Rental Car Companies Completely Cut Ties With NRA Amid Gun Control Debate
An online boycott campaign yields swift results.
The nation's major rental car companies have all dropped their corporate sponsorship programs that offered perks and discounts to National Rifle Association members following an online campaign to boycott businesses with financial ties to the controversial gun rights group.
Born in the wake of the horrific school shooting at that claimed 17 lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida on February 14, the #BoycottNRA movement sought to push the 22 companies involved in the NRA's benefit program to end their support. As it happened, six of the biggest rental car companies in this country—Hertz, Enterprise, National, Alamo, Avis, and Budget—all provided discounts to NRA members.
On Thursday, Enterprise Holdings, which controls the Enterprise, National, and Alamo brands, announced it would be cutting ties with the group, effective next month. And today, a spokesperson confirmed to The Drive that Avis Budget Group would follow suit and end its discount program. Finally, Hertz issued a brief statement saying it too had notified the NRA of its decision to withdraw as a benefits partner.
The online car-buying service TrueCar has also come under criticism over its relationship with the NRA, but so far the company hasn't commented on the issue.
Benign as these sorts of business discount programs usually are—nearly every major corporation in America has at least one of these rental car companies on their roster—that a 25 percent break on a Chevy Malibu for a weekend has become such a flash point reflects the powerful emotions coursing through both sides of this debate.
