usrentacar.co.uk ® Car Hire USA Blog

Hi all,

Here at U.S. Rent A Car we’re always looking at ways of making your USA car hire not only run more smoothly but also at ways of offering you the best deals around. Today we’re happy to announce the launch of a new product, we’re calling it Silver Plus.

Silver Plus at the moment is only available with our supplier Sixt Rent A Car the German based car rental company who are making a real inroads in the U.S. market. The consolidation of the American market recently which sees the majority of the major brands owed by just 3 companies does leave a great opportunity for someone to put the cat among the pigeons, Sixt are ideally placed to be that cat.

You’ll find the Silver Plus option within our search results for an of the Sixt locations;

What’s included in the Silver Plus

Silver Plus Rates (inclusive)

• Unlimited Mileage.
• Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) which is a combination insurance of both Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) and Theft Waiver. As long as you adhere to the rental policy of the supplier you will not be held responsible for the cost of replacement or repair to your hire vehicle.
• Uninsured Motorist Protection (UMP) up to $1m Liability Cover. Offers an Uninsured/Underinsured/Hit-and-Run Motorist Protection (UMP) that provides the renter and family members travelling together in the rented vehicle with up to $1,000,000 of non-stacked coverage for bodily injury sustained while driving the rental car, and caused by another driver who has no insurance, minimal insurance, or is a hit-and-run driver.
• Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI) up to $1m Liability Cover. All drivers included on the rental agreement will not be held liable for third party claims for bodily injury or property damage resulting from an accident.
• Basic Roadside Assistance
• All Taxes and Airport Fees.
• All Additional Drivers

We feel this is a great addition to our expanding offerings and hope some of you can take advantage of this great offer.

Kind regards,

James

Morning all,

In 2012 the Hertz Dollar Thrifty deal provided me with literally 100′s of posts as the deal, which was became part soap opera, was scrutinised by the FTC. The issue everyone had, including myself,  was that by allowing this deal to go through it would mean that just 3 companies controlled 96% of the market.

What the FTC decided was that Hertz would first have to sell off their low cost brand, Advantage Rent  A Car which they’d purchased the year before, the FTC wanted this brand to be sold off to help kick start another company to compete with the likes of Alamo, Budget and Dollar.

Advantage Rent A Car was sold off to the Franchise Services of North America who own brands such a U-Save and Rent A Wreck. The Hertz Dollar Thrifty deal went through and we all sat back to see what would happen.

What has actually happened is exactly what a lot of people feared. Advantage Rent A Car filled for bankruptcy and it looks like the only option is for someone to purchase them.

Who might buy them?

Back in June, Richard Branson penned a letter enquiring about the option to purchase Advantage Rent  A Car, I would imagine if he was interested we’d see a pretty quick rebrand to Virgin Car Rental. This acquisition makes some sense as it would tie in nicely with their other travel interests.

Sixt Rent A Car the new kids on the U.S. block and could possibly do with some of the key airport locations that Advantage currently have.

Hertz, not sure legally where this stands but I’ve heard a few rumblings that Hertz may have enquired about buying back their brand. As some of the debt that Advantage hold is actually owed to Hertz this might place them in pole position but surely the FTC would block this?

Whatever happens I’m hoping that the Advantage brand lives to fight another day and helps to add more competition in the market place.

Kind regards,

James

Hi all,

If you’ve wondered about the lack of posts recently you can blame the Florida Senate, we felt it best to leave the IDP information top of our blog for at least a couple of weeks to allow customers ample time to read through it.

Today however is back to giving our customers a little look in to the World of USA car hire and Florida’s newest car rental supplier, Sixt Rent A Car. Last week we got a list of Sixt’s top 10 vehicles being rented out in the USA so we thought we’d share.

1. 2012 Hyundai Accent
2. 2012 Hyundai Elantra
3. 2012 Hyundai Sonata
4. 2012 Hyundai Tucson
5. 2012 Toyota Corolla
6. 2012 Volkswagen Jetta
7. 2012 Ford Mustang Convertible
8. Chrysler Town & Country MPV
9. 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe
10. 2012 Mercedes-Benz C250

A cracking insight in to which vehicles are being collected, which would you pick?

regards,

James

Hi all,

As I posted last year, in my opinion the next big USA car rental company could well be Sixt Rent A Car the German based car hire supplier is already well known within Europe and announced recently its plans to build a franchise network within the U.S. to help it build quickly.

Today I received an email confirming that the latest location to be opened by Sixt Rent A Car will service Seattle Airport and be managed by Monique Kennedy. As per most of Sixt’s locations their office will be located off airport and served by shuttle bus,  the bus drops you by the 5th floor, customer service lobby used by all the car rental companies.

The office will be a 24 hour location and can be found here;

SIXT station Seattle-Tacoma Int. Airport SEA

Hi all,

The Hertz buyout of Dollar Rent A Car was one of the major stories of 2012 and  finally reached a climax in November, one of the side stories was the FTC demanding Hertz sell of their value brand Advantage Rent A Car and additional locations.

The buyer’s of Advantage Rent A Car turned out to be the Franchise Services of North America (FSNA) who operate known brands such as U-Save and Rent A Wreck. Yesterday FSNA confirmed that they had completed the deal with the added advantage (excuse the pun) of picking up not the expected 16 Airport locations as originally agreed but also the other 13 locations that the FTC said would be up for grabs.

Thomas P. McDonnell, III,  CEO and chairman of FSNA said,

This is a great day for FSNA, our partner Macquarie Capital, and the more than 600 employees of Advantage Rent A Car. We are all excited to become North America’s fourth largest car rental company, and we look forward to continuing a legacy of great service to our customers, both new and old.

The transition will begin in early 2013 and places a heft full stop in the deal that has taken over 2 years to complete.

It does put an end to the rumours circulating the car rental industry regarding who was going to pick up the additional airport locations, with Sixt Rent A Car‘s name being banded around.

usrentacar.co.uk offers fully inclusive Car Hire USA via the newly created Hertz / Dtag brand from as little as £13.00 per day.

regards,

James

Hi all,

So yesterday we finally received confirmation that Dollar Thrifty is now part of the Hertz family. The deal that seems to have been going on for centuries now means consolidation within the USA car hire industry, leaving only 3 major car rental suppliers from a competitive 4!

The hold up with the deal was due to the FTC’s concerns regarding competition within the market and Hertz were forced to agree to several sales including their value brand, Advantage Rent A Car before the deal could be approved.

Even after these concessions many believe this isn’t enough and a price increase for domestic hire is on the horizon. What’s needed is some competition…. and could a relative newcomer to the USA market be the answer!?

Sixt Rent A Car entered the USA market quietly in 2011 offering low cost car hire from strategic locations such as Miami and Orlando. Whilst at the World Travel Market I had the pleasure of speaking with some of the Sixt management team who were all very excited and happy with their progress within the U.S., I asked them about future expansion and the possibility of buying an established company in U.S., their concern was picking up a brand with bad car rental habits, they cited expansion could come through franchises.

So I was not surprised to read that on Monday, Sixt put out a call for franchisees! More than 100 potential franchisees  expressed an interest!

So could Sixt be the company that helps keep the market competitive, lets hope so….?

regards,

James

Hi all,

Sixt Rent A Car are currently striving to become the fastest growing USA car hire brand out there, hence why they took the very sane decision to link up with the UK’s largest USA car hire specialist!

Last week Sixt opened another new office within one of the USA’s most popular states, Arizona. Sixt joins Alamo, Budget and Dollar by now offering low cost car hire from the car rental centre serving Phoenix International Airport.

Brian Hughes has taken responsibility for the management of the new office which runs  24 hour a day, Monday to Sunday and offers the usual high level of service and unique fleet that we’ve come to expect from the German founded car rental company.

How to find them

From the airport

The Sixt branch is located in the Rental Car Center, 1805 East Sky Harbor Circle South. Please follow the signs for the Rental Car Center through the airport to the facility.

From the north:

Take I-10 East. Use the Washington/Jefferson St. Exit 148. Go south (straight) on the frontage road to Sky Harbor Circle North and turn right. Follow that street around toward Buckeye Road to Sky Harbor Circle South. Follow the signs to the facility.

From the south:

Take I-10 West. Use the Buckeye Road Exit 149 and turn left on Buckeye Road. Take Buckeye Road to Sky Harbor Circle South (past 16th Street) and turn left. There is a double left turn lane there.

Remember; the Sixt Rent A Car introductory promo code “Sixt10″ still gets you £10.00 off per week until the 31/10/12.

regards,

James

Hi all,

This week saw us launch our new partnership with Sixt Rent A Car from some key locations for your Florida car hire. One of the more attractive things about Sixt is their diverse fleet, we’ve been able to add some vehicle categories that before hand we haven’t been able to supply before, today’s post is to highlight a few of them.

We’ll start with the sexy vehicles first

Premium Convertible (BMW Z4 Roadster – Mercedes-Benz- SLK – BMW Series 1 or similar)

Special Sports Utility Vehicle (Mercedes-Benz M-Class – BMW X5 – Cadillac Escalade or similar)

Intermediate Convertible (VW Eos or similar)

6 Seater Minivan (Ford Flex or similar)

As you can see some great new vehicle categories available with Sixt Rent A Car.

Are there any vehicles you’d like to see us add?

regards,

James

Hi all,

Yesterday we announced the launch of our new partnership with Sixt Rent A Car, with Sixt being relatively new to the USA car hire market I thought it might be a good idea to let you guys know how they work out of Orlando International Airport.

Collection

Sixt Rent A Car are situated off airport, they offer a free regular shuttle bus service from Level 1 at MCO. If arriving in Terminal A, their pick up locations are bus stops A11-A13 and A33-A35. If arriving in Terminal B, their pick up locations are bus tops B11-B13 and B35-B37. The shuttle ride is appropriately 5 mins.

Sixt offer a pre-registration service to speed up collection. At Orlando International Airport if you provide your mobile phone number during the pre-registration process when you arrive, Sixt will send a text message to welcome you and arrange the free shuttle bus. During peak periods Sixt will provide  a dedicated counter to make the check in quick and easy.

Return information

A free non-stop shuttle service to the airport. From the Sixt Orlando branch is located approximately 5 min bus ride from the Airport, address: 7855 N Frontage Road, 32812 Orlando, FL. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to the time you want like to be at your terminal.

Car rental return: Your way to Sixt from the East

Take Interstate 95 to SR 528 (Beachline Expressway). Take SR 528 (Beachline Expressway) West to SR 436 (Exit 11A). ). Take SR 436 (Semoran Blvd) North to the first stop light. TGI Fridays will be located on the left hand side. Turn left at the stop light unto N Frontage Road. Travel 0,5 mile until you see the Sixt signs on the hand side of the road.

Car rental return: Your way to Sixt from the Florida Turnpike

Take SR 528 (Beachline Expressway) East from the Turnpike to SR 436 (Exit 11A). ). Take SR 436 (Semoran Blvd) North to the first stop light. TGI Fridays will be located on the left hand side. Turn left at the stop light unto N Frontage Road. Travel 0,5 mile until you see the Sixt signs on the left side of the road.

Vehicle Types Available Locally

Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Expedition, Ford Explorer, Ford Flex, Ford Mustang, Hyundai Accent, Hyundai Genesis, Jeep Liberty, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Mercedes-Benz E-class, Mercedes-Benz GLK, Mercedes-Benz M-Class, Mercedes-Benz SLK, Nissan Versa, Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Sienna, VW Eos, Volvo XC90. Please note this is just a guide and we cannot guarantee make or model.

Sixt’s Orlando location is open 24 hours a day and can be contact locally by calling 001-888-9417498.

Remember at present we are offering an introductory £10.00 off per week using the promo code Sixt10, this offer expires 31/10/12.

Have you used Sixt yet, what did you think?

regards,

James,

Hi all,

I’m delighted to announce that today we have added Sixt Rent A Car to our list of USA car hire suppliers. 

Sixt Rent A Car, founded in 1912 has been a main stay of European car rental for a 100 years and we are now delighted to be able to offer them at key pick up points in America including Miami, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.

Sixt, not only bring with them great customer services but also a diverse fleet including BMW’s, Camaro’s and Mercedes. As with all our suppliers, Sixt rentals include the very highest level of insurance including CDW, SLI and UMP, for more details check out our What’s Included page, they also include one additional driver within our silver rate and have opted in to our young drivers under 25 Florida car hire option.

Sixt operate a shuttle bus service from each of their Florida locations and offer a pre registration service to speed up collection. At select locations if you provide your mobile phone number during the pre-registration process when you arrive, Sixt will send a text message to welcome you and arrange the Free shuttle bus. During peak periods Sixt will provide  a dedicated counter to make the check in quick and easy.

As an introductory offer Sixt are offering £10.00 off per week for new bookings  using the promo code Sixt10.

So what are you waiting for, don’t delay, book today….!

regards,

James