Bill D - Actually, the reason that you Yanks spell words like 'colour' wrong is all down to a violent Anglophobe, Noah Webster of Dictionary fame, who decided all the spellings ought to be standardized. So naturally he picked the version that the British didn't use wherever possible!

As for 'rent', you would may either rent or hire a car (though the latter is probably moer common), but you would certainly rent a house, flat, or video! Curious, though, you would hire a video player, rather than rent it. We also have the concept of hire-purchase, not rent-purchase.