Hertz Rental Cars going out of business ! Bankrupt ?!

I, too have had a good experience with a former rental car.
2017 Tucson, purchased 1 y.o. with 13k miles, CPO from Hyundai dealer.
Only flaws I could find was a small scratch on the driver’s door at the B pillar and tires not rotated.
Still had that new car smell.
Been trouble free for 2 years…

Well hello neighbor. I’m down in South County, far more of a drive from Enterprise headquarters than it sounds like you are. :slightly_smiling_face:

And hi to you too, neighbor. Yeah, I’m in University City, just north on Hanley Rd. from downtown Clayton.

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Back when you had to call in your order with the catalog number. Then go pick it up at the store. It was their whole catalog. It could have been simply changed to computer ordering for store or home delivery at the time and they would have been way ahead of everyone else. They had the catalog and all the products and the distribution system, but didn’t do it. I don’t know about all the refrigerators. I suspect it’s like target where if you do a search every product comes up as available from Target until you try and order it. But now they have home town stores which are locally owned selling Sears stuff but not a part of the Sears company. Just a franchise.

I’ve never bought a Sears refrigerator. I deal with the local appliance store. Just saying they could have easily expanded their lines from the catalog offerings by selling name brands instead like Home Depot and Lowes now and been way ahead of them. Now it’s a dead company except for the name.

That was 27 years ago and few people had internet service. It wasn’t long after that when online shopping started with all of the major department stores, I was conducting my Christmas shopping online with Sears 20 years ago. There is a reason the catalog is obsolete.

There is a reason the catalog is obsolete.

If the catalog was still around today it would solve the TP shortage;

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I can’t recall ever ordering anything from Sears on-line. Maybe I did but I sure don’t remember that ever being an option but I just didn’t shop at Sears. I don’t even know where there is a Sears store left anymore. The last one I knew of closed up a couple years ago and the parking lot is full of dealer cars. The must have missed something, big stock of refrigerators or not.

They changed from brick-and-morter to online shopping, some people can’t adjust to online shopping unless it is offered by a new company like Amazon.

Other than appliance outlet’s there’s only one Sears left in this area and it’s an hour away. Dad might order something from sears online but only if Tractor supply can’t get the same part.

Not me. I don’t deal with Amazon unless I have to like getting 1/4-20 4" self tapping bolts. I don’t mind ordering on line but I prefer to support local business and I don’t like waiting.

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I understand the draw or brick and mortar retail, and I like to poke around in hardware stores a lot. But, and this is no small issue, I’m 74. If you ask my children and their children, you’ll hear a much different story. The concept of recreational shopping is fading fast, replaced by recreational web browsing. We can debate about this for hours but the important people to this conversation are the family builders, not old people like me who just don’t consume that much.

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Well back to Hertz from the diversion. People are scared to death to travel so all of the support businesses are going to take a hit in the next 6 mo., year, 2 years, and some say 5 years. Tighten belts guys and grab profits where ever you can. It’ll be a rough ride. Hotels, restaurants, airlines, car rentals, local tourist business. It’ll not be pretty what our global partners have done to us, and I’m an optimist hoping for the best. I remember the last major downturn we got Disney hotel accommodations for half price and half of the staff were laid off and rooms shut down. We took son and wife for a week to celebrate ending med school. We had money and spent it. Same thing again but prolly worse because it’s not just money but those little invisible buggers that can be anywhere. Rats with fleas carrying the plague would be better.

Pure electrics will need virtually no maintenance and basically might never wear out. So auto parts and repair facilities will become as common as blacksmiths and wood boat builders. Another danger is mandatory standardization that would result in the interchangabilty of all parts. One manufacturer could take over the entire parts business.

Engine repair represents a small percentage of the work that is performed in repair shops. Tires, brakes, suspension, steering, body hardware (windows, door locks), heating and air conditioning systems, passive restraints, audio/infotainment systems etc. will still need repairs.

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Speaking as the retired owner of three businesses, living on the ragged edge is a management technique. That’s what you hire MBAs for! You insist on immediate or advance payment for goods and services, but take three to six months to pay your bills. This frees up lots of cash for exorbitant executive salaries and board of director fees. But it backfires if there is a downturn because the creditors are also, in turn, under pressure. Unfortunately, my business was usually one of the creditors.
Business management evolves with time from those who started and grew the business to those who just operate and milk the business.

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The big money is in engine, transmission, and collision. A lot of other stuff is dealer only these days. Hard to support a shop with a skilled mechanic on small stuff. I do my own brakes. Take my wheels in for new tires because the tire shop uses an air wrench and I just want the nuts tightened with a torque wrench. Had my car in to a dealer 3 times in the last 15 years and each time the repair was by software upgrade. I did have a wheel alignment after hitting a pothole and the technician said that it was not perfect because the strut was bent so I had him replace both front struts.

Yeah I’m trying to remember the last time I had any engine work done. Probably two years or more. Not saying things don’t change over time but I wouldn’t close up shop and start selling shoes just yet.

Having done my stint being an everything computer guy or anything with a battery or a cord before retiring I do not share your optimism.

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There are still working electrics around that were made as long ago as 1880. Jay Leno has some in his collection if you want to try one. And I have a couple of Cincinnati milling machines in my shop that were made in 1920 . The table elevation drive coupler broke on one but it was a simple matter to make a replacement on our lathe.

Check out any electronics recycling place, look at the piles of stuff, read the posts here, I am not usually one to be a jerk but your head is not based in reality.