Tag: companies

Report: Rental companies drag heels repairing recalled cars

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety

General Motors and Chrysler have informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that cars sold to rental companies aren’t getting repairs done on recall for months at a time. NHTSA then started monitoring three million units from the two manufacturers in rental fleets to see how long they went unrepaired.

One month after a recall, NHTSA says that between 10 and 30 percent of cars had been repaired. By 90 days, the average was just 30 percent. According to the administration, it takes a year or more for rental companies to get more than 50 percent of their cars repaired.

According to The Detroit News, there aren’t any laws on the books that say a rental company has to get a car repaired before it rents it to a customer. What’s more, hundreds of recall notices go out a year, and rental cars move around a lot, making it difficult to nail them down for repairs.

According to Bob Barton, president of the American Car Rental Association, most companies place a hold on models that have been recalled, preventing them from being rented until repairs are made. The hitch, according to Barton, is that it can take months for the company to realize a recall has been issued.

NHTSA says its investigation is ongoing, and the administration noted a statement that dealerships aren’t allowed to sell a recalled vehicle until repairs have been made. That said, NHTSA also doesn’t have the authority to legally require that customers – including rental companies – have recall repairs made.

[Source: The Detroit News | Image: Hertz Rent-a-Car]

Report: Rental companies drag heels repairing recalled cars originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Report: Rental companies drag heels repairing recalled cars”

AP: Seven insurance companies sue Toyota over unintended acceleration-related claims

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Toyota, Earnings/Financials

unhappy Toyota windshield sticker

Can’t say we didn’t see this one coming… According to the Associated Press, seven insurance companies* are suing Toyota in California court for damages in excess of $230,000. We suspect that figure could rise, as it’s derived from just 14 of the alleged 725 total accidents the insurers claim Toyota is at least partially at fault for.

The suit reportedly alleges that Toyota is at fault for accidents blamed on unintended acceleration because the Japanese automaker failed to equip its vehicles with a brake override system that would electronically force the engine to return to idle if both the accelerator and brake pedals were pressed at the same time. After the recall hubbub first began, Toyota announced that all of its future models will come with this technology.

For its part, a Toyota spokesperson unsurprisingly responded that “any allegation that a vehicle-based defect is the cause of unintended acceleration in this or any other complaint is completely unfounded and has no basis.” In December of 2010, Toyota agreed to settle a high-profile case in California regarding unintended acceleration in a Toyota Camry for $10 million, though it never admitted any wrongdoing. Four people were killed in that accident.

In October of 2010, Allstate filed suit against Toyota seeking $3 million in compensation as a result of 270 claims of sudden acceleration.

*The seven insurance companies bringing forth this suit are: American Automobile Insurance Co., Fireman’s Fund Insurance, National Surety Corp., Ameriprise Insurance, IDS Property Casualty Insurance, Motorists Mutual Insurance and American Hardware Mutual Insurance.

[Source: Associated Press via AOL Autos | Image: David McNew/Getty]

AP: Seven insurance companies sue Toyota over unintended acceleration-related claims originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 15:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “AP: Seven insurance companies sue Toyota over unintended acceleration-related claims”

Study: Rental car companies increase customer satisfaction, Enterprise tops

Filed under: Etc.

Enterprise Rent-a-Car

Economists and talking heads argue endlessly about our economy on a daily basis. “It’s back!,” “It’s almost back!” and “It’s never coming back!” seem to be the leaders among the varied viewpoints we hear and read about. One sector that has apparently begun to rebound is the car rental business. Not necessarily in financial terms, but from the standpoint of customer satisfaction, America’s rental car companies are returning to to a position last seen in the pre-recession days.

J.D. Power has released its annual North American Rental Car Satisfaction Study, and the results are positive for every company included in the survey. Now in its 15th year, this J.D. Power study examines customer satisfaction with the airport car rental process, and it looks at six specific factors: Costs & Fees, Pick-Up Process, Rental Car, Return Process, Reservation Process, and Shuttle Bus/Van. The highest score possible is 1,000 points and, for the 2010 study, the average Overall Satisfaction score is 750. This is up from 733 in 2009 and 734 in 2008. Every company in the survey has improved year-over-year in the survey.

This year’s big winner, however, is Enterprise, which received the industry’s highest rankings in customer satisfaction. Enterprise is no stranger to this award, and getting the nod in 2010 makes it seven years in a row for the rental car company. Following behind Enterprise, Hertz and National also performed quite well in the survey while Advantage, Alamo, Avis, Dollar and Thrifty rounded out the results. You can see how each one performed over at the J.D. Power results page.

[Source: J.D. Power]

Continue reading Study: Rental car companies increase customer satisfaction, Enterprise tops

Study: Rental car companies increase customer satisfaction, Enterprise tops originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 25 Nov 2010 11:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Study: Rental car companies increase customer satisfaction, Enterprise tops”