Wyoming rental firms lack vehicles due to storm

A strong winter snow and ice storm that hit parts of Wyoming over the course of the weekend has left its mark on towns such as Casper, where customers looking to rent cars as late as Tuesday afternoon found themselves out of luck. Due to a much higher than average accident rate on roads located in areas affected by the storm, local residents turned to car hire companies like Enterprise in large numbers in order to rent cars. According to Dustin Hayes, who manages Enterprise’s operations in the region, local outlets rented 60 cars over the course of three days. Although the storm had subsided by the end of the weekend, the vast majority of these rentals were requested on Monday and Tuesday, as clients who were involved in accidents had to wait until their claims were processed by insurance companies. One location in Casper—on South Forest Drive—did not have a single available vehicle by Tuesday afternoon, while at others, clients had to register for a waiting list, which already contained over 20 names of people wishing to hire a car. In order to help at least partially solve the problem, Enterprise has already ordered cars to be brought in from North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Montana.

Slippery roads, high winds and poor visibility combined to produce conditions not at all conducive to driving in the area. According to local police records, there were over 40 accidents in this town alone during the weekend.

Smaller, local car rental firms were also out of cars in the area, including Price King Rent-A-Car, but in this case the outlet’s manager noted that the severe storm coupled with the usual pre-holiday rush depleted the company’s fleet of rental cars. Those still looking to find a rental in the area should visit the Natrona County International Airport, where Budget is said to still have a significant number of available cars.

www.enterprise.com