Rental of car , rental car , or car rental agent is a company that leases cars for a short period of time, typically ranging from several hours to several weeks. It is often organized with many local branches (allowing users to return the vehicle to a different location), and is mainly located near the busy airport or city area and is often equipped with a website that allows online reservations.
Car rental agencies primarily serve people in need of temporary vehicles, for example, those without own cars, out-of-town travelers, or damaged or destroyed vehicle owners waiting for repair or insurance compensation. Car rental agencies can also serve the needs of self-propelled industries, by hiring a van or truck, and in certain markets, other types of vehicles such as motorcycles or scooters can also be offered.
Along with the basic leasing of vehicles, car rental agencies usually also offer additional products such as insurance, navigation systems, global positioning systems (GPS), entertainment systems, cell phones, portable WiFi, and child safety chairs.
Video Car rental
History
The earliest car samples were offered for the lease date to 1906. The German company Sixt was founded in 1912 with three cars for rent
Joe Saunders of Omaha, Nebraska first started out by borrowing only one Model T Ford in 1916, but in 1917, his Livery Company leased 18 Model Ts at 10 cents per mile. The company name becomes Saunders Drive-It-Yourself System and then Saunders System . By 1926, Saunders had grown to 56 cities. Saunders' company was bought by Avis in 1955.
Saunders' early competitor was Walter L. Jacobs, whose Chicago-based rental car opened in 1918 with twelve Ford Model T. The company was purchased in 1923 by John Hertz.
In Britain, car rentals started with Godfrey Davis, founded in 1920, and purchased by Europcar in 1981.
This sector is growing rapidly in the US; in 1926, the American Driveurself Association raised more than 1200 delegates in Chicago.
Growth in the journey after World War II led to the formation of several well-known international companies, including National Car Rental (1947), Europcar (1949), Rent-A-Car Enterprise (1957), Thrifty Rent A Car (1958), and Budget Car Rental (1958).
Maps Car rental
Business model
Car rental companies operate by buying or renting a number of fleet vehicles and leasing them to their customers for a fee. Fleet rentals can be structured in several ways - they can be directly owned (this is known as 'risky vehicles' because car rental operators take risks on how many vehicles will be sold when removed from the service), they can be leased, or they can be owned under the program a guaranteed repurchase is arranged directly through the manufacturer or manufacturer of the finances (this is known as the 'buyback of the vehicle' because the manufacturer outlines the exact price of the original sale and the repurchase at the end of the specified term).
In the UK, the registration of a rental car may be hidden by using unknown initials or subsidiaries, which may increase resale value through third party manufacturers or dealers. In North America, it is customary to see rental companies with their own used car dealerships where the stock of rent is sold directly to the public. Alternatively, auctions are often used in the United States and with the advent of digital platforms, rental cars increasingly sell vehicles directly to new and used car dealerships through the auction channel.
Type of vehicle
Most car rental offices offer a variety of vehicle sizes to meet various budgets and space requirements and some offer additional special vehicles to customize their locations such as convertible, prestigious models, hybrid/electric vehicles, or SUVs and passenger vans. At major airports or in big cities, some independent car rental agencies offer luxury vehicles for rent. Some special companies offer older vehicles at lower prices.
To allow for uniform classification and easy comparison of car rental rates, the Association of Car Rental and Standard Industry Systems (ACRISS) has developed ACRISS Car Classification Code system. This explains the size, number of doors, type of gearbox (manual/automatic), and whether the car is air-conditioned, encoded into four letters. The first letter in the Acriss Code represents the general classification of the vehicle (eg Mini, Economy, Compact, etc.). The second letter specifies the variant of the vehicle offered (eg 4 Doors, Property, Convertible, SUV etc.). The third letter is generally used to determine the type of transmission, although it can also be used to describe how many wheels drive the vehicle, and the fourth letter describes the type of fuel and whether the vehicle has AC or not.
An additional classification based on seat number and baggage volume is also established by the Belgian Car Rental Association to provide an integrated system for assessing the type of car in the online reservation system and the airline's global distribution system.
Rental terms
Car rental is subject to many conditions that vary from country to country and from one company to another. Generally the vehicle must be returned in the same condition as it was rented, and often should not exceed the mileage limit, otherwise additional costs may be incurred.
For insurance reasons, some companies set minimum and/or maximum lease age. In some cases, the minimum age for rentals can reach 25, even in countries where the legal minimum age for having a SIM is much lower, ie. 14,15,16 or 17 in the United States. Not infrequently there is an additional charge for young drivers for all drivers under the age of 25 years.
In all cases, a legitimate driver's license is required to rent a vehicle, and some countries require International Driving License (IDP).
The majority of car rental companies require the use of a credit card to charge additional fees if damages are found on the car on return or for toll roads, motor-related fines, or lost fuels. In lieu of credit cards, some companies require a large cash deposit. Some companies allow debit cards for deposits, usually with return trip ticket tokens, e.g. plane tickets, buses, or trains.
Insurance/waivers Insurance/lightness
Although often not explicitly stated, US car rental companies are required by the laws of their respective countries to provide minimum liability coverage, except in California and Arizona, where the driver is fully responsible. This includes fees to third parties in the event of an accident. In most states, it is illegal to drive cars without liability coverage. Car rental companies maintain liability insurance for their vehicles; However, some companies will charge for this, you should not give your own insurance. For example, in Maryland, the minimum level of accountability is $ 20,000 for bodily injury and $ 15,000 for property damage.
Typically, when renting a car, it offers various forms of additional insurance and/or waiver of damages as an optional additional at an additional cost. There are several types of coverage:
- Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) - bears the cost of damage to the rental vehicle, to the full value of the vehicle, in the event of an accident. LDW typically includes 100% of the cost with no deductible additional cost. Note that LDW/CDW coverage is not insurance and does not offer the same coverage product as a damage insurance policy.
- Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) - Generally bear the cost of damage caused by a moving accident. As the name suggests, non-crash-based damage is often not covered. In many cases, in the event of an accident, fees or deductibles apply.
- Additional liability insurance (SLI) - a product often sold in the US that provides protection in case of an accident causing bodily harm or property damage to anyone other than tenants and passengers.
- Personal Accident Insurance (PAI) - covers medical and death costs due to accidents for tenants and passengers in the event of an accident during the rental.
- Personal Effects Coverage (PEC) - guarantees the risk of loss or damage to the personal property of the tenant (and sometimes the family member of the lessee while traveling by the lessee) during the rental period.
- Excess Insurance - Negligence of collision damage, Thieves and Third Party Liability is often included in car rental rates in Europe, Africa and Australasia. There is almost always an edge on this (also called Super CDW, Non-Waiver, or Deductible), which involves a certain amount of money a customer must pay in case of damage, to prevent the driver making small claims. The higher excess usually leads to lower upfront insurance costs for the customer, but if the damage happens to cost less than the excess to fix, then there is little incentive for the customer to claim, benefit the insurance company. Excess insurance (also known as excess deduction, or waiver of liability for damages) is a secondary insurance covering the excess charge in the event of a claim. Car rental companies in Europe, South America and Australasia will generally offer this protection as a secondary insurance option, although third-party insurers also sell over-coverage for rental cars, which may offer greater protection than standard coverage.
In the US, the sale of this additional insurance/override product may be regulated by each state insurance department, and a special limited license may be required by the rental company to sell it. The specific range offered can vary substantially depending on the country or country where the car is rented.
See also
- Consolidated rental car facility
- Carharing
- Waiver of damage
Notes and references
Bibliography
- Harris Saunders, Up or down?: The origin and development of rental and car and truck rental and rental industries - since 1916 , 1985
External links
- Media related to Vehicle Rentals in Wikimedia Commons
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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