Auto officials say recalled rental cars go unrepaired for months

Rental Cars

We’ve reported on the matter before and it seems like not much has changed since the last time we covered this. Two U.S. automakers told federal regulators that tens of thousands of recalled rental cars still go unrepaired for months or longer. In Nov., the NHTSA said it was looking at close to 3 million recalled vehicles from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler that were sold to rental car companies to see how quickly they are fixed.

GM and Chrysler said this week that 30 days after a recall – 10 to 30 percent of vehicles sold to rental car companies had been repaired. After 90 days, the figure had improved to about 30 percent and improved to 50 percent or higher within a year.

Ford said it would not make its data public saying that the release of the information could hurt its relationship with rental companies resulting in “decreased sales of motor vehicles to rental car fleets.”

Apparently, rental car companies are not legally required to complete recalls before they rent vehicles to customers.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Detroit News