All of my employees were laid off, and another independent car rental company disappeared in New York. And my company is not alone. Capitaland is one of over 300 car rental companies that have closed in New York since 1990. Forty-four other states have either discarded unlimited vicarious liability or never adopted it in the first place. In the car rental industry, vicarious liability increases rates for all of our customers, not just for customers in the small minority of states that adhere to this unfair and outmoded doctrine.
Vicarious liability undermines competition in the car rental industry.
As I have stated, hundreds of companies have disappeared from New York this decade - leaving the major, nationwide systems as the only car rental option for consumers in the state. In addition, many smaller, growing car rental companies will not do business in vicarious liability states and seek to prohibit their customers from driving into those states. I could go on for hours with other examples of this unjust and unfair legal doctrine. Single car accidents where the only person at fault was the driver. A car rented in Ohio and driven to New York where an accident occurred and New York's law was applied.