Income Tax (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009
Components of Income Tax Expense (Table Details) [Abstract]
Current expense - Federal	$ 4,154,000	$ 749,000	$ 55,101,000
Current expense - State	6,547,000	8,656,000	10,278,000
Current expense - Foreign	3,762,000	4,220,000	1,288,000
Current expense - Total	14,463,000	13,625,000	66,667,000
Deferred expense - Federal	76,936,000	85,866,000	33,028,000
Deferred expense - State	1,145,000	3,624,000	2,820,000
Deferred expense - Foreign	(631,000)	0	0
Deferred income taxes	77,450,000	89,490,000	35,848,000
Total	91,913,000	103,115,000	102,515,000
Deferred Tax Assets (Liabilities) (Table Details) [Abstract]
Federal net operating loss carryforwards	63,057,000	24,612,000
State net operating loss carryforwards	16,506,000	12,318,000
Foreign net operating loss carryforwards	2,989,000	595,000
Accrued liabilities	48,928,000	53,777,000
Property assets	0	1,141,000
Other assets including credits	65,000	1,261,000
Foreign tax credit carryforwards	4,434,000	2,207,000
Total deferred tax assets	135,979,000	95,911,000
Valuation allowance	(930,000)	(5,951,000)
Rental merchandise	(327,222,000)	(244,662,000)
Property assets	(25,508,000)
Intangible assets	(80,030,000)	(64,250,000)
Total deferred tax liabilities	(432,760,000)	(308,912,000)
Net deferred taxes	297,711,000	218,952,000
Operating Loss Carryforwards [Line Items]
Number of issues in disagreement with case law applied by IRS	1
Tax benefits if recognized - affect annual effective rax rate	6,900,000
Interest expense related to unrecognized tax benefits	490,000
Accured for payment of interest related to unrecogized tax benefits	1,300,000
Reconciliation of Income Tax Expense (Table Details) [Abstract]
Tax at federal statutory rate	35.00%	35.00%	35.00%
State income taxes, net of federal benefit (expense)	1.90%	2.90%	3.10%
Effect of foreign operations, net of foreign tax credits	0.30%	0.50%
Other, net	(1.40%)	(0.90%)	(0.20%)
Total	35.80%	37.50%	37.90%
Unrecognized Tax Benefits (Table Details) [Abstract]
Unrecognized tax benefits, beginning balance	6,675,000	3,030,000
Additions based on tax positions related to current year	800,000	958,000
Additions for tax positions of prior years	2,650,000	2,928,000
Reductions for tax positions of prior years	(152,000)	(241,000)
Settlements	(317,000)
Unrecognized tax benefits, ending balance	9,656,000	6,675,000	3,030,000
Federal [Member]
Operating Loss Carryforwards [Line Items]
Net operating loss carryforwards	180,200,000
State [Member]
Operating Loss Carryforwards [Line Items]
Net operating loss carryforwards	345,800,000
Foreign [Member]
Operating Loss Carryforwards [Line Items]
Net operating loss carryforwards	$ 10,000,000