Auto-safety groups sent in a request for the Federal Trade Commission to make it difficult to rent recalled autos. The FTC complaint involved the companies Enterprise, National and Alamo. The petition to the FTC follows a $ 15 million jury award from earlier this year.
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. Vehicles checked for safety by Enterprise. This policy, however, allows for some recalled cars to be rented out without repair or notification.
Enterprise’s advertising was in the petition filed to the FTC by the Center for Auto Safety and Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety. If petitions are of course, then Enterprise could have to stop advertising with “misleading words like ‘well maintained’ and ’safety and reliability”. Budget Rent-a-Car in 1990 had an agreement they had to make like this once too. Budget had been accused of comparable actions, renting out defective automobiles that had not yet been repaired.
Recall rental lawsuit
May was when Enterprise Rent-A-Car was sued by Carol Houck. A 2004 accident happened killing two daughters of Houck. The PT cruiser the women drove was recalled because of power steering. Enterprise admitted full liability in that accident, and a jury awarded the family a $ 15 million judgment. Representatives of Enterprise said that “Given all we have learned, today we would not rent the vehicle the Houck sisters were driving until it was repaired.”
