Hertz Firsts
Hertz has scored many "firsts" in the car rental industry. Here are some of the most notable Hertz firsts:
1925 First coast-to-coast network
1926 First car rental charge card
1932 First airport rent-a-car location at Chicago's Midway Airport
1933 First 'Rent-it-Here/Leave-it-There' (one-way) programme
1950 First European location (France)
1959 First centralised billing system
1962 First booking system for travel agents
1972 First club for frequent travellers, #1 Club®
1978 First nationwide emergency road service
1980 First 'express' service
1984 First Computerised Driving Directions
1988 First in-car mobile phones
1989 First launched Hertz #1 Club Gold®
1995 First introduced on-board navigation system, NeverLost®
1996 First launched web site
1998 First launched Hertz Return Centres
1999 First launched multilingual web site
First launched Euro conversion web site
Celebrates 10th Anniversary of #1 Club Gold Service
First deployed 40,000 “Next Generation” NeverLost units
2000 Introduced #1 Club Gold Five Star and President’s Circle membership levels
2001 First launched the Hertz Prestige Collection in North America
2002 First global car rental company to operate in China
Introduced SIRIUS Satellite Radio in the United States
Introduced the Hertz Prestige Collection in Europe
2004 Introduced brand and model reservability to #1 Club and #1 Club Gold members
in the United States
2005 First launched the Hertz Fun Collection in North America
Introduced NeverLost into Europe
2006 Debuted the Shelby GT-H, a special run of 500 performance-modified Ford Mustang GTs,
in the U.S. Fun Collection.
First launched the Hertz Green Collection in North America and Europe.
