The "Welcome On Board R-9" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Traveling in yet another car rental on the island of St. Martin.  Picked up our car about a week ago from Leslie who runs Kenny's Car Rentals.  Car is a white Toyota Corolla with 35K miles on it with an interior that is in extremely good shape.  When you enter the car and turn on the ignition switch, on the radio readout appears "Welcome on board".  Pretty neat message to read every day while on vacation.  We rented the car for 19 days and we take the liability insurance to go along with the collision insurance that is covered by renting it with my Capital One Visa card.  Every year we rent a car for our vacation and every year we get a car with a few quirks.  This car is no different, but the quirks have nothing to do with the operation of the car.  They all occur in the appearance of the car. Seems both the front hubcaps were missing when I checked the car after arriving at our villa rental.  The front left lower air vent which shows on the front of the car is missing, but the air can still flow through the open hole just as easily.  The driver's side rear-view mirror is missing the plastic housing that is supposed to cover the mirror.  Probably hit by one of the crazy motorcycle drivers that scare the crap out of you when they fly by.  There are plenty of scratches and dings on the outside of the car to make most would-be criminals look the other way when seeing the car parked somewhere, but the R 9 license plate is a sure give away that the car is a rental and may have purchases locked in it somewhere.  All R plates on the island are assigned to rental vehicles.  Leslie told us to leave the car unlocked when we visit beaches and don' leave anything in it.  Chances are if someone is going to break in to it, they will see that it is open and won't ruin the locks on the doors.  That has happened to me more than once on the island with other rentals.  For me, the rental is just for transportation, so I don't care what the appearance may be as long as the mechanics are in good order and the tires aren't bald. Car came with a half tank of gas and wasn't long before I needed to add some more.  I tend to forget to look at the gauge as we travel around the island and panic when I realize we may not make it to the next station.  Never happened, but I still have that feeling when it looks as if it is on empty.  Never sure if the car will give me a digital message that I better stop for gas.  A few photos will show you the condition of our rental this year.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.