Report: ABC News says rental car companies often rent recalled vehicles

Posted: Jul 09, 2010
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In a startling and bone-chilling admission for anyone who has ever rented a car, executives from Enterprise, the world”s largest car rental company, and parent to National and Alamo, admitted in court to having rented out recalled vehicles, before they were serviced.

“When demand called, we rented out recalled vehicles, it happened, I won’t lie,” said Mark Matias, a former Enterprise area manager in San Francisco. “If all you have are recalled vehicles on the lot, you rent them out. It was a given. The whole company did it. Enterprise’s corporate offices look the other way regarding this fact,”

Apparently none of the big rental companies, Enterprise, Avis, or Hertz, have policies which bar the renting out of recalled vehicles. Such situations are handled on a case-by-case basis.

The court case with Enterprise involved a 2004 incident whereby two sisters, 24 and 20, were driving a Chrysler PT Cruiser which they had rented from Enterprise in Santa Cruz California to visit their parents in Ventura County California. The two died instantly after their car caught fire and hit an oncoming semi. The car had been rented out two other times between the recall and the accident.

The parents of the girls turned down a $3 million settlement offer which would have required their silence and prevented them for public out-speak against Enterprise. A jury later awarded them $15 million.

- By: Stephen Calogera

Source: ABC


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  • consumer advocate

    Those parents are to be commended for their perseverance in bringing this sordid tale of Enterprise's greed to the court of public opinion. Perhaps Enterprise will now change their policy of renting recalled cars but I think their needs to be some government regulation to keep them from just returning to their old ways after this firestorm of bad publicity passes

  • Gulsah@Hertz

    Hi, I work for The Hertz Corporation. Many of us at Hertz read the article that was originally posted on ABCNews.com. We are saddened about the outcome and the loss of those sisters. Who would want to rent a car that needs immediate attention and repairs. They also managed to blame on Hertz by saying that we don't have any policy or procedure either. It is not fair to blame other companies when a big name company does wrong! While the article inaccurately generalizes rent-a-car companies, stating they do not have policies or procedures in place for recalls, at Hertz, we in fact, have a clear, long standing company policy to promptly repair all vehicles subject to manufacturer safety recalls. Hertz is constantly in communication with the automobile manufacturers to insure the safety of our customers and we take all necessary steps to expedite the completion of such repairs. Safety recalls, such as the recent Toyota accelerator pedal issue, will result in all vehicles being placed on hold from rental until such time that all necessary repairs are completed. In addition to safety recall notifications, automobile manufacturers often provide customer satisfaction program notices. While such notices are not safety related, Hertz aggressively completes these repairs in a timely manner as they often represent vehicle appearance or comfort features. At Hertz, we err on the side of caution and only continue to rent vehicles if, after careful review, we determine there is no safety risk. As a company, we take manufacturer recalls very seriously and our customers' safety is our top priority.
    Gulsah@Hertz