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Rental Car Companies Finally Forced to Do Right Thing about Recalled Cars

There’s been an on-and-off battle over recalled rental cars for quite some time, one which has been in and out of the new for at least the last few years. Basically, car rental companies haven’t been doing their best when it comes to pulling recalled cars off the lot or sending them in for the necessary repairs. Obviously this isn’t a good idea, and that’s especially the case when it results in injuries, accidents, or other bad stuff.

Obviously there’s certain rules and regulations that have to be followed, but the basic premise is that rental car companies need to yank recalled cars off their lots as soon as possible. The new legislation requires the companies to stop renting out vehicles no later than 24 hours after getting the official recall notice, but the time period stretches up to 48 hours if the recall affects more than 5,000 cars within their garage.

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Hungry Hungry Hertz Gobbles Up Dollar and Thrifty Rental Car

Big news in the world of rental cars this week, as Hertz is getting ready to gobble up a pair of smaller rental car companies. Hertz is joining forces with Dollar and Thrifty, and by that we mean that they’re taking over ownership of each of them.

Hertz is going to hand over quite a chunk of change, as it sounds like the deal is worth roughly $2.3 billion. As solid as things sound right now there’s always a bit of a chance that the situation could change, since the group responsible for both Dollar and Thrifty has around 30 days to entertain other offers. This means that someone like Avis could cash in their pennies and try to make their own billion dollar buyout proposal.

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As Rental Car Companies Go Green, They Turn on the 'No Smoking' Signs

We know smoking is bad for your health, and we hardly recommend it, but we do kind of feel for those looking to sneak one here and there—especially on vacation. Well it seems that your rental car is just one less place that you can light up, as a couple more rental car companies have shut the ashtray on its renters.

Thrifty and Dollar—they’re kind of the same company anyway—have just completed putting the final sheet of no smoking stickers in its rental car fleet. Other rental car companies like Avis and Budget have done the same thing over the past few months, and now Hertz is really the only car company that offers a smoke-filled rental car experience. The only issue with them is that all you can do is request a car where smoking is allowed, so it’s hardly a guarantee.

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The Largest Car Rental Company in the World Gets Even Bigger

We learned something very important in the wee hours this morning, when the news alert that rental car giant Hertz had purchased its rival, Dollar Rent-a-car. We learned that Dollar is definitely worth more than a dollar; in fact, Hertz paid about 1.8 billion dollars for them. That's a lot of pine tree air fresheners.

Hertz, which was already the largest car rental company in the world before buying Dollar, will not have a stronger international presence and 1,550 additional locations. This means that you will now have 9,800 location options for renting a Hertz car, but it won't necessarily bring cheaper prices. The Hertz-Dollar merger will trim millions of dollars in operating fat, but being the largest car rental company in the world has its advantages, and higher prices is one.

On the other hand, Hertz is ever-so-slowly introducing electric cars into their fold, beginning with the Nissan Leaf, and having this option is something for which we'd pay a little extra.

Related Stories:
· Hertz Agrees to Buy Rival Dollar for $1.28B and stock [NYDN]
· Rental Car news [Jaunted]

[Photo: e.t.]