Mom Warns Enterprise’s Clients to Beware of Dangerous Rental Cars

by Jess Kutch · 2012-03-01 17:05:00 UTC
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Did you know that rental car companies are not required to keep unsafe cars under recall off the road until they are repaired? Cally Houck found out about this legal loophole when her two daughters were killed in 2004 when the PT Cruiser they rented from Enterprise caught fire due to a known defect. Even though the car was under recall, Enterprise rented it out to three other customers before Cally’s daughter.

While Enterprise’s top competitor, Hertz, has reached an historic agreement with consumer advocates to support new legislation that would prevent rental companies from renting out unsafe cars, Enterprise has not supported the legislation. In fact, until Cally launched a Change.org petition that has been signed by almost 150,000 people, Enterprise actively opposed the legislation.

Today, Cally sent a letter to scores of Enterprise’s top corporate and institutional clients asking them to join her efforts. Check out Cally’s letter below.

To Whom it May Concern:

As a business that uses Enterprise’s services, I thought you should know that your employees could be at risk when they rent the company’s cars. The next time your employees rent a car, they could be driving a dangerous, recalled vehicle. That’s because rental car companies like Enterprise are not required by law to take these cars off the road. As a corporate client, your voice has an enormous influence with Enterprise. Will you call Laura Bryant at Enterprise Holdings today at 314-512-4178 and ask Enterprise to support legislation to prevent this huge safety risk?

I know all too well the tragic consequences of this loophole in our laws. My two beautiful daughters, Raechel and Jacqueline, were killed in 2004 when they rented a car from Enterprise that was under safety recall for a defective steering component. Enterprise rented the car to them anyway, without bothering to fix the problem first. Just like the recall notice had warned, the steering component caught fire, and my daughters died. Despite knowing the car was under recall, Enterprise rented it out to three other customers before my daughters got behind the wheel – the car was a ticking time bomb.

Recently, there has been great progress in ensuring that recalled cars are not rented to drivers. The second largest rental car company, Hertz, has joined leading consumer rights organizations in endorsing legislation requiring rental agencies to keep recalled vehicles off the road until they are fixed. The legislation is named for my daughters, Raechel and Jacqueline.

As of last week, Enterprise was actively opposing the legislation that could have saved my daughters’ lives. I decided to start a petition on Change.org demanding that Enterprise Rent-A-Car cease its opposition to this bill (you can support the petition online here: http://chn.ge/EnterpriseRAC). In response to the overwhelming support for my petition, including comments from many frequent Enterprise customers, Enterprise has stopped openly opposing legislation on this issue. But the company has refused to get behind the specific legislation, The Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Rental Car Safety Act – the same legislation that Hertz, Enterprise’s main competitor, is proud to endorse.

Please help me keep dangerous cars off the roads and protect your employees’ safety by asking Enterprise to specifically support the Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act that has been endorsed by Hertz and leading consumer rights organizations. You can send a clear message to Enterprise by letting the company know that if it will not take this step to ensure safe roads, you will reconsider your contract with the company. Please contact Laura Bryant today at 314-512-4178 or laura.t.bryant@ehi.com.

Thank you so much for your time and attention to this critical issue.
Sincerely,
Cally Houck

PS: We have heard that some institutions have been able to negotiate contracts with Enterprise that prohibit the company from renting recalled cars to the clients’ employees. Please do contact me if you would like to discuss this further or for more information on this issue in general.

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