Condensed Consolidating Financial Information of Guarantor Subsidiaries CONDENSED CONSOLIDATING STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012		Mar. 31, 2011
Revenues:
Equipment rentals	$ 523		$ 434
Sales of rental equipment	76		32
Sales of new equipment	18		15
Contractor supplies sales	18		21
Service and other revenues	21		21
Total revenues	656		523
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation	246		233
Depreciation of rental equipment	115		99
Cost of rental equipment sales	47		18
Cost of new equipment sales	15		12
Cost of contractor supplies sales	12		14
Cost of service and other revenues	8		9
Total cost of revenues	443		385
Gross profit	213		138
Selling, general and administrative expenses	102		95
RSC merger related costs	10		0
Restructuring charge	0		1
Non-rental depreciation and amortization	14		12
Operating income	87		30
Interest expense (income), net	68		56
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures	1		2
Other (income) expense, net	(1)		(1)
Income (loss) before provision (benefit) for income taxes	19		(27)
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	6		(7)
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	13		(20)
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	0		0
Net income (loss)	13		(20)
Change in accumulated other comprehensive income	10		12
Comprehensive income (loss)	23		(8)
Parent [Member]
Revenues:
Equipment rentals	0		0
Sales of rental equipment	0		0
Sales of new equipment	0		0
Contractor supplies sales	0		0
Service and other revenues	0		0
Total revenues	0		0
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation	0		0
Depreciation of rental equipment	0		0
Cost of rental equipment sales	0		0
Cost of new equipment sales	0		0
Cost of contractor supplies sales	0		0
Cost of service and other revenues	0		0
Total cost of revenues	0		0
Gross profit	0		0
Selling, general and administrative expenses	10		5
RSC merger related costs	0
Restructuring charge	0		0
Non-rental depreciation and amortization	4		3
Operating income	(14)		(8)
Interest expense (income), net	3		3
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures	1		2
Other (income) expense, net	(18)		(15)
Income (loss) before provision (benefit) for income taxes	0		2
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	0		0
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	0		2
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	13		(22)
Net income (loss)	13		(20)
Change in accumulated other comprehensive income	10		12
Comprehensive income (loss)	23		(8)
URNA [Member]
Revenues:
Equipment rentals	250		216
Sales of rental equipment	39		18
Sales of new equipment	8		6
Contractor supplies sales	8		9
Service and other revenues	11		12
Total revenues	316		261
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation	115		117
Depreciation of rental equipment	59		53
Cost of rental equipment sales	24		10
Cost of new equipment sales	7		6
Cost of contractor supplies sales	4		6
Cost of service and other revenues	6		6
Total cost of revenues	215		198
Gross profit	101		63
Selling, general and administrative expenses	34		39
RSC merger related costs	10
Restructuring charge	0		0
Non-rental depreciation and amortization	4		4
Operating income	53		20
Interest expense (income), net	51		51
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures	0		0
Other (income) expense, net	16		14
Income (loss) before provision (benefit) for income taxes	(14)		(45)
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	(22)		(9)
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	8		(36)
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	5		14
Net income (loss)	13		(22)
Change in accumulated other comprehensive income	10		12
Comprehensive income (loss)	23		(10)
Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member]
Revenues:
Equipment rentals	183		149
Sales of rental equipment	26		9
Sales of new equipment	5		4
Contractor supplies sales	5		6
Service and other revenues	5		5
Total revenues	224		173
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation	88		81
Depreciation of rental equipment	37		33
Cost of rental equipment sales	16		5
Cost of new equipment sales	4		3
Cost of contractor supplies sales	4		4
Cost of service and other revenues	2		2
Total cost of revenues	151		128
Gross profit	73		45
Selling, general and administrative expenses	36		31
RSC merger related costs	0
Restructuring charge	0		1
Non-rental depreciation and amortization	4		4
Operating income	33		9
Interest expense (income), net	1		2
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures	0		0
Other (income) expense, net	9		6
Income (loss) before provision (benefit) for income taxes	23		1
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	28		0
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	(5)		1
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	14		10
Net income (loss)	9		11
Change in accumulated other comprehensive income	9		11
Comprehensive income (loss)	18		22
Non Guarantor Subsidiaries Foreign [Member]
Revenues:
Equipment rentals	90		69
Sales of rental equipment	11		5
Sales of new equipment	5		5
Contractor supplies sales	5		6
Service and other revenues	5		4
Total revenues	116		89
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation	43		35
Depreciation of rental equipment	19		13
Cost of rental equipment sales	7		3
Cost of new equipment sales	4		3
Cost of contractor supplies sales	4		4
Cost of service and other revenues	0		1
Total cost of revenues	77		59
Gross profit	39		30
Selling, general and administrative expenses	17		15
RSC merger related costs	0
Restructuring charge	0		0
Non-rental depreciation and amortization	2		1
Operating income	20		14
Interest expense (income), net	1		0
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures	0		0
Other (income) expense, net	3		3
Income (loss) before provision (benefit) for income taxes	16		11
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	3		2
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	13		9
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	0		0
Net income (loss)	13		9
Change in accumulated other comprehensive income	5		5
Comprehensive income (loss)	18		14
Non Guarantor Subsidiaries SPV [Member]
Revenues:
Equipment rentals	0	[1]	0
Sales of rental equipment	0	[1]	0
Sales of new equipment	0	[1]	0
Contractor supplies sales	0	[1]	0
Service and other revenues	0	[1]	0
Total revenues	0	[1]	0
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation	0	[1]	0
Depreciation of rental equipment	0	[1]	0
Cost of rental equipment sales	0	[1]	0
Cost of new equipment sales	0	[1]	0
Cost of contractor supplies sales	0	[1]	0
Cost of service and other revenues	0	[1]	0
Total cost of revenues	0	[1]	0
Gross profit	0	[1]	0
Selling, general and administrative expenses	5	[1]	5
RSC merger related costs	0	[1]
Restructuring charge	0	[1]	0
Non-rental depreciation and amortization	0	[1]	0
Operating income	(5)	[1]	(5)
Interest expense (income), net	13	[1]	1
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures	0	[1]	0
Other (income) expense, net	(11)	[1]	(9)
Income (loss) before provision (benefit) for income taxes	(7)	[1]	3
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	(3)	[1]	0
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	(4)	[1]	3
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	0	[1]	0
Net income (loss)	(4)	[1]	3
Change in accumulated other comprehensive income	0	[1]	0
Comprehensive income (loss)	(4)	[1]	3
Eliminations [Member]
Revenues:
Equipment rentals	0		0
Sales of rental equipment	0		0
Sales of new equipment	0		0
Contractor supplies sales	0		0
Service and other revenues	0		0
Total revenues	0		0
Cost of revenues:
Cost of equipment rentals, excluding depreciation	0		0
Depreciation of rental equipment	0		0
Cost of rental equipment sales	0		0
Cost of new equipment sales	0		0
Cost of contractor supplies sales	0		0
Cost of service and other revenues	0		0
Total cost of revenues	0		0
Gross profit	0		0
Selling, general and administrative expenses	0		0
RSC merger related costs	0
Restructuring charge	0		0
Non-rental depreciation and amortization	0		0
Operating income	0		0
Interest expense (income), net	(1)		(1)
Interest expense-subordinated convertible debentures	0		0
Other (income) expense, net	0		0
Income (loss) before provision (benefit) for income taxes	1		1
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	0		0
Income (loss) before equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	1		1
Equity in net earnings (loss) of subsidiaries	(32)		(2)
Net income (loss)	(31)		(1)
Change in accumulated other comprehensive income	(24)		(28)
Comprehensive income (loss)	$ (55)		$ (29)

[1] Includes interest expense on the debt issued by Funding SPV associated with the proposed merger with RSC, as discussed further in note 5 to our condensed consolidated financial statements.