Massive brush fire destroys 3,500 parked rental cars in Florida
Apr 4, 2020, 10:40 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Somewhere in Florida
Posts: 2,621
Don't be gentle -- it's a rental!
I knew this saying has been a joke among travelers, but apparently the rental car companies take even less care of their cars than we do. I guess no one bothered to disconnect the batteries on these cars before storing them in a grass field next to the terminal.
3500+ cars destroyed in spontaneous fire at RSW (Fort Myers, Flordia):
https://www.news-press.com/story/new...ed/2946972001/
3500+ cars destroyed in spontaneous fire at RSW (Fort Myers, Flordia):
https://www.news-press.com/story/new...ed/2946972001/
Apr 4, 2020, 10:54 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,018
I knew this saying has been a joke among travelers, but apparently the rental car companies take even less care of their cars than we do. I guess no one bothered to disconnect the batteries on these cars before storing them in a grass field next to the terminal.
3500+ cars destroyed in spontaneous fire at RSW (Fort Myers, Flordia):
https://www.news-press.com/story/new...ed/2946972001/
3500+ cars destroyed in spontaneous fire at RSW (Fort Myers, Flordia):
https://www.news-press.com/story/new...ed/2946972001/
https://wildfiretoday.com/2020/04/04...eyers-airport/
https://www.winknews.com/2020/04/04/...uthority-says/
Near an NZ airport (ZQN) are 5,000 rentals in a grass paddock
Apr 4, 2020, 11:11 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Somewhere in Florida
Posts: 2,621
I'm going from what I've been told my multiple airport employees know to me. The initial pics I was sent showed a couple of cars almost dead center of the bunch alight. It quickly spread, as these cars were just parked, as-is, full tanks.
Apr 5, 2020, 6:25 am
#4
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Florida
Posts: 2,872
Disconnecting the batteries wouldn't have spared these cars from a spontaneous brush fire. Lee County, where the airport is located, is at extremely high risk for such fires because of the on-going drought conditions.
Apr 5, 2020, 1:36 pm
#7
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: LAS - Las Vegas
Programs: Southwest
Posts: 131
Massive brush fire destroys 3,500 parked rental cars in Florida
Due to the coronavirus curtailing travel, the demand for airport rental cars has diminished, resulting in a backlog at many airports. Agencies have had to find alternative locations to store their excess inventory. At Fort Myers, Florida (RSW), over 7,000 rental cars were parked in a field near the airport. On Friday, a brush fire erupted from the nearby wood line and proceeded to destroy 3,500 of these rental cars.
Will such a considerable loss impact the rental car industry and consumer prices significantly?
https://www.news-press.com/story/new...ed/2946972001/
Will such a considerable loss impact the rental car industry and consumer prices significantly?
https://www.news-press.com/story/new...ed/2946972001/
Apr 5, 2020, 3:21 pm
#9
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Long Beach, CA
Programs: AA PLTPRO, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 3,559
I've been flying into/out of RSW for the last decade and it's not been unusual to find slim pickings when checking out a rental. The articles indicated this is about the same number as in the rental car center/structure.
Is this just overflow because of the current coronavirus shutdown?
Is this just overflow because of the current coronavirus shutdown?
Apr 5, 2020, 6:41 pm
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Pittsburgh
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Posts: 31,007
Fwiw, most rental companies perform standard preventative maintenance much more diligently than the average car owner.
Also, fwiw, "full tanks" is pretty irrelevant. The "exploding gas tank" of movie fame just doesn't happen.
Apr 5, 2020, 6:41 pm
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: NYC
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I just heard about this. This article has a video of it... it's massive 
It says various companies were affected:
-J.
It says various companies were affected:
More than 3,800 rental cars, belonging to the various rental car agencies that serve the airport, were undamaged and relocated.
Apr 5, 2020, 8:58 pm
#14
Company Representative - AutoSlash and HotelSlash
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: autoslash.com | hotelslash.com
Posts: 5,665
It won't impact the industry--at least not in a negative way. There is such a glut of vehicles right now due to demand dropping off a cliff that 3,500 vehicles our of the estimated 2.2M rental vehicles in the US is a drop in the bucket. If anything, assuming that the vehicles were insured, it was actually a blessing since the affected rental companies would get paid for the vehicles instead of having to sell them at a loss.