Auto-safety groups sent in a request for the Federal Trade Commission to make it extremely hard to rent recalled vehicles. Enterprise, National and Alamo are the companies that the FTC complaint comes from. A $ 15 million jury award from earlier within the year is what the petition comes from the FTC.
No policy for renting recalls
Alamo, National and Enterprise Rent-A-Car are owned by Enterprise Holdings which has the policy that recalls may be rented. All recalls that “involve the risk of sudden loss of control, safety restraint failures, or fire hazards” cannot be rented. Customers assured about safety of autos. This means recalled autos may be rented out nevertheless.
Advertising claims in FTC petition
The petition filed with the FTC by the Center for Auto Safety and Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety involved Enterprise’s advertising claims as well. If petitions are of course, then Enterprise could have to stop advertising with “misleading words like ‘well maintained’ and ’safety and reliability”. In 1990, Spending budget Rent-a-Car made an agreement similar to this. Budget had been accused of similar actions, renting out defective autos that had not yet been repaired.
Recall rental lawsuit
In May, Enterprise Rent-A-Car was sued by Carol Houck. Houck was the mother of two young women who were killed in a 2004 accident. The women were driving a rented PT cruiser that had been recalled for power steering issues. Enterprise admitted full liability in that accident, and a jury awarded the family a $ 15 million judgment. According to an Enterprise representative, “Given all we have learned, today we would not rent the car the Houck sisters were driving until it was repaired.”
