Advantage Rent A Car, which Hertz Corp. shaved off last year as part of its deal to buy Dollar Thrifty, is expected to be placed under chapter 11 protection today as its new owners question the book value of the fleet that was causing losses, Reuters reported today. Hertz sold its Advantage brand, which competes with Dollar Thrifty in the low-cost segment of the market, to Franchise Services of North America and Macquarie Capital. Simply Wheelz LLC, a unit of Franchise Services of North America that does business as Advantage Rent A Car, bought 24,000 vehicles from Hertz as part of the deal. The master lease agreement required Simply Wheelz to bear the residual value risk of the leased fleet. Simply Wheelz, as part of its fleet management operations, began to sell Hertz vehicles in June and booked losses on these sales, FSNA said. As of Oct. 25, Simply Wheelz had sold 5,295 vehicles through auctions for an average loss of about $1,633 per vehicle, and a total loss of about $8.6 million, according to FSNA.
