Differences in Rental and Nonrental Car Crashes

Abstract

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