Hire Car Escapade

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understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.

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On 26 December 2011 we flew from London to Montreal with some friends. The friends had arranged to hire a large 4 wheel drive vehicle. Due to the busy holiday period the car rental company had very few cars available and nothing in the class of car booked. They were given a smaller vehicle, but couldn't fit all their luggage in it. So, they rejected it and waited whilst the hire company found another vehicle that was larger. We then all travelled approximately 120km north to our accommodation near Mont Tremblant, Quebec. Upon our arrival, our friend realised he had left his car hire papers in the rejected hire car. The next day we went to a ski hire shop (away from the main ski resort). As we returned to the car with the skis I noticed that the car parked behind us was the same make and colour as the hire car rejected the previous day. I looked inside the car and saw what looked like my friend's missing rental papers. We waited for the people who had rented the car to return and asked them to have a look at the papers, which did indeed belong to my friend. The renters had traveled from Miami and had also booked a larger vehicle, but had to make do with the one our friends rejected. What were the chances of us both being at the same place at the same time?
Total votes: 917
Date submitted:Sat, 14 Jan 2012 01:01:28 +0000Coincidence ID:3425