Taking the rental car back in Legian Bali

Returning the Peroza on Saturday to the place on Jl. Padma I gave Donovan a tour of some of the back streets of Legian. “Its just a maze down here,” he said, “with no thought to planning.”

The car hire people rent all kinds of vehicles from Suzuki Katanas to Toyota Kijangs. My Peroza is the ‘in between’ vehicle.

We made contact with one of the guys from the shop and he checked out the vehicle. My gang (alley) is extremely narrow with tight turns and I must of touched one side of the rear bumper against a hard surface. There was an inch long crack in it. The vehicle itself was several years old and in a pretty bad state, lousy squeaky brakes, pollution city, didn’t idle without stalling. “You damage car so you must pay,” said the guy. “Look it’s a tiny crack and the bumper has scrapes all over.” I said. We checked it out from all angles and he told me he wanted me to buy a whole new side secion for the bumper. “Look there’s no way I’m buying a new bumper.” I said, “I’ll glue it together.” “No glue no good you must buy new one.” said the guy again.

I paid him 150,000rp for the extra day and after getting heated in the office told him I’d bring back glue to fix the bumper.

Donovan was planning on renting a Suzuki from the place but that was shot once he saw how they work. We started walking down the street towards Jl. Legian and the guy followed us in the car. “Where are you going?” he said. “To Circle K to get the super glue.” I said.

I ended up riding with him and purchasing a tube of superglue. We glued the crack shut and it was hard to see the split standing back.

There was no way I was buying a new bumper ‘beat it out of me’ was my mentality. We ended up on decent terms but I really hate this ’screw job’ they try to put on you when something goes wrong. My suggestion for future happenings, don’t panic, stand your ground, try to be polite and offer an alternative solution. I could just see in this guy’s eyes he was hoping for a score.

Sunday’s bbq had confirmations from an assortment of people I know. Donovan and Carrie were not going to be around for it as they wanted to hit the road and explore. We’re looking forward to the Gili Islands and having a neat little group of 4 (notice I didn’t say ‘foresome’ knowing the Peanut Gallery would be all over me) will be fun.