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Where can I rent a manual transmission car?

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pikasub

Senior member
I've been trying to find a manual transmission car at one of the large car rental agencies but they don't seem to have any manuals listed. I've checked Hertz, Avis, and National. Does anybody know which company has them for rent?

My friend wants me to teach him to drive stick and there's no way he's learning on my new car 🙂
 
I got a manual transmission car about a year ago when my I took my car in for repairs.

I just don't remember which rental company provided the car 🙁
 
Actually, there are lots of car rental agencies that will rent manual transmissions. The only problem is that they are all in Europe.
 
We're all supposededly weenies in the US who don't want to drive a manual transmission, so they haven't been available here for a long time.
 
Rental companies don't want to have to pay for burned up clutches and mangled syncros from idjidits grinding the tranny. The fact that you won't use your own car just proves the point. You know that your friend will rag on your wheels, so you figure that someone should rent you a car for ~$30 so that they can do $500 damage to it. Nice of you.
 


<< You know that your friend will rag on your wheels, so you figure that someone should rent you a car for ~$30 so that they can do $500 damage to it. Nice of you. >>

Ok then, I'm out of ideas. What would you suggest that I do?
 
Just let him drive your car, if you're there with him and giving him proper instruction there will be minimal &quot;bad noise&quot; and no harm done.
 
It took me 10 minutes to learn how to drive a standard, which means after that 10 mins, I didn't do anything to harm the tranny, it won't be that bad if you teach him right 🙂
 
A friend of mine went to a car rental company down in Tuscon AZ that let him take out a Contour SVT 🙂 Fun stuff 🙂

That said - if you want to learn, take it out to a gravel parking lot or dirt lane. That way you can peel out without hurting the rubber too bad.
 
*sigh* I still don't feel comfortable letting him behind the wheel of my 2001 540i. I'm pretty sure he's a fast learner and probably won't do any damage but I'm still very scared of the possibilities
 
Tell your friend to get a job as a valet parking attendant. I told the hotel that I didn't know how to drive a stick when I interviewed, but their response was, &quot;well then wait for the guest to go up to his room before you park his car, that way he won't see you do it.&quot; Needless to say, this hotel was on the decline. I wasn't willing to do that to a guest's car, so I got my friend to teach me with his Festiva. I never stalled it, and it only took me about 10 minutes to get it all figured out. You should be able to find a relative or friend with an old beater that has a standard transmission. Somewhere he has to know someone with a manual tranny car who will let him learn on it. How much harm can he do anyway? The only remotely hard part of a manual is getting the car moving from a stop. Once you're moving, it's incredibly simple.

Zenmervolt
 
Don't either of you have any other friends or family who could loan you an older car with a manual tranny? BTW, a 540i might not be the easiest car to learn on. Find an old pickup or Escort or something that has less power. The first clutch I ever drove was my dad's '88 Mustang 5.0... good grief, it had a very stiff clutch and so much power, it was tough.
 
hehe that stuff about ragging on the tranny is right on. If they did rent those suckers out i'd get one just to play around with it🙂
 
I haven't done this, but I have friends who have.

You take the newbie go to a car dealer and ask to take a car out for drive for a while. Grab a beater car with a stick. Ask to take the car out for half an hour or so. If the dealer thinks you are interested, it won't be a problem. You drive the car out of the lot and take it to a remote location. Let your friend take over and learn on that. Once you figure it out, you drive it back in.

 
If you're in Los Angeles, there is a little place called Magic Car Rental or something that rents out a manual Tercel. I was going to dothe exact samething, but the place wasn't open on Sundays.
 
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