January/February 2009 Issue

Consumer Retorts: Hertz Car Rental

Why do I have to pay more to rent a Prius?

Illustration: Mark Matcho

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CONSUMER RETORTS

Consumer Retorts

Hertz car Rental

with their low upkeep cost and high resale value, hybrids should be some of the cheapest rides on the rental lot. Yet Hertz and its competitors charge as much as $190 more to rent a Prius for a week than for a standard-size car like a Pontiac G6. Why? Supply and demand, says Hertz spokeswoman Paula Rivera: Though the company has 4,000 hybrids, customer requests for them jumped 40 percent last year, and it can’t keep up. Plus, with hybrids flying out of showrooms, carmakers have little incentive to sell them to rental companies with the same discounts applied to conventional models. But before you balk at renting a Prius, consider that the fuel savings just might make it the less expensive choice.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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