Hertz car hire has announced they will not be hiring out any models from a batch of Toyota recalled cars.
The Hertz Corporation is a worldwide car rental firm which has more than eight thousand car rental offices in over 140 locations across the globe.

Mark P. Frissora, the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: "Hertz is taking action because we want to ensure there is no doubt about the safety of our customers. The condition of the cars we rent is of paramount importance to us. He added: "Recalling these cars in not expected to disrupt operations significantly."

The company is working closely with the Japanese manufacturer Toyota to make sure that the recall is affected properly. The process is only temporary and there are plenty of models of Toyota cars which are not included in the recall. Hertz is one of the largest airport car hire brands in the United States and has offices at 42 major airports in Europe including car hire Gatwick Airport.

So far 275 crashes have been linked to the Toyota cars in question and around 1.1 million cars have been recalled. The problem is to do with the gas pedal which has been found to cause unintended acceleration. Since 1999 this fault is thought to have caused the deaths of 18 people. However Toyota has insisted that the fault is infrequent and rare enough to be treated on a case-by-case basis.  The pedals are made by CTS Corp. of Elkhart, Ind, and the company is now working with Toyota to design a new accelerator.

Ron Lietzke, the spokesman for Honda of America Manufacturing said Honda relies on CTS for parts, but not for the same parts that Toyota buys.  Lietzkehe said: "Honda has not experienced the same problems the Toyota models have."

The latest Toyota models to be recalled include the ’09-10 Corolla, the 2008-10 Highlander, the 09-10 Venza, the 09-10 Pontiac Vibe ,which is also made by Toyota, and the ’09-10 Matrix. While local branches of Toyota dealerships have been hard hit by the recall, car hire companies have found it easier to deal with the transition, especially ones with large fleets like Any Airport car hire. Nevertheless the car manufacturer General Motors is offering one thousand USD to Toyota owners towards a down payment on a GM vehicle and up to one thousand USD to help to pay off the current leases early.

In better news there are now great car hire deals available on trips to Portugal. Portugal is one of the cheaper countries that you can travel to in Europe and accordingly car hire Portugal is extremely reasonable.
To make really big savings try taking a holiday in Portugal outside of the accepted hot spots such as the Algarve coastal area. There are special offers on car hire in the northern parts of Portugal such as the city of Porto and surrounding towns. Not only is car hire Portocheap but you can get amazing rates for manor houses set in picturesque vineyards. There are a number of companies which can provide these low cost packages including Destination Portugal.co.uk. Alternatively instead of heading west from Faro you can go east with car hire Faro as it comes with an unlimited mileage offer.  Here you can enjoy respite from the maddening summer crowds. Places like Tavira are ideal for seaside walks where you can see wild birds and enjoy the pleasant warm climate. It's all very tempting given how cold most of Europe is at the moment.

Rent Toyota cars cheaply with Any Airport car hire. There are also great deals on car hire Portugal and car hire Faro over the Easter and summer holidays.

When a fellow blogger decided to look into the difference between on airport and off airport car hire he found that the price variant was similar to what it would be between buying a VW Golf and a Porsche Carrera.
Darren Popik was trying to find cheap car hire Austin airport, Texas but the rate was too steep for his liking at $114 USD for one weekend. By using a price comparison site he found that there was a better rate available, only $38(USD) for a comparable time frame.   Looking for these deals can really pay off. According to a car rental analyst it can cost as much as $150 more to rent a car at the airport than outside of the airport. 

Neil Abrams, of Abrams Consulting Group, said: "The rate difference is pretty constant but as car rental rates rise, more travellers begin looking for other ways to get around.   He added: "The extra airport fees and taxes put airport-based car hire franchises at a competitive disadvantage."
 

It makes sense to look far and wide for your car hire deals and one of the reasons why renting a car at the airport can be much more expensive is because some companies charge you for the premium location fee and the airport surcharges too. Conversely other firms like www.anyairportcarhire.com already include those fees in the quoted rental rates which can be as low as $19(USD) per day with unlimited mileage and fully comprehensive insurance.

That way you get convenience as you can drop the car off at the airport making you less likely to miss your flight. You can save money on the cab fare which you would have to take into town to look for other rental deals.  Although it has become widely accepted that car rental companies charge too much for their airport rentals, anyairportcarhire.com has bucked that trend by not passing the extra airport charges and taxes onto the customer. By failing to do so the company has seen car hire rates maintained at a consistently high rate all year around.

One way to cut down your car hire rates is to book in advance. Numerous car hire companies are already warning of potential fleet shortages in the summer. Among them the Blue Valley car hire company spokesman Matt May said: "Many car rental companies rely on hiring additional cars during busy periods such as the summer holidays to boost their fleet size".
 

"The global financial crisis has made it much harder for these companies to get hire cars on a temporary basis and the result is rising prices and a shortage of rentals.

"Many people looking for car hire Malaga airportand car hire Alicante airport without a reservation in 2009 discovered that there was no availability."

Although Spanish tourism took a hit last year as people tried to save their pennies by taking less holidays, this year the country is set to do a booming trade. Tour operators, letting agents and car hire companies all realised that the weakness of the pound meant they needed to offer even better deals.  Any Airport also has great deals. While first choice will give you a week's holiday in a villa on the Costa Del Sol for £735(GBP), you can pay as little as £99(GBP) per week to get a good economy car during that time.