Hertz Wants To Rent You A Leaf

By David Parsons

David Parsons

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Hertz is adding the Nissan Leaf battery electric vehicle to its rental fleets in the U.S. and Europe beginning early next year, after it becomes readily available.

Hertz is in the process of deciding which cities will get the Leaf, and how many. California is likely to get the Leaf first. When Hertz introduced the Toyota Prius, California was where the demand was highest.

Hertz has 2,100 locations in the U.S. It doesn’t hurt that California is also subsidizing the Leaf with a $5,000 cash rebate. This is in addition to the Federal credits. That will put more cars on state roads, and hence build awareness.

Hertz says that consumers will sometimes rent a car prior to purchase to make sure they are comfortable with it. Hertz noted how often that happened with the Toyota Prius.

This announcement raises a concern for those consumers who want to purchase a Leaf. If Hertz, or other rental car agencies, buy up hundreds of Leafs, where does that leave an ordinary consumer? Nissan has already announced that they have sold out of this year’s allotment of 13,000 U.S. configured Leafs. Nissan gets faster cash by taking rental car orders. Also, rental car agencies are less likely to back out of a reservation, unlike ordinary consumers, who can get their $99 reservation fee returned simply by asking. Nissan also gets more publicity by the virtue of the Leafs being rented repeatedly, and appearing on the roads. But, consumers may feel cheated. Nissan most likely will not allow rental car agencies to buy Leafs outright, instead putting them in a program that will guarantee that the Leafs will be returned to Nissan, thus allowing Nissan to resell them again, and make money off them twice.

The Leaf will also be available at some Connect by Hertz car-sharing locations. Hertz introduced the Connect program in 2008, and it now has operations in London, Paris, Madrid and Berlin. New York City is the hub, but there are 150 Connect locations in the U.S., including smaller programs in Boston, Chicago and outside Washington.

[Hertz via Wheels Blog]