The Magazine

All Washed Up

Sep 17, 2007, Vol. 13, No. 01 • By TOD LINDBERG
Single Page Print Larger Text Smaller Text Alerts

"In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car." Think about it: Could there be a pithier way of making the point that if you don't own something and have no stake in its long-term future, you're not going to take care of it the same way you would if it was yours? It's suitable both for New York Times columns by Tom Friedman (he's quoted it many times, usually attributing it to Harvard's Larry Summers) and for toastmasters the world around (you can find it on the "Stories for Speakers and Writers" blog, where it's sourced to former Microsoft executive John Wood, quoting Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter).

I got to thinking about it the other day when I got back from the carwash with my rented car.

Alas, I am quite confident from my subsequent research that I will not go down in history as the first person to wash a rental. In fact, there was quite the parade of confessions to rental-car washing, contra this very maxim, on Berkeley economics professor Brad DeLong's blog a few years back. One person was motivated to do so by the £10 fee one company charges if you don't return the car clean. Another wanted to get rid of the evidence that he'd been using the vehicle off-road in violation of the rental agreement.

But the more interesting cases, and I would immodestly include my own, are of those moved to wash a rental not to avoid a penalty but just because it got dirty. Sorry, all you professors, columnists, and toastmasters, but in most cases, indeed the vast majority of cases, a better explanation for why people don't wash rental cars is that the cars don't get very dirty.

To read more, you must be a Weekly Standard Subscriber

We're Sorry,

the rest of this article is available only to subscribers.

You have two options:

Subscribing today will provide you with immediate, complete access to the current issue, as well as to all back issues on the site. Each week you will be able to read articles from the newest issue even before print copies are mailed!

Privacy Policy