usrentacar.co.uk ® Car Hire USA Blog

Hi all,

Apologies for the lack of posts recently I’ve been helping test out some new features we are going to add to usrentacar.co.uk, the first will hopefully be ready to launch next week and looks very promising.

Today’s post is about understanding your USA car rental agreement before you collect your vehicle.

Upon arrival in the U.S. you will be required to sign a rental agreement, this agreement is the contract between yourself (driver) and the car rental supplier (Alamo, Budget, Dollar etc). This is a legally binding contract and should be treated as such. We recommend you fully read and understand this document before signing it. Here are some items to look out for;

1. Rental Agreement No.

Designated by the Rental Agreement number, the rental agreement must be completed at the rental pick up location and should be carried with you in case you are required to prove you are legally in posession of the vehicle.

2. Car Serial Number

Designates the vehicle rented on the rental contract.

3. Rental Date, Time, Office

Shows the date, time, and rental station to return the vehicle, in which the vehicle was rented.

4. Return Date, Time, City

Shows the requested date, time, and rental station to return the vehicle without incurring any additional charges.

5. Allowable Drivers

Lists the drivers who are authorised to drive the vehicle. Extra drivers may be added at the time of rental and in some cases aftecolection. Additional charges may apply for additional drivers or underage drivers.

6. Additional Options/Other Information

Lists the additional options that may have been selected, such as, an upgrade of car, personal protection options, fuel options, etc.

7. Charges

Lists the itemisation of charges associated with the rental. As our rentals are pre-paid all the insurances we include (What’s Included) will be listed as $0.00, any additional charges will be noted here and should be queried if you do not recognise them.

The lead name on the confirmed reservation (the primary renter) must be the person whose credit card is used to pay any charges.

8. Rental Signatures

Confirms the terms of the rental agreement by all persons listed on the rental agreement.

example Alamo rental agreement:

 The rental agreement is very important and you should not feel rushed or pressured to be quick if you are at the head of a long queue; remember the queue is there problem not yours.

regards,

James

Hi all,

When Dollar Rent A Car decided not to take the Hertz offer and enter in to advanced talks with Budget Rent A Car the stumbling block would always be proving to anti trust regulators that the consumer would be the winner, here is the latest joint statement from Avis/Budget and DTAG (Dollar /Thrifty)

As previously reported, following the termination of Dollar Thrifty’s merger agreement with Hertz Global Holdings Inc., Dollar Thrifty and Avis Budget have been cooperating to pursue antitrust regulatory clearance of a potential acquisition of Dollar Thrifty’s common stock by Avis Budget.

During this period, Avis Budget and Dollar Thrifty have presented to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) a jointly held view that the potential transaction would not reduce competition in the rental car industry. Each believes that intense competition from Enterprise/Alamo/National and Hertz/Advantage, as well as numerous smaller brands, would continue after the proposed transaction. In addition, Avis Budget has expressed the view that a merger with Dollar Thrifty would result in significant cost savings and other operational efficiencies. These synergies and the increased ability of the combined company to compete against other competitors in the marketplace will benefit all rental car consumers, particularly Dollar Thrifty’s core leisure customers.

Avis Budget and Dollar Thrifty believe substantial progress has been made in the discussions with the FTC on these issues, but the FTC’s position with respect to the competitive issues remains uncertain. The two companies have produced millions of pages of documents and provided vast amounts of data to the FTC regarding the car rental industry and their respective businesses as part of a “Second Request” review process. Avis Budget and Dollar Thrifty each have notified the FTC of their intention to certify substantial compliance with the Second Requests on a timetable that would require an official decision from the FTC by the end of March or early April.

As the FTC review process continues, Avis Budget and Dollar Thrifty remain focused on building their individual businesses to drive continued growth and maximize value for shareholders. Dollar Thrifty and Avis Budget reiterate that they have no agreement with respect to any merger or other business combination, and that there can be no assurance that any such transaction (or the terms thereof) can be agreed upon.

Do you think this joint merger will benefit the consumer?

I will of course keep you updated as more information becomes available.

regards,

James

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The battle for ownership of Dollar Rent A Car took another turn last night as Avis Budget returned with an improved offer. Back in August I blogged about how Dollar had declined Budgets initial advances and how Hertz looked favourite to purchase Dollar.

However Budget has returned with an improved offer of around $1.36 Billion for the Tulsa based car rental giant. The cash portion of the Avis offer for Dollar Thrifty has been raised from $39.25 to $40.75 per share.

“We are confident that the Dollar Thrifty shareholders will prefer the premium Avis Budget offer to the Hertz offer,” Avis Budget stated.

The improved offer may still be shunned due to the opposition the deal might encounter via antitrust regulations.

Dollar Thrifty shareholders are due to attend a special meeting on September 16 to consider the Hertz offer.

“In the event that the Hertz transaction is rejected by the special meeting, we will commit to sign the merger agreement we previously delivered to Dollar Thrifty at any time within five days of that meeting,” Avis Budget said.

It’s clear that whoever completes the deal will have increased their market share and obtained the only USA Car Rental supplier to make a profit in 2009.

Will keep you all posted.

Regards,

James

Hi all,

I reported last week about the Budget Avis Group making a counter offer for Dollar Thrifty, the offer they made was more than the orginal offer made by Hertz. However last night the offer was rejected by Dollar Thrifty in favour of the lesser Hertz offer.

The reason behind this from the Hertz point of view is that they believe their offer will have less objections from regulators due to the fact that their presence on airport is less than Avis Budget.

However from what I understand Dollar Thrifty are concerned that Avis Budget are not willing to enter in to a “reverse termination fee” where if Avis Budget were unable to or pulled out of the deal, Dollar Thrifty would be compensated. Hertz have agreed to this clause.

From what I have read, if Avis Budget agree to this addition the deal could be on.

I wait for the next instalment of the latest car hire soap opera.

Regards,

James,

U.S. Rent A Car.co.uk

Last night the Avis Budget Group entered in to the bidding for Dollar Thrifty, with a whooping bid of$ 1.33 Billion, this trumps the earlier Hertz bid of $1.17 Billion.

A letter sent to Dollar Thrifty’s top bosses from Avis Budget’s group chairman and CEO Ronald Nelson stated: “We are prepared to put forward an offer today for Dollar Thrifty that clearly constitutes a superior proposal under that [Hertz] merger agreement.”

He continued: “We are prepared to enter into a merger agreement that contains substantially the same terms as the Hertz merger agreement, but which includes removing the matching rights, eliminating the break-up fees, and increasing the commitment to secure antitrust approvals.

“In short, we believe that the higher purchase price we are offering, combined with the terms of our proposed merger agreement, makes our offer a superior one from the perspective of Dollar Thrifty and its shareholders.”

Whomever manages to purchase Dollar Thrifty will decrease the huge advantage Enterprise owned Alamo Rent A Car have on the U.S. market at present.

For those clever bosses at Dollar Thrifty who took shares in the company rather than performance related bonuses must be very happy at the moment.

Who would you rather see take over at Dollar Thrifty?

Hi All,

Today I received this email regarding the Thrifty Car Rental Product.

“Please be advised that Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group is removing Thrifty from distribution channels as of 28^th February 2009.

The Thrifty product is to be removed from sale, and will be reviewed for the next 3-6 months. It is envisaged but not confirmed that the Thrifty product will be re-introduced into an alternative position at that time.

Should Thrifty be re-introduced it will be with new terms and conditions.

Thrifty may be booked up to and including the 28^th February 2009 for pickups up to and including the 31^st March 2010. Any reservations already made will be honoured and invoiced as usual.

For the sake of clarity we would like to state that there is no change or intended change to the service or terms and conditions of the Dollar product.

We will keep you updated as to any news relating to this information.”

It is a real shame that we are no longer able to sell this product, as above this does not effect any existing bookings or any bookings made by the 28th.

To prevent any errors we will be removing the Thrifty product on Friday, however bookings can be made up until the 28th via our reservations department on 0845 226 8523.

Is there an alternative supplier you would like us to open negotiations with? What are your thoughts on Thrifty?

Regards,

?

Gavin

Car rental company Dollar/Thrifty Automotive Group Inc??has agreed to source a portion of its annual vehicle purchases from Ford Motors ?until August 2012 as part of an agreement.

The agreement will allow access to a broader array of products, such as long wheel based vans, and also supplementing its supply deal with Chrysler LLC.?

Dollar/Thrifty confirmed purchases will begin with the 2009 model’s.

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Since last year, the three U.S. automakers — in an effort to return to sustainable profitability — decided to cut back on fleet sales to the rental chains. Selling the cars en masse at reduced prices had undercut their value.

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Rental operators like Dollar Thrifty, Avis Budget Group Inc? and Hertz Global Holdings Inc?have also been trying to cut their fleet size or keep it in service for a longer period to trim costs and offset the?dip in rental demand.

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Dollar Thrifty said its agreement with Chrysler, which remains in effect through the 2011 model year, requires it to buy at least 75 percent of its vehicles from Chrysler to obtain certain volume incentive payments.

Interesting deal from a consumer point of view, is there a particular Ford Model you’d like to rent? A Mustang perhaps?