Enterprise Rent-A-Car Responds to National Petition, Supports Legislation Now

In case you missed this, we thought this was a very big story this week. Enterprise-Rent-A-Car beat a quick retreat after a national petition drive was started against their stance of backing legislation, blocking car rental companies for leasing out cars on recall lists.

On Wednesday, Patch reported about a California mother who initiated an online, social change petition through Change.org against Enterprise Rent-A-Car because company representatives were resisting proposed legislation that would require rental car companies to remove recalled vehicles from their fleets until repaired. The petitioner, Cally Houck, lost her two daughters' lives to an accident stemming from them driving a rented vehicle from Enterprise Rent-A-Car that was known to be identified for recall. 

See Wednesday's article: 

officials stated on Thursday afternoon they now officially will join the industry in supporting federal legislation that oversees how companies, such as theirs, manage the recall process. 

"We share the Houck family’s goal of preventing anything like this from happening again. We hope that our efforts will include the opportunity to work with Cally Houck, the mother of Raechel and Jacqueline, who has remained so diligent in her efforts to secure legislation in this area," stated Laura Bryant, spokesperson for Enterprise Holdings in a statement emailed to Patch.

What Changed?

Within 24 hours of Houck launching the petition, she had more than 100,000 supporters. At the time of publishing this article, she has almost 129,800.

Bryant said ongoing discussion about this issue has occurred for the past two years—a discussion that she stated began in earnest following the resolution of a lawsuit in which Enterprise Rent-A-Car accepted responsibility for the accident that claimed the lives of Houck's daughters.

"The vehicle was under recall at the time. The tragedy of the Houck sisters’ deaths can never be undone, and all of us at Enterprise are profoundly sorry," stated Bryant in the statement.

Through the court process, Bryant said Enterprise Holdings representatives accepted responsibility for the accident. "Since the accident in 2004, Enterprise and others in our industry have made many significant changes in the process for inspecting and repairing recalled vehicles," stated Bryant. "Given all the improvements we have made since that fatal crash, today that vehicle would never be rented."

She said Enterprise customers can rest assured vehicles rented from the company are properly maintained and meet the highest standards for safety.

But even with all of these safeguards, a number of individuals and organizations have asked for additional oversight in the form of federal legislation, she said. "In the past, we believed this step was unnecessary, but a growing number of people, including our customers and business partners, clearly want more assurance on this critical issue," Bryant stated.

"We hear them—and what we’ve heard has caused us to rethink our stance."

Addition to this article posted on Feb. 23 at 6:15 p.m.:

Houck said the following in response to today’s announcement by Enterprise:

"While Enterprise's announcement today is a step in the right direction, what is more revealing is what Enterprise did not say. The question remains: ‘Yes or no, will Enterprise support specific legislative language endorsed by Hertz, consumers, and 130,000 other people?’ Anything less than yes would make today’s announcement pure spin.

Enterprise makes no promise to ground all cars that are under a recall. Nor do they state they will support the agreement reached between Hertz and Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety.

As my family learned tragically, a small defect can cause enormous problems. The same thing is true of laws. If Enterprise supports federal legislation, but that legislation is full of loopholes, what really would have changed?

More than 130,000 individuals have signed a petition to Enterprise in just the past few days alone, and it is clear that this pressure from customers and the general public has gotten Enterprise's attention. This campaign is not simply about my family's tragedy, and we will continue to press onward until Enterprise announces full and unconditional support for the Hertz agreement.”