Hertz pauses car sales program after selling tens of thousands during bankruptcy

Hertz announced its car sales program will be paused amid bankruptcy Friday.

Hertz was able to sell tens of thousands of cars after it filed for bankruptcy, which economists say is a good sign for the nationwide car rental company.

“If I was in their situation, I would probably try to do everything I could to save my own company too,” Rodney Griffis said.

Griffis says he understands why Hertz is taking a break from selling cars.

“It’s another business is suffering severely due to the travel industry,” Griffis said.

“They have to figure out ways to cut costs,” Nick Licavoli said.

FGCU economist Victor Claar says this is all a part of Hertz’s bankruptcy plan.

“This is a tangible sign that Hertz has done during 2020 what it needed to do to make its way forward,” Claar said. “They’re just suspending operation at all locations temporarily because, one of these days, they may want to reopen.”

Hertz told us it’s been working to “right-size” its fleet to align with current demand and meet the requirements of its lenders. It will evaluate its car sales program, as it replenishes its fleet with new cars next year. Hertz is still offering rental cars.

Claar also says, just because they are not selling cars, doesn’t mean other used car prices will go up.

“Because of the lack of driving by most motorists and because you can still see the ongoing impact of the selling off that Hertz did on these car market prices in general, it’s really still a pretty darn good time to look for a used car,” Claar said.

Most people agree.

“I think it will still be a good market because new cars just continue to go up,” Griffis said.