Car Rental Reviews Gives Advice on Rental Car Lost and Found
Most of our rental partners provide a lost and found service to reunite customers with lost items. It’s a fairly common occurrence in the USA, but it’s not so easy if you’re renting a car outside of the U.S.
What to do if you leave something in a rental car
We all know how easily it is to get distracted at just the wrong moment, and then completely forget what you were doing. Like, that moment you’re about to take your laptop out of the trunk, when a sweet old lady asks you to quickly explain how to get to the Holiday Inn… then closing the trunk as you wave goodbye, with your laptop still inside. Here is what you should do when you realize your forgetfulness:
- Let the rental agent know your reservation ID and the registration number as soon as possible
- If you have lost something, describe it to them
- If you know where it is, tell them where it is in the car.
- Let them know how to reach you by leaving contact details
If even the thought of this leaves you feeling a little queasy, I strongly advise you read our blog post on Remedies for Motion Sickness. It sounds like the advice will serve you well.
Meanwhile, here’s some advice on curbing the forgetfulness.
What are Some of the Most Common Items Left in Rental Cars?
Horatio Caine would be the perfect spokesperson for one the most common item that gets handed in to rental car lost and found rooms. “Well madam, … it seems that I may have left my sunglasses in your rental!”
Ringing in 4th place does not take a detective to figure out, but hold on a sec, I just need to answer my mobile quickly! Number two on the list gives me the shivers. Personal paperwork makes up a staggering 25% of items in rental cars lost and found in rooms or boxes. It’s hard enough securing your digital information, don’t drop the ball and forget sensitive documents in your returned rental.
If you are thinking of renting a car and would like to know if it can be returned to a different destination, our post Return a Rental Car to a Different Location: Is that allowed?, will tell you what you need to know.
It may show us up as bad parents but another frequent flyer on the are orphaned way more than seems nice. But, let’s leave the cuddly behind, and show you our list of the nine most common items left behind in rentals:
- Reading and sunglasses
- Personal papers
- Soft toys and teddy bears
- Mobile phones
- Cameras
- Keys
- Jewellery
- Wallets or purses
- Passport
- Other stuff… I will tell you about it shortly, but pigs eyes are on the list!
The Weirdest Things Left in Rental Car Lost and Found
As is evident from everything you have read so far, leaving things behind in rental cars lost and found is not something out of the ordinary. But what became very evident is that some of the things people have left behind is decidedly out of the ordinary.
Remember the pig eyes that’s #10 in our list of 9? They now take up the top spot in my list of Weirdest and Craziest stuff left in rental cars. There are some items that leave you completely gobsmacked and with so many questions…
Like a CD called The Art of Seduction, that was found together with half a pint of beer. The mind boggles (but I want that CD!)…
In the rush to return hire cars and get to the airport, holidaymakers are understandably forgetful, but some of what they’ve forgotten will shock you.
According to one rental company, pets and sleeping family members have been left behind. There have even been instances of car rental staff being left to remove faeces and sex toys from returned cars. Let’s have a look at what other weird sh*tuff people carry with them in rental cars, and then leave them behind:
- An urn with ashes – This could be explained, right? The departed can lead us through a gauntlet of emotions. One second you are crying, the next you remember something and laugh, then before you know it, you have returned the rental, and left dear Sarah in the rented Ford Mustang Cabriolet.
- Box of pig eyes – Looks horrifying, but it’s not what you think. It wasn’t a tray of rolling eyes. This was a container of pigs eyes used for medical research. We share many similarities with swine that makes them a great substitute for medical students and research.
- Wedding rings – If you have ever been married, and wore a ring, you know the panic that sets in when you have misplaced your band of happiness. Now, if you leave it in a rental, that multiplies times a hundred. The question does arise though – Did someone meet someone else and decide that someone should not know the other someone is married, so they hooked up,and someone left their ring behind?
- A hairpiece – Now this can make us speculate up a storm! Perhaps some rapper girl had a long day, and just needed give that weave a break, or (look who’s back) some people were making out hecticly and the only thing that got off, was the hairpiece, cause as Tone Loc says, “it was a big old mess, Sheena was a man!”
- False teeth – When we reach a certain age, we tend to leave things around. It’s not so bad to leave your dentures in the bathroom or on the bedside, but—why, oh why? —would you leave them on the front seat of a rented Chev? Could the food have been that bad that it was the only way they could get rid of the taste?
Roundup of the weirdest things people have left behind
We cannot be there to remind you all the time not to forget anything in your rental vehicle, but we can help you to find the perfect rental partner for your next trip. You may even consider renting a vehicle for longer than a few days. Our post on Long-term Car Rental: Is it worth it? , can help you decide. Car Rental Reviews are just a click away – unlike the granny who had to be picked up at a rental car lost and found in Spain!