Rent vs. Hire

Rent - To rent someone/something means you are going to use it to accomplish a task. (a lot of interaction)

I would rent a car so that I can use it to drive around
I would rent a DVD so that I can watch the movie on it

Hire - To hire someone/something means you have a task and you want what you hired to accomplish it for you. (little or no interaction)
I would hire a contractor to build my house for me
I would hire a landscaper to mow my lawn for me
One example I can think of that illustrates my point, and only differs in the use of hire/rent would be:

I'm going to rent a backhoe to do some landscaping.
This implies you are going to be doing the work yourself, and you just need to get the backhoe.

I'm going to hire a backhoe to do some landscaping.
This implies that you are not going to do the work yourself. It implies you are hiring a backhoe (and its operator) to do the work for you.