Inside these posts: Rental cars

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Enterprise pulls rental cars from Orbitz

An Enterprise Rent-A-Car office at 849 Roosevelt Road in Lombard. Enterprise will no longer offer car rentals through Orbitz. (Carl Wagner/Tribune)

Orbitz Worldwide Inc. will stop selling auto rentals from Enterprise Holdings’ brands from April 1, after the online travel agent became embroiled in another contract dispute with a leading vendor.

Enterprise, the world’s largest auto rental company through its eponymous brand and Alamo and National units, said Tuesday it was ending its relationship with Chicago-based Orbitz “after months of difficult discussions.” Get the full story »

Rental car companies boosted by biz travel’s return

Business travel is coming back, and the airline and hotel industries are reaping the benefits. But a less obvious beneficiary is the rental car industry.

During the recession, demand for rentals dropped, particularly among business travelers. In addition, many rental companies had an oversupply of cars bought under special deals offered by manufacturers, pushing rates further down. As a result, many rental car companies held on to automobiles longer, providing their customers with cars that already had 30,000 miles or more.

But starting late this year, the nation’s largest rental car companies began to see business — and revenue — grow again.

Dollar Thrifty accepts $1.4B bid from Hertz

Dollar Thrifty has accepted a new bid of about $1.43 billion from Hertz, which is battling Avis for the rental car company.