Hertz expects annualized savings of $150 million to $170 million in 2009 from the job cuts, it said. It expects to take a fourth-quarter charge of $20 million to $25 million for the cuts.

The cuts are in the car and equipment rental businesses as well as in corporate and support areas in all regions focused on positions that do not have direct contact with customers, Hertz said in a statement.

Hertz will have cut its workforce by 32 percent since August 2006 with the latest round of reductions, it said.

Hertz said it could not predict when its markets would improve. The declines pressured the volume of rentals, the pricing on rentals and the residual values of vehicles in its fleets during the fourth quarter.

The company estimated fourth-quarter net cash flow at about $1.75 billion and said it had ended 2008 with liquidity of about $4.9 billion.

Shares of Hertz were down 47 cents, or 8.7 percent, at $4.92 in midday New York Stock Exchange trade.

(Reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)