Here’s one more thing for you to worry about on your next vacation or business trip — car rental companies are apparently not bothering to repair vehicles that have been recalled for safety defects. As reported in the ”Wheels” blog of the New York Times:
“Two consumer safety groups are asking the Federal Trade Commission to order Enterprise Rent-A-Car to start fixing every vehicle with a safety recall before renting them to consumers. The groups say the request highlights the lack of a requirement that rental companies must fix recalled vehicles before renting them.
The request comes about three months after Enterprise admitted in a California court that its failure to fix a Chrysler PT Cruiser was responsible for the deaths of two California women when it caught fire and crashed.”
There is no reason rental companies should be treated differently than car dealers, which are not allowed to sell recalled vehicles without first repairing them. Be careful next time you rent a vehicle, check to see if there’s been a recall on it. You can get that information from SaferCar.gov.
