4 ms·

It'll be up to consumers to decide if it bothers them or not. There are plenty of other rental car companies out there, not to mention a few startups trying to

It'll be up to consumers to decide if it bothers them or not. There are plenty of other rental car companies out there, not to mention a few startups trying to disrupt the space. If Hertz makes the wrong move here, they're going to hurt from it.

hackuser 12y ago
Not if the others do the same. For example, which smartphone will you buy that protects your privacy? Which app will you download? With expertise and effort, you might find some that meet your needs, but often competition and the marketplace provide no choice for consumers on important issues.
- bsbechtel 12y ago
  If one company decides not to install cameras and consumers flock to that company, then they've decided. There are enough small rental car outfits out there that can't afford cameras to put this theory to the test. The rental car market is not the ogilopoly that is the tech hardware industry these days.
  - PhantomGremlin 12y ago
    It is an oligopoly, at least in the USA. See my previous post nearby. Business customers rent most of the cars. Most businesses have year-long contracts with one of the big companies. That way they get discounts on their rentals. They're not going to make a deal with a small "outfit" that doesn't have national airport coverage. That leaves leisure customers. Those are very price sensitive. They're not going to spend an extra nickel to rent a car w/o a camera. Sometimes they will put up with taking a shuttle to an off-airport rental to save a few bucks. But, and this is very important, the smaller companies are less sophisticated in terms of customer screening. So the smaller companies are more susceptible to being scammed by customers. So they will probably be even more eager than the big guys to installing cameras, GPSes, etc to keep track of their cars.
PhantomGremlin 12y ago
There aren't "plenty of other rental car companies out there". It's an oligopoly. There are only three: Enterprise also owns National and Alamo. Avis also owns Budget, Payless, and Zipcar. Hertz also owns Dollar and Thrifty.

hackuser 12y ago

Not if the others do the same. For example, which smartphone will you buy that protects your privacy? Which app will you download? With expertise and effort, you might find some that meet your needs, but often competition and the marketplace provide no choice for consumers on important issues.

bsbechtel 12y ago
If one company decides not to install cameras and consumers flock to that company, then they've decided. There are enough small rental car outfits out there that can't afford cameras to put this theory to the test. The rental car market is not the ogilopoly that is the tech hardware industry these days.
- PhantomGremlin 12y ago
  It is an oligopoly, at least in the USA. See my previous post nearby. Business customers rent most of the cars. Most businesses have year-long contracts with one of the big companies. That way they get discounts on their rentals. They're not going to make a deal with a small "outfit" that doesn't have national airport coverage. That leaves leisure customers. Those are very price sensitive. They're not going to spend an extra nickel to rent a car w/o a camera. Sometimes they will put up with taking a shuttle to an off-airport rental to save a few bucks. But, and this is very important, the smaller companies are less sophisticated in terms of customer screening. So the smaller companies are more susceptible to being scammed by customers. So they will probably be even more eager than the big guys to installing cameras, GPSes, etc to keep track of their cars.

PhantomGremlin 12y ago

There aren't "plenty of other rental car companies out there". It's an oligopoly. There are only three: Enterprise also owns National and Alamo. Avis also owns Budget, Payless, and Zipcar. Hertz also owns Dollar and Thrifty.