A friend of mine in Los Angeles recently took off 10 days to celebrate his birthday and drive up to northern California. To do so, he rented a car and paid just under $300, including tax, for those 10 days. He rented from Enterprise. It was a nice Nissan Altima too, as I noted when he stopped to visit me for coffee on the way up.

While driving on a bad road in one of the national parks in northern California, he hit some solid underbrush and damaged a plastic panel of the car.

I asked him what happened next.

He called the rental car company and told them about it. The person who answered told him to take it to the nearest Firestone or Pep Boys. He found a Firestone nearby and took it in, where it was repaired quickly.

“How much did you have to pay?,” I asked.

“Nothing,” he answered.