Renting hybrids

Rental-car firms add hybrids to offerings
By JON CHAVEZ
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER

Bemoaning the cost of gas for your next road trip?

Several rental-car companies are trying to ease travelers’ pain at the pump by offering hybrid vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius, as an option.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car has nearly 5,000 hybrids nationwide, including Priuses and Ford Escapes, and its sister companies, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car, also offer hybrids.

Avis Rent A Car and Budget Rent A Car offer Prius as well as Nissan Altima and Ford Escape hybrids. Hertz Corp. has nearly 4,000 hybrids, mostly Priuses.

“We believe there is a high degree of interest in them from our customers,” said Ned Maniscalco, a spokesman for Enterprise, which is based in St. Louis. Enterprise also offers a variety of vehicles than can use gasoline with high ethanol content.

The nearest hybrids available from Enterprise are in Detroit and Cleveland.

Hertz, however, cycles some Priuses through its offices at Toledo Express Airport. A worker at the office, who declined to give her name, said initially customers were reluctant to rent hybrids, but now requests are so numerous that the office has a hard time meeting them.

Hybrids, which can get up to 50 miles per gallon, are usually classified as midsize, but usually rent for $6 to $8 more per day than other midsizes. They don’t always show up on the rental car Web sites. Customers usually have to call and request them.

A Hertz spokesman said the company made about 1,000 Priuses available at airports on the East and West coasts in 2006. But demand prompted the firm to order more as well as other hybrids.

Hertz recently calculated that a traditional midsize car driven 500 miles probably would consume $100 worth of gas at $4 a gallon. In a Prius it would be about $40 worth, the company said.

Even as car rental firms adjust, it’s not clear whether many renters have. Officials at metro Toledo’s Central Travel said they have not taken any requests from either leisure or business customers to reserve hybrids at their destination.

Contact Jon Chavez at:
jchavez@theblade.com
or 419-724-6128.