We’ve got a soft spot for rental cars, and we’re especially fond of those that can do their thing without a drop of gas. That’s why we were excited to hear about Hertz and their latest plans to invade San Francisco with green types of rental transportation.

They’re using that new Hertz On Demand thing to offer up electric car rentals through a partnership with the San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront. So if you need to take a quick spin to watch some airplanes or head into the city for business, the people at Hertz and Marriott have you covered. ]]> kjb 2011-09-08T09:38:08-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/7/20/61752/6702

Connect by Hertz has been kicking around for a few years now, as it’s the rental car giant’s answer to the ubiquitous Zipcar. Entering the car sharing business a little behind the curve must have been a little difficult—even for a company like Hertz—so it’s time to reboot things in order to move forward. On the way out is Connect by Hertz, as from now on if you’re thinking car sharing and Hertz you should be thinking about Hertz on Demand.

They mean business now, as the born again service is looking to reduce costs, improve member benefits, and fire up all kinds of technology both in and out of the car. Of course they’re also boosting their amount of vehicles—including plenty of hybrids, electric vehicles, and cuties like the Fiat 500—along with locations, as you really can’t do too well if you don’t have plenty of cars and plenty of spots to grab them. ]]> kjb 2011-07-20T09:11:23-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/7/18/185449/475
Uncle Jesse and Danny Tanner are just a toll away...

It’s the middle of July and the season for summer road trips has certainly arrived. There of course some obstacles to the perfect automobile expedition like gross bathrooms, highways rest stops, and way too many chips and candy serving as your lunch. Usually we’d add tolls to the list of annoying distractions out on the highway, but once in awhile there are a few that we really don’t mind paying.

Here’s our picks—in no particular order—for 10 Toll Bridges in the US where paying the fee is worth it:

· Golden Gate Bridge – San Francisco, California:
This is an obvious addition to the list and when you drive yourself from San Francisco over into Marin County—or the other way depending on where you’re headed—it’s easy to see why it’s so iconic. Traveling over the bridge will cost you $6 per car when you’re headed south into the city, so at least one of your crossings is on the house. If you need a closer look you can always pull off and head out on foot, as there is plenty of room for bicycles and pedestrians to cross the bridge as well. ]]> kjb 2011-07-19T09:45:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/2/1/8528/80173

In case you haven’t been paying attention, Toyota is having a little bit of trouble with many of their cars. Sticky accelerator pedals are the main problem, and the car maker is busy issuing a recall whilst figuring out how to fix this big issue. Most rental car companies have at least some Toyota vehicles in their fleets, and now companies are pulling them from the lots as they try to ensure that travelers stay safe.

Last week Hertz, Enterprise, and Avis announced that they’d be pulling affected Toyota models from their fleets. The Pontiac Vibe shares many similarities to certain Toyota models, and this car will be taken out of the mix as well. Hertz is chatting with Toyota to work things out, and they’re looking to get things fixed as soon as possible. Avis is pulling about 20,000 vehicles, and Enterprise admits that this recall might cause some limited availability. ]]> kjb 2010-02-01T12:15:10-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/12/19/135441/32

When I was a college student at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, I worked as a bellman and parking valet at the Omni International Hotel, which is now a Sheraton. It was a fun job, because not only did I enjoy interacting with guests (and getting good tips), I also got a chance to drive some pretty fancy cars. I was kind of a shy kid, so I didn't put the cars through too much abuse, but a video that I discovered today reminds me of just how brazen some of my valet parking colleagues could be with other people's rides. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-12-19T13:54:41-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/9/63616/07227

As of Monday morning local time, the country of Samoa made quite the change to the way the country moves around. Instead of driving on the right side of the road, they decided to switch things up and drive on the left side. Not since the 1970s has a country shook things up like this, and we’re just glad we didn’t have a visit planned there this week.

To help things go as smoothly as possible, the country is taking a couple days off, as government officials felt that a two-day holiday would ease people into the traffic train wreck. There’s also a three-day ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages, because you know knocking a few back would not help things out at all. So far so good it seems, but that might only be because everyone is still on vacation. ]]> kjb 2009-09-09T09:15:46-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/13/144438/292

Planning a road trip? HotelChatter contributor London Town is on one from LA to New York at the moment. Some top tips from a week on the road…

If there’s one thing we Europeans know about Americans, it’s that you love your cars. We also know that your customer service is second to none (tell us to have a nice day when we’re over here, and our cold little British hearts will melt all over you).

So we were pretty confident about hiring a car for our road trip in the land of the free. We’ve done it before—we drove from Chicago to Nashville earlier in the year with Avis, and that worked out just fine. This time we were going further, though—LA to New York, to be precise. National came through with the least extortionate one-way fees, so we went with them.

Big mistake. We arrived at LAX late on a Wednesday night, jetlagged and extra cranky as United had managed to mislay our bag for a whole two hours, and at first we were pleasantly surprised at the ease of the pick up service. We literally signed the contract, and were told to choose a car and drive off. We chose a nice red Chevy and headed off. It wasn’t until we reached the interstate that we noticed it kept pulling to the right, trying to drive us off the road. ]]> londontown 2009-08-19T13:04:37-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/