Following the success of Rhino Car Hire in the European, Asian and African markets

The company is now set to build on its glowing reception in North America. With over 40% of Rhino Car Hire customers coming from the United States, Canada and Mexico, Rhino Car Hire is tailoring its online service to meet the specific needs of these customers. Rhino Car Hire has now launched a new pay on arrival service, having found that customers from American, Canada and Mexico were more comfortable with this method of payment.

The service will benefit clients in the following ways. They can take advantage of more competitive prices, there will be a greater choice available from a greater number of suppliers and the lack of a deposit or upfront payment will aid them financially.

Rhino Car Hire spokesman Robert Frische said: "Times are tough and our customers need to be given as much flexibility as possible with their finances.

"Rhino Car Hire is only to happy to help and these small details make a big difference."

Not only has Rhino Car introduced this convenient service but the company has also jettisoned any cancellation fees which means customers can rent cars without having to worry about being out of pocket if unexpected eventualities crop up.

Rhino Car Rental predicts that although no show rates may increase under the new system it will nevertheless increase the volume of bookings and give a great boost to the USA, Canadian and Mexican car hire industry at a time when it is in need of support. This will help clients in cities right across those three countries in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver in Canada In partnership with Car Trawler, Rhino Car Hire is the first of its brokers to take on the new model of car hire service which will be available from Friday, February 20.

This is only one of a number of new initiatives planned by Rhino Car Hire through 2009 to improve customer service and further a track record of excellence.

Other car hire companies have also responded to the market problems by trying to improve their service. Avis has just remodeled its car hire website in an effort to save customers time by making it easier to use. The website also aims to deliver a better service by improving the ability to compare rental prices, having a more comprehensive location finder and an automatic reservation confirmation among other features.

John Peebles, vice president of online marketing for Avis Budget Group (the parent company of Avis) said: "We have streamlined and rebuilt Avis.com based on input and advice from our customers.

"Our customers told us they wanted quicker and easier access to the information that mattered to them the most, and to be able to make their reservations more quickly."

The latest car hire company to report that business was suffering was rental giant Hertz which just released its fourth quarter figures for 2008. The revenue of Hertz Global Holdings Inc was $1.billion, down by 16.4% from last year. This is more than the world wide decrease for car rental companies in the fourth quarter which was 15.2%.

Mark P. Frissora, Hertz's chairman and chief executive officer, said, "Hertz experienced unprecedented volume, pricing and residual value contraction across all of its businesses in the fourth quarter of 2008. Nevertheless, we generated almost $117 million of Corporate EBITDA…

"We are committed to further mitigating the impact of continued revenue declines on our profits, including a goal to eliminate an additional $350 million of costs in 2009, and generating positive total net cash flow throughout the current global recession."