Car Rental Firms Oppose NHTSA Study

The US’s 3 main car hire firms have joined together to oppose a new legislation that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has proposed to end the renting of recalled vehicles. These car rental firms include: Hertz Corporation (Hertz Car Rental and Advantage Rent a Car), Avis Budget Group (Avis Car Rental and Budget Car Rental) and Enterprise Holdings (Enterprise Rent A Car, Alamo Rent A Car and National Car Rental).

Under the proposal, the Safe Rental Car Act, car hire companies would be banned from leasing a car to a paying customer if it has been subject to a recall issued by the manufacturer and not yet repaired. There are no laws against this right now, although there are laws forbidding the sale of recalled cars. Car rental firms are opposing the act because they believe it’s being based on inaccurate evidence.

In a recent study conducted by the NHTSA, which was recently released, the agency surveyed 10 General Motors and Chrysler recalls between June 2006 and July 2010. They found that, after 90 days of the recall being issued, Hertz only fixed 34% of the cars in their fleet, while Avis Budget Group only repaired 53% of theirs. Enterprise had the best repair average at 65%.

Despite not fixing all the recalled vehicles, the firms continued renting out their entire fleet. Senator Charles Schumer brought major attention to the findings last week, saying that it was appalling that safety regulations don’t extend to rental companies.

However, the car rental firms say in a letter to the NHTSA that the information doesn’t accurately reflect the performance of their companies, as it isn’t’ up-to-date. Because of this, they recommend that the regulations be reconsidered. However, the letter doesn’t directly address the fact that they rent out recalled cars.