Hertz Car Rental - The World's Leading Car Rental Company

Added: 01/28/2006

With more than 5,100 locations worldwide, and 1,900 in the United States, the Hertz Corporation is recognized as the largest car rental company in the world. It was started by Walter L. Jacobs in 1918 in Chicago. In 1923, Hertz was acquired by the president of Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing Company, John Hertz, who changed the name of the company to Hertz Drive-Ur-Self System.

Throughout its history, Hertz Car Rental has passed through a variety of owners, like RCA, United Airlines, and General Motors. During the period of 1994-2005, it was a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company until it was acquired by the private equity group consisting of Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity, the Carlyle Group, and Clayton Dubilier & Rice. As a result of its affiliation with Ford, rental fleets of the majority of Hertz location are comprised of Ford and its brands, including Mercury, Lincoln, and Mazda. However, it is quite possible to find Hertz car rentals from such companies as Hyundai, Toyota, General Motors, and Kia.

In the late 1990s, the company introduced its Hertz Neverlost System, featuring screen map directions on a color LCD display, and voice prompting in eleven languages to guide its customers around. The destination guide, based on AAA Tour Books, stored information for the entire territory of the United States and the major part of Canada.

Since its introduction, the system has been exposed to one hardware revision and a number of software revisions. Later, it was transformed to the portable consumer unit known as the Magellan Roadmate GPS Navigation System.

Due to its huge database of restaurants, hotels, business services, tourist attractions, and Hertz Car Rental locations, the Hertz Never Lost unit provides you with information of the top places to visit. In addition, it holds the last ten destinations of a traveler, accessible by touching the screen.

Being the only brand of car navigation system on the market, Hertz Never Lost is available at some Hertz locations in Europe for a daily rate. It fits every Hertz vehicle, and is easy to install and use. So, next time you plan a trip, take advantage of Hertz Never Lost to make most of your vacation. You can book it either by phone, online, or while picking up a car.

In 2000, Hertz Car Rental introduced the Prestige Collection in a number of rental locations, which featured cars from the Ford Premier Automotive Group, and some specific models from Land Rover, Jaguar, and Volvo. At some highly competitive locations, like LAX, certain models from Audi and Mercedes-Benz are available. The company offers a wide range of latest model cars on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis in residential areas, resort locations, business centers, and at airports.

Currently, Hertz Reservation Centers handle more than 40 million phone calls and makes a delivery of 30 million reservations worldwide. It is represented in the United States and nearly 150 foreign countries, providing services from 7,000 locations. With such an extensive network, Hertz car hire is seen by many as the easiest and most convenient way to enjoy leisure or business trip.

As of 2005, the company's wholly owned subsidiaries included Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation, which rents diverse industrial equipment and offers high quality equipment for sale; Hertz Claim Management Corporation, providing services to self insured entities and major corporations; and Hertz Local Edition, specializing in local car rentals for the customers whose cars are out of service, as well as offering insurance replacement.

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