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Hertz, Car Rental Pioneer, Files for Bankruptcy Protection
New York Times ^ | May 22, 2020 | Niraj Chokshi

Posted on 05/22/2020 8:15:29 PM PDT by John W

Hertz, which started with a fleet of a dozen Ford Model T’s a century ago and became one of the world’s largest car rental companies, filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday after falling victim to its mountain of debt.

The coronavirus pandemic has devastated Hertz by grounding business travelers and tourists, making it impossible for the company to continue paying its lenders. A sharp drop in used car prices has also decreased the value of its fleet.

“They were doing quite well, but when you turn off the revenues and you own all these cars and all of a sudden the cars are worth less it’s a very tough business,” said John Healy, an analyst and managing director with Northcoast Research in Cleveland.

By the end of March, Hertz Global Holdings Inc. had racked up $18.7 billion in debt with only $1 billion of available cash.

(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: 2ndamendment; automotive; autonomousvehicles; banglist; bankruptcy; coronavirus; covid19; economy; elonmusk; georgesoros; hertz; johnhealy; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; nra; policestate; rentals; secondamendment; tesla; yogafistnevetrumper
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To: Larry Lucido; Gamecock
Hertz couldn't hold the reservation?


21 posted on 05/22/2020 8:43:22 PM PDT by Rebelbase (The Church of BBQ does not discriminate. All meat is welcome.)
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To: rllngrk33

Decontented cars, for the most part. They bought cars with deleted airbags and such.

I also challenge the assertion that they were “doing really well” - I’d noticed that Hertz had been closing locations in DFW for the last couple years, long before COVID-19.


22 posted on 05/22/2020 8:43:55 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: lodi90

Worse - Enterprise and Avis are separate companies, and they each took parts of the market away from Hertz who just stood there and did nothing.


23 posted on 05/22/2020 8:44:49 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: ExGeeEye
Best car my family ever had (until my grandmother died and left us hers) was a 1969 Impala Dad bought from Hertz in 1972.

I had a '65 Impala that I drove for a quarter-million miles. Later, I had a '72 Impala that didn't seem to have been as well-built. It had a design flaw in that the metal below the back window would rust out and water would leak into the trunk during rainstorms and trips to the car wash--a flaw that plagued GM cars at the time.

24 posted on 05/22/2020 8:44:57 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: rllngrk33

It means Cash for Clunkheads Rev. 2020.


25 posted on 05/22/2020 8:45:32 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Who could have guessed the Communist Revolution would arrive disguised as the common cold?)
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To: kosciusko51

They’re still number 2. (No pun intended.) Enterprise has been the biggest rental car organization in the United States for... over a decade now? Hertz was kind of a has been.


26 posted on 05/22/2020 8:46:03 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Steely Tom

That movie would have been “Good Neighbor Sam,” which I saw in a theater in 1964.


27 posted on 05/22/2020 8:47:07 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Spktyr

It was a tongue-in-cheek comment to the old Avis commercial, when Hertz and Avis were 1 and 2. Perhaps I showing my age...


28 posted on 05/22/2020 8:49:44 PM PDT by kosciusko51
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To: Spktyr

It was a tongue-in-cheek comment to the old Avis commercial, when Hertz and Avis were 1 and 2. Perhaps I’m showing my age...


29 posted on 05/22/2020 8:50:12 PM PDT by kosciusko51
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To: Rebelbase
A competing car rental company should have made counter-OJ commercials that said, “At XYZ car rental you won’t have to run through the airport to secure your car rental, we’ll hold it for you”.

There were such ads from Avis. I remember the regular looking guy, puffing out his chest, saying "I'm WALKING through airports!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_hmmzyGvxo
30 posted on 05/22/2020 8:52:15 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: kosciusko51

I know the commercial series, but it stopped being funny more than a decade ago when Enterprise passed Hertz, and then Avis passed Hertz to slot under Enterprise. Hertz just sat there looking stupid and kept relying on inertia and nostalgia. They were going down anyway - IIRC, that new German car rental firm Sixt was just about to pass them in the US too.


31 posted on 05/22/2020 8:52:16 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Fiji Hill
Very good, yes that's it.

I note that "Good Neighbor Sam" came out in July 1964, and the TV show Bewitched premiered in September of 1964.

Bewitched, of course, also features a married couple in which the husband is an earnest, harried, and ill-used ad man, and the misadventures he gets into while being forced by his management to bend himself into a pretzel for this client or that.

32 posted on 05/22/2020 8:52:56 PM PDT by Steely Tom ([Seth Rich] == [the Democrats' John Dean])
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To: John W

They should have been more enterprising and tried harder.

/s


33 posted on 05/22/2020 9:01:26 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: kosciusko51
It was a tongue-in-cheek comment to the old Avis commercial, when Hertz and Avis were 1 and 2. Perhaps I showing my age...

Junior high "humor" c. 1972

"Wanna Hertz donut?"

Yeah--THUMP

"Hurts, don't it?"

34 posted on 05/22/2020 9:05:35 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: Dr. Sivana

Thanks. That commercial even had an OJ look-a-like.


35 posted on 05/22/2020 9:06:42 PM PDT by Rebelbase (The Church of BBQ does not discriminate. All meat is welcome.)
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To: dfwgator

You beat me to it!


36 posted on 05/22/2020 9:08:43 PM PDT by Ciaphas Cain
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To: Dr. Sivana

That him! The actor who says “I can walk through the airport” is the exact guy who I was reminded of by the picture of the Florida election doofus who’s looking through the magnifying glass at the hanging chad!


37 posted on 05/22/2020 9:22:11 PM PDT by Steely Tom ([Seth Rich] == [the Democrats' John Dean])
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To: lightman

That’s the first time I’ve heard that. I guess I’m not as old as I thought. ;-)


38 posted on 05/22/2020 9:24:02 PM PDT by kosciusko51
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To: kosciusko51

Thanks...I guess.


39 posted on 05/22/2020 9:26:16 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: John W

This is how running a business on borrowed money always ends.


40 posted on 05/22/2020 9:41:20 PM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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