much smaller)

If they have 100 cars and 10 are standards, if the 90 automatics are out
and a customer that can't drive a standard walks in, they have to turn
the customer away.

--
I've given up on sigs. I just couldn't think of anything clever to say.

pltrgyst wrote:
On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 04:36:45 GMT, Brian K
wrote:


In the US there's an extra charge for a Manual Transmission if you are
going to buy one. Automatic is the norm for just about every car.


That is simply not true. While there are numerous autos built only
with automatics, there are only one or two isolated models on which an
AT is standard and a manual costs extra. For the vast majority of cars
and trucks offering both, the manual is standard, and the AT is an
optional extra charge.

But usually it will be very hard to actually find a dealer with a manual
transmission car like a Camry. Manual Accords are a bit more common, but
not by much.

You really need to go to a European nameplate, i.e. VW, BMW, etc., to
have a good selection of manual transmission cars.

Only 7% of new cars & light trucks in the U.S. have standard
transmission, according to a newspaper article.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/techno...technology-hed

Jim