Rental firms take steps to ensure car hire safety

Renting a car for a family road trip, during a holiday, on business trips or when one’s personal vehicle is in the garage are all very common reasons to hire an automobile in the United States. Yet major rental firms have found that car rentals are, unfortunately, popular with people who use them while engaging in potentially illegal activity. As such, all rental firms take several precautionary steps to protect their cars and their corporate reputation during a rental. This is especially important as police in various American jurisdictions have pointed out on numerous occasions that it is not uncommon for criminals to use rental cars when engaging in the trafficking of controlled substances, mainly because car hires are seen to offer a degree of anonymity and police have a much more difficult time of tracking down the driver. Another reason why those engaging in the trafficking of controlled substances tend to favour car rentals, is that if they are caught, they would prefer someone else’s car to be confiscated, rather than their own. The Chattanooga Police Department has found that in recent years, an increasing number of felons have turned to renting cars, in order to evade authorities.

In order to avoid being victims, car hire firms are now taking extra precautions, many of which may affect anyone who decides to rent a car. For example, Lisa Martini, a spokesperson for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, reminded journalists that all those who hire vehicles are required to produce a valid driver’s license at the time of pick-up, as well as a credit card. This helps to greatly reduce the number of car rentals used for illegal activity. In fact, Martini pointed out that cars that are ultimately used to commit felonies represent a “tiny fraction” of all car hires. Enterprise agents are also trained to “facially” verify a renter’s true identity, by taking a close look at the photograph on their license. Although this type of verification is hardly one hundred percent accurate and cannot possibly screen out all clients who may wish to use their rentals for illegal purposes, Martini noted that it would not be practical to actually perform a background check on all renters, as this would consume a significant amount of time, as well as resources.

www.enterprise.com