The Week in a Red Prius
Coming to the Bay Area a week before my flight, to take three PCR tests 7 and 2 days before that day in San Jose, I knew that I wanted to rent a car not only for the freedom to get around, but also to minimize COVID exposure in Ubers and public transportation.
I was worried that it would be very expensive to rent a car, after reading news stories about rental car shortages nationwide, but actually I found very reasonable rates through Costco Travel. Because of my United 1K status, thanks to my mom, I also got Avis President’s Club membership, which supposedly offers two-class car upgrades.
So I booked an Intermediate SUV, which should have been a something like a Mazda CX-5. I thought that would be a good car to carry around all my luggage. But I also knew that Avis might also have some Toyota Prius on offer, so I would ask at the airport if I could upgrade to the that. Since I’d be doing a lot of driving to and from South Bay, and to and from East Bay, from the airport area, I wanted a car that I was familiar with.
Now, I’d have to say that the rental process in the airport was not smooth at all. There was a sign saying that Avis Preferred members could go downstairs to the parking lot and ask for assistance there, rather than the counter on the upper floor. So I went downstairs, but there was a sign saying that we’d have to go upstairs for assistance! And the escalators only went down, not up, so I had to take my 130 lbs in 2 suitcases up a flight of stairs!
Then upstairs, I waited behind this school group that was complaining they didn’t get the cars they reserved, which obviously held the line up. I downloaded the Avis app, which said I could change my assigned vehicle, but the choices were so limited. I was apparently assigned a Ford Edge, and the other choices it gave me were Jeeps.
Finally, after worrying about COVID risk from huffing and puffing taking my luggage upstairs and waiting amidst so many people, I got to the agent. I asked for a Prius, and he did some typing, and yup, I got the upgrade! Renting a Prius directly on the Costco Travel website would have cost almost 50% more, if I remember correctly.
In the parking lot, I saw a silver Prius which I thought would be my car, but the stall number wasn’t mine. I kept walking, and got to another Prius - red! Okay, red it is! I was glad to get the car I wanted in the end, but couldn’t help but be reminded by how much better the process is at National Car Rental. You rent an intermediate car, and then choose any car in that section. If you have status, then you can choose any car in the upgrade section. So easy, and contactless - even before COVID!
Anyway, here is my red Prius in the parking lot of Apostle Diagnostics, the lab where I got my three PCR tests in San Jose.
I noticed the morning after renting the car, that there was a Post-It note saying that the car was cleaned and disinfected with Lysol. I still wiped surfaces with my disinfecting wipe.
So, I got to drive the latest generation of Prius all around the Bay Area - in total 284 miles over the week. I really appreciated the new safety features like blind spot warning on the highway, and rear cross traffic alert for when you’re pulling out of a parking spot and a car is driving perpendicular to you. A little less useful was the beeping that happened when crossing a line on the road, because that happens a bit when exiting the highway in a turnabout.
I know this isn’t a new feature on rental cars at all, but a feature that was new to me was the built-in FastPass for paying tolls. I made two roundtrips on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, so was charged twice when coming back to San Mateo from East Bay. Each toll was $7, and the “convenience fee” was $5.95 each time, and I was fine to pay that.
The last day in San Diego, while walking on UCSD campus, I dropped by the Target on campus to buy a car vent mount that magnetically attached to my MagSafe case on my new iPhone. The new iPhone feels so much heavier than my old one, and it was at first very unstable in the car vent. But I took off the telescoping arm, on the mount, and it was much more stable this way. I don’t know how we drove before GPS! It was really indispensable driving around Bay Area.
I was so glad I could drive the Prius for the week. Even though it’s a much newer generation compared to my 2005 Prius, there’s still a lot of familiarity built in, from the driving position, to how it accelerates and brakes. And the newness of the car was great: as I mentioned I felt a lot safer with the new sensors, and it rode very smoothly and quietly.
My final bill (excluding the aforementioned tolls) was $442 for the week. The base rate was $211.27, but then I added on $112 in liability insurance, and of course there are around $120 in taxes and fees when all is said and done (“California Tourism Fee,” “Transportation Fee” (maybe for the AirTrain?), “Concession Recovery Fee,” etc.). My Chase Sapphire provides primary insurance for collision and damage, so I didn’t add that on. I thought overall it was reasonable to drive a Prius (Avis classifies it in the “Cool Cars” group) and have my own personal transportation for the week.
