I love my old vehicles but anytime I have to go out of town and be certain of getting to my destination, I rent. The guys at Enterprise know and love me. While waiting to turn in my keys this morning one of the Enterprise kids was on the phone to someone who had left not one, but two garage door remotes in the rental. When he finished the call I asked what is the strangest thing he has found in a rental.
“You don’t want to know,” he replied.
“Sure I do,” I said, turning to the three customers waiting for their cars. Smiles and nods all around.
“One lady left an empty oxygen tank. I once found some human feces. And then there was $600 dollars worth of menthol cigarettes and $300 worth of fried chicken.”
“Was the poop an accident,” I wondered?
“Naw. The guy was just pissed (get it?) at us for some reason. And the other car was used to hold up a convenience store and the cops just left the stuff in the car when it was returned to us.”
I was pretty sure this must be a national problem and I was right. CarRentals.com has scoured their lost and found databases and surveyed 2000 American drivers to find out which items are most frequently left behind.
At 32%, the most common item drivers leave behind is a cellphone which is pretty surprising considering most people are glued to their mobile devices. In second place at 25% is paperwork containing personal information. Keys are the third most left-behind item, at 21%.
With these three items being quite crucial to modern daily life, it’s quite surprising that people are forgetting them.
Beyond the standard items, there are also quite a few strange things people have left behind in rental vehicles. A strobe light, musical instruments, wedding rings, and even a pet mouse have been forgotten, according to lost and found data from rental car companies at two of the US’s busiest airports: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta and Los Angeles International Airport.
Taking things one step further, CarRentals.com asked the respondents what they would give up to recover a sentimental item they accidentally left behind. Surprisingly, 23% said they would give up alcohol and smoking for a year, 18% said they would give up dining out for a year, and 16% said they would give up coffee for a year.