Car rental customers are facing up to the prospect of increased charges in the months ahead thanks to the ongoing dramas that have beset the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota.
The short term effect of the massive recall of thousands of Toyota vehicles, which left many car hire operators frantically withdrawing suspected faulty models from their fleets, has started to impact on the wallet of both rental customers and companies as tightening supplies have coupled with ongoing tightening purse strings to push prices up.
A survey on car hire bookings across four of the main airport rental operations in the US by Expedia [...]

Clayton Dubilier & Rice, a US-based buy-out house, closed it’s latest round of fundraising at $5 billion but failing to reach its target goal of $7.5 billion which it had hoped to garner from its latest fundraising circuit. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the firm had trouble raising as much as hoped during a touch fundraising climate.
In spite of being incapable of raising the desired $7.5 billion the firm was able to raise more than its predecessor which collected $4 billion in 2006. The Clayton Dubilier & Rice Fund VIII only managed a billion less than this year’s [...]

Car hire giant Hertz has made a dramatic change to its rental policy in an effort to attract younger customers.
As the financial slowdown impacts on all tourism markets, the new policy should generate much needed new revenue.
The standard minimum age for car hire is usually between 23 and 25 years old, higher in some countries. Hertz’s decision to lower its minimum to just 19 is the first of its kind. Hertz is a major stakeholder in the European car hire market, so its move will be closely monitored by its competitors. The new age limit will open the rental market [...]

The world’s largest hire car company has announced new photographic inspections to confirm the before and after condition of its vehicles.
Hertz Global Holdings advised that it has been testing multiple picture technology in the US which would reveal every ding and scratch of its fleet, before and after they are hired, thereby eliminating once and for all the scrappy arguments so often seen upon return.
The initiative has been designed to both cut losses and improve customer relations. It comes at a time where the car hire industry begins to show signs of a recovery after being badly hit by the [...]

Fitch Ratings service recently brought the debt rating of Hertz Corp to a “BB-“. It had been at an already bothersome “BB” rating. The downgrade further into “junk” status was cited as being because of the weakening in the rental car market and the risk of some near-term refinancing.
When asked for comment, the Fitch Agency stated that, “Although Fitch recognizes modestly improving trends in leisure pricing and in the form of advance bookings for the peak rental car season, it is Fitch’s expectation that longer-term profitability and cash flow will not return to previous peak levels,” This has been troublesome [...]

Hertz is now predicting that it will return to profit in the second as demand for autos appears to be stabilizing. While some claim that this assertion may be overly optimistic, Hertz claims to have the data to back it up.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Frissora recently said “Car rental demand in the U.S. and Europe has stabilized and we are experiencing better than anticipated summer-peak reservation build in both market, we are adding fleet as a result.”
In the New York Stock Exchange composite recently Hertz gained 38 cents, or 5.7 percent, to go up to $7.01 per share. The stock [...]

ertz Corporation has announced plans to lay off an unspecified number of employees. The employee cutbacks will be mainly out of the IT department, as the company is struggling to introduce more efficient practices into this everyday actions. “What’s going on in Oklahoma City is over a year ago we announced some outsourcing arrangements with IBM for some of our IT work,” said company spokesman Richard Broome.
The job cuts are located at the company’s data center, in Oklahoma City, and there are no plans to release the number of job losses. Hertz employs [...]

This month, Hertz has reduced the charge on customers that do not refuel their hired car before they return it, and they are beginning to offer the drivers that purchase a full tank during their hired time a discount. While this is going on, the prices of refueling hired cars is beginning to get attention from agencies of the state.
Prior to this, customers who didn’t refuel their car hire before returning it were charge about 7.99 dollars a gallon, according to Paula Rivera, a Hertz Corp. spokesperson. Now the customers will be charged the same for fuel as [...]

The next time a traveler hires a car, they should look very closely as they may notice something a little strange.  As all of the hired cars come with a spare tire, jumper cables, and a first aid kit in the trunk, there is also something else that they get too.  They will notice that when they open the trunk, it is completely covered by advertisements.  The advertisements may remind customers of picking up a race car by mistake or hitting a billboard as they are leaving the Hertz parking lot.  The extra advertising in the trunk is not only [...]

Travelers are being offered the opportunity of saving up to 60% on parking prices for all of the major United Kingdom airports with Hertz.  Parking fees will start from just £2.99 a day, and when customers reserve a space using the internet ahead of time, then they will be guaranteed to get the parking space that they want at a price they can afford, even if it is at one of the busier airports.  After they have completed the process of reserving their space, the customers will only need to print the parking voucher, which is sent to them through [...]