Was it in the mid-1990's when car rental agencies began to rent SUVs?
It was probably sometime in the 1990's when car rental agencies began to rent out 15-passenger vans.
Am I correct that car rental agencies rented out station wagons for the entire decade of the 1980's, and didn't begin to rent out minivans until the early '90's; as station wagons were declining in popularity in favor of minivans?
Personally, I would prefer the station wagon over the minivan.