Condensed Consolidating Financial Information of Guarantor Subsidiaries CONDENSED CONSOLIDATING STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended										12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011		Sep. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011	Mar. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010		Sep. 30, 2010	Jun. 30, 2010	Mar. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009
Revenues:
Equipment rentals											$ 2,151	$ 1,834	$ 1,830
Sales of rental equipment											208	144	229
Sales of new equipment											84	78	86
Contractor supplies sales											85	95	121
Service and other revenues											83	86	92
Total revenues	746	[1]	713	629	523	597	[2]	605	557	478	2,611	2,237	2,358
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation											992	924	910
Depreciation of rental equipment											423	389	417
Cost of rental equipment sales											142	103	222
Cost of new equipment sales											67	65	73
Cost of contractor supplies sales											58	66	89
Cost of service and other revenues											31	32	37
Total cost of revenues											1,713	1,579	1,748
Gross profit	275	[1]	274	211	138	175	[2]	209	171	103	898	658	610
Selling, general and administrative expenses											407	367	408
RSC merger related costs											19	0	0
Restructuring charge						15					19	34	31
Non-rental depreciation and amortization											57	60	57
Operating income	115	[1]	156	95	30	47	[2]	93	59	(2)	396	197	114
Interest expense, net											228	255	226
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures, net											7	8	(4)
Other (income) expense, net											(3)	(3)	(1)
Income (loss) from continuing operations before provision (benefit) for income taxes											164	(63)	(107)
Provision (benefit) for income taxes											63	(41)	(47)
Income (loss) from continuing operations	28	[1]	65	28	(20)	(17)	[2]	23	12	(40)	101	(22)	(60)
Loss from discontinued operation, net of taxes											0	(4)	(2)
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											101	(26)	(62)
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											0	0	0
Net income (loss)	29	[1]	65	27	(20)	(21)	[2]	23	12	(40)	101	(26)	(62)
Parent Company [Member]
Revenues:
Equipment rentals											0	0	0
Sales of rental equipment											0	0	0
Sales of new equipment											0	0	0
Contractor supplies sales											0	0	0
Service and other revenues											0	0	0
Total revenues											0	0	0
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation											0	0	0
Depreciation of rental equipment											0	0	0
Cost of rental equipment sales											0	0	0
Cost of new equipment sales											0	0	0
Cost of contractor supplies sales											0	0	0
Cost of service and other revenues											0	0	0
Total cost of revenues											0	0	0
Gross profit											0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expenses											7	21	19
RSC merger related costs
Restructuring charge											0	0	0
Non-rental depreciation and amortization											15	13	12
Operating income											(22)	(34)	(31)
Interest expense, net											12	12	40
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures, net											7	8	(4)
Other (income) expense, net											(73)	(62)	(66)
Income (loss) from continuing operations before provision (benefit) for income taxes											32	8	(1)
Provision (benefit) for income taxes											9	3	0
Income (loss) from continuing operations												5	(1)
Loss from discontinued operation, net of taxes												0	0
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											23	5	(1)
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											78	(31)	(61)
Net income (loss)											101	(26)	(62)
URNA [Member]
Revenues:
Equipment rentals											1,037	940	957
Sales of rental equipment											117	73	131
Sales of new equipment											38	41	44
Contractor supplies sales											37	41	49
Service and other revenues											43	46	51
Total revenues											1,272	1,141	1,232
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation											479	463	469
Depreciation of rental equipment											220	214	231
Cost of rental equipment sales											80	51	132
Cost of new equipment sales											30	34	38
Cost of contractor supplies sales											26	30	36
Cost of service and other revenues											19	20	21
Total cost of revenues											854	812	927
Gross profit											418	329	305
Selling, general and administrative expenses											162	149	175
RSC merger related costs											19
Restructuring charge											7	21	12
Non-rental depreciation and amortization											19	26	18
Operating income											211	133	100
Interest expense, net											207	237	176
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures, net											0	0	0
Other (income) expense, net											61	54	50
Income (loss) from continuing operations before provision (benefit) for income taxes											(57)	(158)	(126)
Provision (benefit) for income taxes											(4)	(78)	(51)
Income (loss) from continuing operations												(80)	(75)
Loss from discontinued operation, net of taxes												(4)	(2)
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											(53)	(84)	(77)
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											131	53	16
Net income (loss)											78	(31)	(61)
Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member]
Revenues:
Equipment rentals											742	629	645
Sales of rental equipment											63	48	69
Sales of new equipment											21	18	26
Contractor supplies sales											25	30	47
Service and other revenues											22	23	28
Total revenues											873	748	815
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation											352	331	329
Depreciation of rental equipment											137	130	139
Cost of rental equipment sales											44	36	65
Cost of new equipment sales											17	15	22
Cost of contractor supplies sales											17	20	36
Cost of service and other revenues											7	9	10
Total cost of revenues											574	541	601
Gross profit											299	207	214
Selling, general and administrative expenses											143	121	144
RSC merger related costs
Restructuring charge											9	13	17
Non-rental depreciation and amortization											17	17	23
Operating income											130	56	30
Interest expense, net											6	6	6
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures, net											0	0	0
Other (income) expense, net											37	28	45
Income (loss) from continuing operations before provision (benefit) for income taxes											87	22	(21)
Provision (benefit) for income taxes											28	7	(9)
Income (loss) from continuing operations												15	(12)
Loss from discontinued operation, net of taxes												0	0
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											59	15	(12)
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											62	32	0
Net income (loss)											121	47	(12)
Non Guarantor Subsidiaries Foreign [Member]
Revenues:
Equipment rentals											372	265	228
Sales of rental equipment											28	23	29
Sales of new equipment											25	19	16
Contractor supplies sales											23	24	25
Service and other revenues											18	17	13
Total revenues											466	348	311
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation											161	130	112
Depreciation of rental equipment											66	45	47
Cost of rental equipment sales											18	16	25
Cost of new equipment sales											20	16	13
Cost of contractor supplies sales											15	16	17
Cost of service and other revenues											5	3	6
Total cost of revenues											285	226	220
Gross profit											181	122	91
Selling, general and administrative expenses											75	56	51
RSC merger related costs
Restructuring charge											3	0	2
Non-rental depreciation and amortization											6	4	4
Operating income											97	62	34
Interest expense, net											4	(3)	0
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures, net											0	0	0
Other (income) expense, net											12	12	8
Income (loss) from continuing operations before provision (benefit) for income taxes											81	53	26
Provision (benefit) for income taxes											24	22	7
Income (loss) from continuing operations												31	19
Loss from discontinued operation, net of taxes												0	0
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											57	31	19
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											0	0	0
Net income (loss)											57	31	19
Non Guarantor Subsidiaries SPV [Member]
Revenues:
Equipment rentals											0	0	0
Sales of rental equipment											0	0	0
Sales of new equipment											0	0	0
Contractor supplies sales											0	0	0
Service and other revenues											0	0	0
Total revenues											0	0	0
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation											0	0	0
Depreciation of rental equipment											0	0	0
Cost of rental equipment sales											0	0	0
Cost of new equipment sales											0	0	0
Cost of contractor supplies sales											0	0	0
Cost of service and other revenues											0	0	0
Total cost of revenues											0	0	0
Gross profit											0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expenses											20	20	19
RSC merger related costs
Restructuring charge											0	0	0
Non-rental depreciation and amortization											0	0	0
Operating income											(20)	(20)	(19)
Interest expense, net											4	4	4
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures, net											0	0	0
Other (income) expense, net											(40)	(35)	(38)
Income (loss) from continuing operations before provision (benefit) for income taxes											16	11	15
Provision (benefit) for income taxes											6	5	6
Income (loss) from continuing operations												6	9
Loss from discontinued operation, net of taxes												0	0
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											10	6	9
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											0	0	0
Net income (loss)											10	6	9
Consolidation, Eliminations [Member]
Revenues:
Equipment rentals											0	0	0
Sales of rental equipment											0	0	0
Sales of new equipment											0	0	0
Contractor supplies sales											0	0	0
Service and other revenues											0	0	0
Total revenues											0	0	0
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation											0	0	0
Depreciation of rental equipment											0	0	0
Cost of rental equipment sales											0	0	0
Cost of new equipment sales											0	0	0
Cost of contractor supplies sales											0	0	0
Cost of service and other revenues											0	0	0
Total cost of revenues											0	0	0
Gross profit											0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expenses											0	0	0
RSC merger related costs
Restructuring charge											0	0	0
Non-rental depreciation and amortization											0	0	0
Operating income											0	0	0
Interest expense, net											(5)	(1)	0
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures, net											0	0	0
Other (income) expense, net											0	0	0
Income (loss) from continuing operations before provision (benefit) for income taxes											5	1	0
Provision (benefit) for income taxes											0	0	0
Income (loss) from continuing operations												1	0
Loss from discontinued operation, net of taxes												0	0
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											5	1	0
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries											(271)	(54)	45
Net income (loss)											$ (266)	$ (53)	$ 45

[1] During the fourth quarter of 2011, we recognized $19 of charges associated with the proposed RSC merger. Additionally, during the quarter, we closed 18 branches and recognized restructuring charges of $14. During the quarter, we also recognized asset impairment charges of $3 which are primarily reflected in non-rental depreciation and amortization and principally relate to write-offs of leasehold improvements and other fixed assets in connection with the consolidation of our branch network. In the quarter, we also purchased an aggregate of $32 of QUIPS for $32. In connection with this transaction, we retired $32 principal amount of our subordinated convertible debentures and recognized a loss of $1 in interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures, net, inclusive of the write-off of capitalized debt issuance costs. Interest expense, net for the fourth quarter of 2011 also includes a loss of $3 reflecting write-offs of debt issuance costs associated with the amendment of our ABL facility discussed above. During the quarter, we also recognized a benefit of $8 in cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation related to our provision for self-insurance reserves.

[2] During the fourth quarter of 2010, we repurchased or redeemed and subsequently retired an aggregate of $814 principal amount of our outstanding 7 3/4 percent Senior Subordinated Notes due 2013, 7 percent Senior Subordinated Notes due 2014 and 1 7/8 percent Convertible Senior Subordinated Notes due 2023. Interest expense, net for the fourth quarter of 2010 includes a charge of $25, representing the difference between the net carrying amount of these securities and the total purchase price of $827. The $25 charge includes a $4 write-off of a previously terminated derivative transaction. During the quarter, we also recognized restructuring charges of $15 related to the closure of 22 branches and reductions in headcount of approximately 100, and recognized asset impairment charges of $6. These asset impairment charges are primarily reflected in non-rental depreciation and amortization and principally relate to write-offs of leasehold improvement and other fixed assets in connection with the consolidation of our branch network. Additionally, the income tax provision (benefit) for the quarter includes a benefit of $7 related to a correction of a deferred tax asset recognized in prior periods. During the quarter, we also recognized a charge of $24 related to our provision for self-insurance reserves, comprised of $18 recorded in cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation, and $6 recorded in discontinued operation. The charge reflected recent adverse experience in our portfolio of automobile and general liability claims, as well as worker’s compensation claims. The discontinued operation component of the charge is reflected net of taxes in our consolidated statements of income.