Yesterday the young one took possession of an apartment in Washington DC.
He rented a van at 11am from Home Depot. (I would have rented it first thing in the morning to make sure a van was available. But 11am proved better because we faced no traffic on the roads).
When he was renting the van, I asked him to enquire about hourly rates, miles and insurance. He did not. As a result the sales person handed him the most expensive oversized van available on site.
I commented to this gentleman that he must have made a nice commission having pushed this van rental. He smiled.
A couple of weeks ago, I had rented a van for the young one to move his belongings to our house. I got it from UHaul and I also bought their insurance.
Home Depot did not sell insurance. The sales person wrote down our auto insurance number. When I asked him what exactly would happen if a vehicle hit the rental van, he said "No one is going to hit the van." I guffawed but at the back of my mind I knew any collision would lead to a complicated situation.
I (the old man) explained to the young one that there was a 98% chance that everything would be fine, but there was a slim possibility that an accident, if it happened, might require deductibles, and cause uncertainty and long drawn complications.
The two of us got his Queen sized mattress and other sundry items from our house on to the Van and drove to his DC apartment. The doorman gave him his keys and allocated an elevator to us to get his belongings up.
I liked his studio apartment. A wall to wall window had a view of THE Watergate Hotel and Kennedy Center.
The move complete, the young one drove the van back to our house before returning it to Home Depot, so that I could pick up a car to get us back from there.
When we reached our cul d sac, he asked if he could knock our wilted snowman down with his van. I said yes. He did.
When he returned the rental van to Home Depot, the total charge was $80/-. I had paid twice that amount renting a van and paying for insurance at UHaul.
Looks like youth won this round and had more fun in the process.
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