The American Car Rental Association (ACRA) is currently accepting new members and renewing memberships for 2012. This month, ACRA welcomes the Hertz Corp. as its newest member among the car rental companies.

ACRA was formed to represent the entire car rental industry in legislative forums, public policy concerns, travel issues and tax initiatives. With Hertz’s membership, ACRA has the support of all the major car rental companies.

Sharon Faulkner, executive director of ACRA, said that the organization is pleased Hertz has become a member. “Their inclusion will strengthen our position as being recognized as a strategic industry organization,” she said. “The industry is facing difficult legislative issues that need a unified front carrying a consistent message when meeting with legislators and their staff. This year ACRA will be as strong as the industry needs it to be.”

Hertz is the world’s largest general use car rental brand, operating from approximately 8,500 locations in 150 countries worldwide. Hertz is the No. 1 airport car rental brand in the U.S. and at 94 major airports in Europe, operates both corporate and licensee locations in cities and airports in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand with licensee locations in Africa and the Middle East.

Tag OKC Inc., a franchise of Dollar Thrifty that covers the Oklahoma City area, has also recently joined ACRA. Wendell Steward Jr. is president of the company.

Majesty Rent A Car, located in Pompano Beach, Fla. joined in January; it is a new rental car company servicing Florida only.

ACRA has also recently added 5 new associate members:

1. LexisNexis from Alpharetta, Ga. is a global provider of content-enabled workflow solutions. A member of Reed Elsevier, LexisNexis serves customers in more than 100 countries with 15,000 employees worldwide. LexisNexis Risk Solutions is a natural extension of the core competencies and technologies proven in LexisNexis online products over the past 30 years, building on the LexisNexis tradition as a trusted provider and custodian of quality information, and leveraging new technology, unique data and advanced scoring analytics to create total solutions to address client needs.

2. Town and Country Insurance Agency Inc. in Houston is a full-service insurance agency.

3. Vehicle Valuation Service Inc. (VVSI) in Illinois in response to the request of major insurance carriers, automobile dealers and fleet rental companies, VVSI developed the nation’s first automated diminished value product, which today is the recognized source accepted and used in hearings, trials, arbitrations and diminished value needs.

4. Wrap Media Group in Boca Raton, Fla. has opened the rental car industry to the advertising world and currently offers brands the ability to advertise on rental vehicles in partnership with car rental companies.

5. HGS, located in Illinois, is a world leader in customer relations and business process management, with a global footprint across North America, Europe and Asia. Its offers contact center solutions, back office transaction processing services, domain analytics and process consulting solutions.

With each new member and renewed member, ACRA grows stronger and offers members the benefits of a large organization with powerful lobbyists that can make the difference when bills are introduced to the legislature. If your company hasn’t become a member of ACRA yet, consider joining now and becoming a part of the growing and profitable force of the car rental industry.

For information, contact Sharon Faulkner 888-200-2795 or join at www.acraorg.com.