In addition to buying a lot of cars, companies like Hertz also sell a lot. Typically, car rental companies buy most of their vehicles through buyback or depreciation programs from vehicle manufacturers. Under these programs, manufacturers agree to buy back vehicles at a specific time and/or price in the future, subject to certain conditions, or […]

With fleet sizes ranging from six to seven figures, it’s no surprise that car rental companies are the largest buyers of cars and trucks in the United States. While exact numbers for the industry are elusive, it’s not hard to get a rough idea. According to annual reports from Hertz, Avis and Dollar Thrifty, car […]

To make it easier to compare car rental prices across makes and categories of cars, the Association for Car Rental Systems and Standards (ACRISS) has developed a coding system that describes the size, number of doors, transmission type (manual/automatic) and whether the car is equipped with air conditioning – all coded in four letters. Car […]

The car rental industry is an incestuous business. In the car rental industry, everyone is connected. The largest car rental conglomerate is Enterprise Holdings, which owns Alamo, Enterprise and National. It is privately owned and larger than the Avis Budget Group, which owns Avis, Budget and Payless. Meanwhile, Hertz Global Holdings owns Hertz and Dollar […]

Airport car rental began at Willow Run, Detroit in 1946. In 1962, Avis adopted its iconic slogan “We Try” to positively assert itself as the second largest car rental company in the United States after Hertz. The slogan was used for 50 years until a rebrand in 2012 delivered a new slogan – “This is […]

Hertz invented the low-floor passenger bus, which is a common transfer transport at airports to off-site rentals. The low floor and extra space reduced loading times, increased passenger access and was originally exclusive to Hertz. Hertz invented the low-floor bus

The first American car rental entrepreneur was a guy named Joe Saunders from Omaha, Nebraska. He began leasing the Ford Model T in 1916. By the next year, his Ford Livery Company was leasing 18 Model Ts for 10 cents a mile. Saunders renamed his company several times – to Saunders Drive-It-Yourself System, and then […]