Enterprise / National / Alamo and Avis / Budget play rental car roulette

try to kill legislation to protect consumers from unsafe rental cars

Had a bad rental car experience?

Know someone hurt by an unsafe rental car? Tell us your story here.

Enterprise Rent-a-Car (also owner of the National and Alamo brands), Avis-Budget, and Dollar-Thrifty are putting their customers' lives at risk by renting out cars that are so unsafe, they are being recalled by the manufacturer. We believe you should not have to worry about your family's safety just because the rental car company neglected to get an unsafe car fixed. To its credit, Hertz agrees with us, and is now working with CARS in Congress to change the law, to require all rental car companies to ground recalled cars until they're fixed.

But --Enterprise-National-Alamo, Avis-Budget, and Dollar-Thrifty disagree. They want to be allowed to keep renting and selling unsafe cars. Especially over major holidays. That's when they may run out of safe cars, and can't meet the increased demand without resorting to cars that are under a recall.

Enterprise rental car that killed Raechel & Jacquie Houck

That's why we're fighting to prevent tragic incidents like the one that resulted in the deaths of Jacqueline and Raechel Houck, ages 20 and 24, who were killed by an unsafe Enterprise rental car -- that was under a safety recall. They were told they were getting an "upgrade." Instead, they were being rented a vehicle that caught on fire and caused their deaths. It also put others who shared the roads in danger.

Please help stop rental car companies from putting lives at risk in vehicles so unsafe, they are being recalled by the manufacturer, under a federal mandate.

How can you guard against unsafe, recalled rental cars?

Don't rely on what the clerk behind the counter tells you. Unfortunately, they have a conflict of interest and may not even know the answer, or may lie.

If you have a smart phone or other device with internet access, get the Vehicle Identification Number of the car the rental car company is offering to rent to you. Go to the manufacturer's website and in the search box, enter "safety recall." Then enter the VIN number to see if there's a pending safety recall, or if the repairs have been completed.

If you don't have access to the internet, ask the clerk to use the company's computer to check the manufacturer's website and print off the report on the car, including the VIN, and hand it to you. Make sure the VIN on the report matches the VIN on the car. It should be on a tag on the dashboard, and also on a sticker on the driver's door jamb.

Take action -- how can you stop rental car roulette?

Protect yourself and your family. Insist on checking the VIN for safety recalls before you sign anything.

If you reserved your car online through an airline or another website -- they have clout with the rental car companies. Comment on the airline's Facebook page that you want them to ensure that their contract with the rental car company prohibits renting cars that are under a safety recall.

Complain on the rental car company's Facebook page about their policies. If they hear from enough of us, they will have to stop trying to kill the safety law, and ground unsafe cars until they're fixed.