Differences in rental and nonrental car crashes

Although rental cars experience a higher collision rate per registered vehicle compared to non-rental cars, little research has been conducted to understand the differences in the factors contributing to crashes involving rental cars and non-rental cars, especially driver related factors. This study develops a conceptual framework to compare the driver-related factors contributing to crashes involving rental cars and non-rental cars and tests the hypotheses developed using data from South Korea and applying the binary logistics, rare event logistic, Firth logistic models and random parameters logit models. We find significantly higher contribution of several risky driving behaviors but no differences in roadway, vehicle and environmental factors. We also find that rental car crashes involve more male and drivers under 25 years of age.