Satellite-based communications devices providing everything from roadside accident assistance to directions are slowly making inroads into the rental car market. Hertz, for instance, says 40,000 of its vehicles -- or about 10 percent of its fleet -- are now equipped with "NeverLost," a fixed on-board system that gives drivers precise route directions and corrects those who stray off course with computer-generated verbal instructions. A business traveler leaving an airport in a strange city, for example, may follow turn-by-turn directions issued by the system to reach one or more destinations, with route choices before starting off, including whether to avoid freeways.
A Hertz spokesman says the system is found mainly in larger cars and sports utility vehicles and "there are people who insist on having it every time they rent, especially business people." But he said it was impossible to predict whether the devices would become more commonplace. Customers can book the service, based on availability, adding $8 a day to the normal rental charge.

Avis has deployed "OnStar," a system developed by parent General Motors, in a "small percentage" of its fleet and is testing an expanded version of the same system that offers other services. "OnStar" is a system that with the push of a button can put the driver in touch with a command center in an emergency. Avis offers the service as a "preference" customers can request, and doesn't charge extra for it. Bureau Report