Rental Car

My second day of house hunting was cancelled as David didn't have anything else to show me and encouraged me to explore other options with RE Agent #2, Hope. I was scheduled to receive my rental car which was to be delivered to my building and needed to figure out some parking solution. There is a garage entrance right below my building but I can't tell what the deal is. Can you pay by the hour? Or are the spots all private? Such things can be difficult and frustrating to figure out.

I went to the management office and there was a different person working there. Luckily she was pretty good in English because this situation is a little complicated. I asked where I can park a car and she asked, "For how long?" I explained that I need to park this thing here for a month. At first she said no spots were available and I said something like, "This car is coming in 15 minutes and I need to put it somewhere. Is there a public lot anywhere?" She quickly jumped on the phone and said that she had a spot available in the building next door that I could use until Sunday. On Monday, she would move me to a spot in my building. She told me to come back to the office after 2 and she could show me how it works. I think I again explained that this car is coming in, now, 10 minutes. What can I do? She directed my to a public lot down the street that charges by the hour. Perfect!

The car guy was on time and brought along the GPS that my company had requested. They didn't have any 1.5-1.8 liter cars available so I was upgraded to the 2.0 class, a Toyota Corolla. I hopped in the car and drove it to the public lot down the street.

I went back down to see her at 2 and she said to go get the car and pick her up in front of the building. I grabbed the car, pulled around and scooped her up. She directed my into the garage where there is a gate and a guard. She put a transmitter device on the dashboard that automatically opens the gate and she directed me down, 4 floors below the ground level. I have been assigned a particular spot. We parked and she directed me to get out so she could show me how to get back out. She handed me another keycard device and a remote control. The keycard device allows me to unlock the door to enter the stairwell. From there I use the same keycard to access the elevator up to the ground level. She also explained that after midnight, this big metal gate closes off the entrance and need to use the remote to open that gate.

I went back to the room and grabbed my stuff to head out to the office, for the first time. It was now about 2:30 and I figured traffic would be light and I could ease into Taipei driving.