| The Hertz Corporation (aka Hertz Rent A Car or simply Hertz) is the world's largest car rental company, with 1,900 rental locations in the United States and 5,100 worldwide.
Hertz also maintains a heavy equipment rental division known as the Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation, aka HERC. It is headquartered in Park Ridge, New Jersey. HERC has nearly 300 branches throughout the United States and Canada.
The company was begun by Walter L. Jacobs in 1918, who started a car rental operation in Chicago with a dozen Model Ts. In 1923, Jacobs sold it to John D. Hertz, president of Yellow Cab and Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing Company, who renamed it the "Hertz Drive-Ur-Self System".
The company has passed through a number of hands, including General Motors, RCA, and United Airlines. As a public company, Hertz was traded on the NYSE under the symbol HRZ until the purchase of outstanding stock by Ford Motor Company.
From 1994 to 2005 it was a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company. On June 13, 2005, Ford issued a notice that Hertz would be spun off in an initial public offering. On September 13, 2005 it was announced it was to be sold to a private equity group (composed of Clayton Dubilier & Rice, The Carlyle Group and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity) for $15 billion in cash and debt acquisition. The sale was completed on December 22, 2005.
Because of its past affiliation with Ford, the rental fleets of most Hertz locations consist of Ford and Ford brands such as Mazda, Mercury and Lincoln. It is not uncommon, however, to find Hertz rental cars from non-Ford companies such as Toyota, Hyundai, Kia and General Motors.
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Car Hire Companies...
• Alamo
• Auto Europe
• Avis
• Budget
• Dollar
• Enterprise
• Europcar
• Hertz
• National
• Thrifty
Related Sites:
Hertz UK
Hertz Worldwide |
