Earlier this month I spontaneously decided to do a road trip with a friend, which involved us driving from Johor Bahru to Malacca then to Kuala Lumpur and to Penang before driving all the way back down again in 6 days. I have no idea what made us decide to do the 8 hours Penang-JB drive in a day on our return trip, but we winged it.
Growing up I have heard enough horror stories of how Singapore registered cars often get mugged, hence we decided to rent a car from Johor Bahru, so that we can blend in with the locals. It is always better to be safe than sorry.
There were plenty of options around when it came to car rental, but we picked Sixt because we had nothing but great experience with them when we rented in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Also I held the Sixt Platinum Advantage Circle card so I assumed that because of my elite status, we would be treated even better but everything went downhill the moment I made the reservation.
On the day of the reservation, we arrived at the stipulated pick up location at 1pm, an hour after the supposed pick up time. We expected the process to be effortless with us getting the car in 15 minutes, but things do not always go the way we want them to during a holiday. There was no one manning the office and we had to call the reservation hotline a couple of times before someone finally picked up. The person on the line insisted that there were no bookings, which was obviously not the case since I already prepaid for the car. After double and triple checking, my reservation did exist and she promised to rush back asap.
At about 3pm when she finally arrived, I casually brought up my Platinum status with Sixt, but she simply brushed it off and mentioned that they do not recognize it. I mean why bother having a loyalty program when it is not going to be recognized? I would be better off with Avis or Hertz instead. Anyhow she showed us the car that we were going to be stucked with for the next 6 days and it was exactly as we have guessed - a Proton Saga FX. Now absolutely no one will know that we are not Malaysians!
While inspecting the car for damage, the interior was extremely warm even though the air conditioning was at full blast. So I asked if there were any other cars we could rent instead, even if it meant paying more, but that was the only car available. We were obviously left with no choice. Reluctantly, I signed the relevant documents.
After driving off, we realised that the car only got cold when travelling above 80km/hr. When the car was stationary, only hot air blew out from the air vent. It made the trip extremely torturous, especially when we were navigating the city with heavy traffic. When we finally reached Malacca 4 hours later, both of us were completely drenched in sweat. Also, whilst driving on a packed road, the cover for a tyre actually flew onto the road. We could not believe what happened and had to stop on the road shoulder to retrieve that piece of plastic. That was not all, when night time came, the headlights were non existent. We had no choice but to switch on highbeam, which led to other drivers raging at us.
Because of the aforementioned reasons, we demanded a switch of cars. The person we were in contact with told us that there was no spare cars available. We thought it was absolutely absurd and insisted on driving to Kuala Lumpur, where their main office was located. Arriving at Kuala Lumpur, we were told again that they did not have spare cars and that they would send our car down to the mechanic to have it checked. Because of everything that had happened we thought it was safer to let the mechanics have a look at the car. True enough after more than 3 hours, the mechanics told us that we were lucky to be alive. Apparently, the tyres were so worn out, there were no threads at all. Next, the radiator was overheated and there were green stains (possibly from the coolant) strewn everywhere. It also caught fire when they were trying to change it. She mentioned that if we had driven any longer, the car would have caught fire and possibly exploded. ( At that point I did not know if she was just exaggerating.)
It was ridiculous that the maintenance of the car could be so terrible. I travel a lot and I trust international brands because of standards that they are supposed to uphold, but obviously Sixt did not ensure that. Every year tons of people die in perfectly normal cars, whats more a car with so many defects. Fortunately, after the servicing, the car worked perfectly normal and we could carry on with our trip. Looking forward, I doubt I will be renting with Sixt anytime soon. It is better to pay more to stay alive than save a few bucks and die as a result.