Hillsdale College donates courtesy car to city airport

Home City News Hillsdale College donates courtesy car to city airport
Hillsdale College donates courtesy car to city airport
Courtesy Hillsdale Municipal Airport
Courtesy Hillsdale Municipal Airport

Hillsdale College donated a car to the Hillsdale Municipal Airport this summer to benefit visiting pilots and the Hillsdale community.

Visitors usually arrive in Hillsdale by private plane for the college, business, or recreation. Since the Hillsdale airport has competitive fuel prices, it is an attractive stop for pilots, and it is convenient for them to have a car when they arrive.

Richard Péwé, chief administrative officer at Hillsdale College, said that the courtesy car donation benefits not only visitors but also the Hillsdale community, since visitors are able to use the car to shop downtown during their stay. Péwé also sees great potential for the airport and hopes the car will benefit them as well.

“It was a good opportunity to do something for the city and to help the airport,” Péwé said.

The car is a tan Ford Windstar minivan, and was originally a part of Hillsdale College’s fleet. Often the cars in the fleet are used to transport visitors or speakers to and from the college, but for liability reasons, the college generally turns over cars once they reach 125,000 miles. The airport courtesy car currently has around 139,000 miles on it, and its bluebook value is under $2,500. Despite this, according to Péwé, the interior and exterior of the car are in “pretty good condition,” and the car is still great for local transportation.

Madeline Gish, sophomore at Hillsdale, said that her parents picked her up from school by private plane at the end of the 2016 spring semester, and since this was prior to the college’s donation, her parents had to arrange a ride to campus in a different car than the airport lent to them. “The car was kind of sketchy; the bottom was rusty, so we were afraid to go over train tracks and stuff,” Gish said. “We complained about its condition the whole time, but hey, it got us from point A to point B.”

Although Gish has not yet borrowed the airport’s courtesy car, her family has often borrowed courtesy cars from other airports. She said the cars are generally older models, and although one often has to pay at classier airports, most airports lend on a free or good faith basis.

Ginger Moore, assistant manager at the airport, said the airport was thrilled by the donation.

“The number one asked question is ‘Do you have a courtesy car?’” she said.

Moore herself has ridden in the car and said it is clean and roomy. It also has a map for pilots to find restaurants and other locations. She said visitors use the car probably three or four times a week, usually to get lunch, visit friends, or do business. Some people reserve the car, but most of the time they simply show up.

“We didn’t have a dedicated car for pilots to use [before now], so we were very happy,” Moore said.