Shake the sand out

Back from the beach in a hired car? Get the sand out of it before you return it. Nur returned his rental car with sand in the footwells after a family trip to the Drakensberg and was charged R600 extra for a specialist valet. Rental agreements generally allow the company to charge a cleaning fee when a car comes back needing more than a standard wash, and sand is almost a guaranteed trigger. And here's the thing. Nur's rental car had no mats in it, so there was no easy way for the family to shake the sand out of the footwells. Check for mats before you drive off. If the car doesn't have them, refuse to accept it that way.