Rental car giant Hertz files for bankruptcy.

[uncharted]

Hertz Global Holdings Inc., one of the nation’s largest car-rental companies, filed for bankruptcy protection Friday, saddled with about $19 billion in debt and nearly 700,00 vehicles that have been largely idled because of the coronavirus.
The Estero, Fla.-based company entered chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., hoping to survive a drop-off in-ground traffic from the pandemic and avoid a forced liquidation of its vehicle fleet.

The company’s collapse marks one of the highest-profile corporate defaults stemming from the pandemic’s impact on air and ground travel, though Hertz also had challenges before the current economic crisis. Even before the Covid-19 outbreak, Hertz had been struggling with competition from peers including Enterprise Holdings Inc. and Avis Budget Group Inc., as well as from ride-hailing services such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. The company lost some $58 million last year, its fourth consecutive annual net loss.

But Hertz’s business was hammered by the onset of the coronavirus, as people world-wide bunkered in at home and global travel shriveled up. Going forward, as businesses adapt by conducting meetings remotely, business travel may not return to pre-pandemic levels, according to bankers and analysts who follow Hertz.
Hertz didn’t reach a deal with creditors before entering chapter 11, heightening the risk of a full liquidation of the fleet, although the company and investors have several weeks to work out an agreement avoiding that outcome, people familiar with the matter said.

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[Created4]

More here

The used car market probably just got flooded....

[oyarde]

Thanks Governors . I feel safer now . Retards.

[Created4]

Where You Can Buy Hertz Cars At Huge Discounts

After 102 years of operation, Hertz is now bankrupt and with $25 billion in debt, it just made the list of the 25 biggest bankruptcies in history.

And with creditors now looking for creative ways to recover as much of their investment as possible, the Hertz fleet of just over 506,000 vehicles is a hot commodity for what's left of the company.

Of course, Hertz already tried selling enough cars to stay afloat previously, and it didn’t work. In early March Hertz sold 41,000 used cars in the U.S., but pumped the brakes as returns shrank and auto auctions stopped as traffic fell off a cliff. Used car prices then fell 34.4% in April, and with a ton of new inventory on the market will likely push prices down even more, making it extremely difficult for Hertz to climb out of the hole it is in according to Jalopnik.

Well maybe not: after all, everything can be sold if the price is low enough, and it appears that Hertz is finally realizing that is has no choice but to drastically slash prices on its fleet sales, and will continue to do until it finds a clearing price since we doubt the Fed will step in and buy these cars any time soon.

As we reported previously, earlier this week Hertz dumped a bunch of Corvette z06s on to the used car market in what experts said was a great deal for buyers. And more used car deals are starting too roll out Saturday morning on Hertz’s website after the filling announcement. As caught by Jalopnik, here’s a 2020 BMW 740i for $52,949 and only 8,595 miles on the odometer, more than $10K below Blue Book value for cars in the same area.

Want a 2019 Range Rover Sport with 14K miles for less than $60K? They have that too.

But the real bargains are in the entry/mid level range where Hertz will unleash a deflationary neutron bomb that will cripple the used car market for years to come, which of course will be a huge benefit for consumers seeking great values, even if it forces car companies to drastically slash used car prices resulting in even more defaults, even more liquidation sales, and so on until cars are suddenly... affordable.

https://www.hertzcarsales.com/used-cars-for-sale.htm

[devil21]

^^^^^^
wait a while before dipping into that pool. Any current discount is off set by the "rental car abuse" factor.

[luctor-et-emergo]

^^^^^^
wait a while before dipping into that pool. Any current discount is off set by the "rental car abuse" factor.

Don't know. The rental's I've had have mostly been well maintained cars. But I don't go for the lower end usually.
Only once had a really badly dinged up Mercedes van in Spain. But people drive like maniacs there so I guess that's not a surprise.


What about their inventory in other parts of the world ? On the above link I seem to only get US cars.