A couple of years ago I climbed Mt Whitney in California. One of the climbers that day was from the east coast and failed to show up for work a few days later. The family became concerned and called the car rental agency in Las Vegas where he flew to and rented his car. The agency said the car had been returned. After another day of him missing they called the car rental agency again to confirm and once again the agency said the car was in the lot. The next day the rangers found the car was still parked in the Mt Whitney parking lot and search and rescue was finally dispatched.
In this case I believe it didn't make a difference because the climber appeared to die from acute injury on the mountain the day of his climb but in another scenario maybe those 2 days would've been the difference between being rescued or dying from exposure.