Debt (Narrative) (Details)	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended				1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended									1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended						1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 USD ($)	Aug. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Accrued Liabilities USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Accrued Liabilities USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Registration Statement Effective Period	Dec. 31, 2012 Exchange Offer Period	Dec. 31, 2010 Parent USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Parent USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Letters of credit USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Corporate Debt USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior credit facility USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Senior Term Facility	Mar. 31, 2011 Senior Term Facility USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Senior Term Facility Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior Term Facility Letters of credit USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2011 Senior Term Facility Letters of credit USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Senior ABL Facility USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Senior ABL Facility EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior ABL Facility USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2011 Senior ABL Facility USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior ABL Facility Maximum USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior ABL Facility Minimum USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior ABL Facility Letters of credit USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2011 Senior ABL Facility Letters of credit USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 8.875% Senior Notes due January 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 8.875% Senior Notes due January 2014	Mar. 31, 2012 7.875% Senior Notes due January 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 7.875% Senior Notes due January 2014	Dec. 31, 2012 7.50% Senior Notes due October 2018	Mar. 31, 2012 6.75% Senior Notes due April 2019 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 6.75% Senior Notes due April 2019	Dec. 31, 2012 6.75% Senior Notes due April 2019 Maximum	Mar. 31, 2012 5.875% Senior Notes due 2020 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 5.875% Senior Notes due 2020	Dec. 31, 2012 7.375% Senior Notes due January 2021	Mar. 31, 2012 6.250% Senior Notes due 2022 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 6.250% Senior Notes due 2022	Dec. 31, 2012 Fleet Debt USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Donlen GN II Variable Funding Note USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2012 Donlen GN II Variable Funding Note USD ($)	Feb. 29, 2012 Donlen GN II Variable Funding Note USD ($)	Sep. 01, 2011 Donlen GN II Variable Funding Note USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 U.S. Fleet Variable Funding Notes USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 U.S. Fleet Variable Funding Notes Series 2009-1 USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2012 U.S. Fleet Variable Funding Notes Series 2009-1 USD ($)	May 31, 2012 U.S. Fleet Variable Funding Notes Series 2009-1 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 U.S. Fleet Variable Funding Notes Series 2009-1 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 U.S. Fleet Medium Term Notes Series 2009-2 Notes USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2010 U.S. Fleet Medium Term Notes Series 2009-2 Notes USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2009 U.S. Fleet Medium Term Notes Series 2009-2 Notes USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2010 U.S. Fleet Medium Term Notes Series 2010-1 Notes USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 U.S. Fleet Medium Term Notes Series 2011-1 Notes USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 RCFC Series 2010-3 Notes USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2011 RCFC Series 2011-1 Notes USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2011 RCFC Series 2011-2 Notes USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 U.S. Fleet Financing Facility USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 U.S. Fleet Financing Facility USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2006 U.S. Fleet Financing Facility USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 European Revolving Credit Facility USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2010 European Revolving Credit Facility EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2012 European Fleet Notes USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2010 European Fleet Notes USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 European Securitization USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2010 European Securitization EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2012 Canadian Securitization USD ($)	Nov. 30, 2011 Canadian Securitization USD ($)	Nov. 30, 2011 Canadian Securitization CAD	May 31, 2007 Canadian Securitization EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2012 Dollar Thrifty Sponsored Canadian Securitization USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Dollar Thrifty Sponsored Canadian Securitization USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Dollar Thrifty Sponsored Canadian Securitization CAD	Dec. 31, 2012 Australian Securitization USD ($)	Nov. 30, 2010 Australian Securitization EUR (€)	Dec. 31, 2012 UK Leveraged Financing USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 UK Leveraged Financing EUR (€)
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Outstanding standby letters of credit											$ 681,400,000		$ 626,600,000
Aggregate maximum borrowings				1,950,000,000											1,400,000,000			200,000,000				1,800,000,000				1,500,000,000																1,000,000,000	900,000,000	850,000,000		2,438,800,000	2,238,800,000	2,188,000,000		2,438,800,000	184,300,000	1,200,000,000	749,800,000	598,000,000	600,000,000	500,000,000	400,000,000		190,000,000	165,000,000	291,200,000	220,000,000.0	529,400,000	400,000,000	529,400,000	400,000,000	226,100,000	201,000,000	200,000,000	225,000,000		150,700,000	150,000,000	259,400,000	250,000,000	314,000,000	195,000,000
Increase in the credit agreement's borrowing capacity															750,000,000																																		250,000,000
Debt Instrument, Restrictive Covenants, Cash Dividend to Parent as Percentage of Greater of Specified Amount and Consolidated Tangible Assets																1.00%
Debt Instrument Restrictive Covenants Percentage of Net Income from 1, January 2011 Through most Recent Fiscal Quarter used for Calculation of Additional Cash Dividend to Parent	50.00%													50.00%
Debt Instrument, Restrictive Covenants, Cash Dividend to Parent																							200,000,000
Debt Instrument, Restrictive Covenants, Additional Cash Dividend to Parent Borrowing Base Availability Required																								200,000,000
Debt Instrument, Restrictive Covenants, Additional Cash Dividend to Parent Borrowing Base Availability for which Compliance of Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio is Required																							400,000,000
Debt Instrument, Restrictive Covenants, Percentage of Tangible Assets used for Calculation of Cash Dividend to Parent																					1.00%
Additional aggregate principal issued																																250,000,000			700,000,000			500,000,000
Interest rate (as a percent)	5.25%									5.25%																		8.875%		7.875%	7.50%		6.75%			5.875%	7.375%		6.25%																								8.50%
Write off of Deferred Debt Issuance Cost																											1,200,000		2,000,000.0
Repayments of Debt																			286,000,000	213,500,000							162,300,000
Initial conversion rate for $1,000 principal amount (in shares)	120.6637									120.6637
Denomination of the principal amount of notes used to determine cash to be paid on conversion of convertible senior notes	1,000									1,000
Original debt issuance discount	117,900,000									117,900,000
Effective interest rate at issuance (as a percent)	12.00%									12.00%
Minimum closing common stock price per share (in dollars per share)									$ 10.77
Minimum number of trading days within 30 consecutive trading days during which the closing common stock price per share exceeded the conversion price for the notes to be redeemable									20 days
Number of consecutive trading day periods within which the closing common stock price per share exceeded the conversion price for at least 20 trading days for the notes to be redeemable									30 days
Covenant compliance period							365 days	395 days
Restricted Net Assets of Subsidiaries as Percentage of Total Consolidated Net Assets Greater than	25.00%
Special Interest Rate Per Annum for First 90 Days of Default																																	0.25%
Period of initial default per registration payment arrangement																																	90 days
Increase in special interest (as a percent)																																	0.25%
Period of subsequent default per registration payment arrangement																																	90 days
Maximum increase in special interest (as a percent)																																		0.50%
Fixed charge coverage ratio																								1
Availability Under Borrowing Base Limitation	1,181,400,000											1,146,000,000					8,000,000				1,146,000,000				1,010,400,000															35,400,000	0				0													0			7,900,000				0		0				0
Variable Interest Entity, Consolidated, Carrying Amount, Assets	440,800,000	456,300,000
Variable Interest Entity, Consolidated, Carrying Amount, Liabilities	440,300,000	455,800,000
Interest expense	649,892,000	699,718,000	773,427,000		88,500,000	87,800,000
Short Term Borrowings Maximum Maturity Period	3 months
Short-term borrowings weighted average interest rate	2.10%
Other Short-term Borrowings	$ 5,718,700,000
Debt Instrument, Covenant Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio Number of Quarters																					1 year