[iso1631]

We have an Enterprise deal with work so we get very good rates, especially when they drop a car off and pick up at my home or office

However I was in one a few months ago and got a puncture on a dual carriageway. By the time I pulled over to a safe location the tyre was shredded. No problem, go into the boot to get the spare wheel out and I'll deal with it later.

There was no spare wheel. Just some little device which I assume is supposed to somehow re-inflate the tyre and seal any small holes for a small amount of time. Clearly not going to work when the side wall is shredded from driving the best part of a mile on it.

Too 6 hours for a tow-truck to arrive, pick me up, take me to a local garage, and change the tyre. That cost my employer far more than the cost of a spare wheel -- not to mention the cost of the tow itself being about the same price as the wheel + tyre.

Probably not a slight on Enterprise, as I'm sure it's the same with other hire companies (I hired from Sixt on holiday and it was the same). Why don't cars come with spare wheels any more? Are people really that incompetent they can't change one? Surely punctures as as common now as they were 20 years ago.

[sangnoir]

> Are people really that incompetent they can't change one?

I suspect they don't want people stealing/replacing spares in rentals with worn ones[0]. The mere possibility of this adds 1 more thing that has to be inspected and kept track of.

0. I once managed to run down the battery on a U-Haul by keeping the emergency blinkers on(!). I didn't have jumper cables and thought I'd hot-swap it with the one on my car to get it charged: which is how I discovered that batteries in U-Hauls cannot be easily removed. I ended up getting a tow truck to jump-start the U-Haul many hours later.

[kshacker]

I was shopping for a car/SUV recently and was given the story about tire technology changing and tires being so good they never fail :) wish I could remember the precise words but good discussion since I never bought the car due to supply chain issues and now I will remember to ask the details.

[brewdad]

I got a flat in my rental car last week. It ended up costing me about 3-4 hours out of my day to have a mobile tire guy dispatched from 40 miles away. No spare in the vehicle, so I had no choice but to wait.

I found it funny when I looked closer and realized that the tire that failed didn't match the other three. I think that particular wheel was cursed since the car only had 26k miles on it.

[twelve40]

tfa is about people _going to jail_. That is so absurd I can barely believe it. and here we are, discussing $20 child seats and missing spares... priorities...