usrentacar.co.uk® Car Hire USA Blog

Hi all,

Today Alamo have agreed to remove their peak season surcharge for all new bookings collecting in July and August 2012 for a limited time.

The removal of the peak season surcharge will reduce usrentacar.co.uk Alamo peak prices by around £25 per week.

Frank Williams Director of Communication said

We are delighted that Alamo Rent A Car have given our customers the opportunity to hire a quality product during peak season without the extra charge.

The new peakless rates are ready to book on our system right now and can be secured with a £50.00 deposit.

Please note once this offer has ended, if you have not secured your rental on usrentacar.co.uk, a peak season surcharge may apply.

regards,

James

Hi all,

Following on from yesterdays fuel policy alteration, Alamo Rent A Car have followed in the foot steps of Budget Rent A Car and Dollar Rent A Car by offering a Florida Car Hire services out of Cape Canaveral.

Located near the port at 6211 N. Atlantic Avenue, the office will run a free shuttle bus service to and from the cruise area during the following hours.

Mon-Fri: 07:30 am 05:30 pm

Sat: 08:00 am 04:00 pm

Sun: 07:00 am 04:00 pm

Alamo’s addition to the area can only be a positive move for customers as increased competition should see a positive effect on service and rates.

regards.

James

Hey everyone,

For those of you that like statistics and fact based blogs – come on now, dont pretend like this stuff is boring and you’re not a car hire nerd Here are a couple of stats that you might find intresting. Honest! 

While looking at some numbers from a data post from 2011 regarding the amount of cars each major supplier operates versus the amount of revenue generated, we can grab a snippet of which supplier is generating the most revenue per vehicle for car hire in the USA. Its not an exact science but its in the ball park.

Check out these numbers;

We all know that Enterprise/Alamo is the monster player in the market with almost 1 million cars in the market but its surprising to find they are not the top dog when its comes to getting the most revenue per vehicle.

As you can see above the master’s of milking every last dime out of their vehicles is Avis/Budget making on average approximately$14,421.05 per vehicle.

Now the second hand market has been extremely buoyant for the last couple of years, and this is where the car rental suppliers are really making their profits.

So can we assume that Alamo are selling their vehicles before Budget, therefore not getting the most out of the rental revenue but getting more from the second hand market?

If you liked this post and still have a little ‘nerd time’ left to fill why not check the related blog James posted back in December.

Cheers

Simon

Hi all,

Hot off the press (our guys have just finished loading the rates!), we have just been given some discounted prices for new pick up’s with Alamo Rent A Car between the 25/01/12 and the 31/03/12 on every car group in Florida. ***Hooray***.

Both our inclusive and gold rates have been lowered by around 5% offering even greater value for your fully inclusive Florida car hire.

You can book via our website – usrentacar.co.uk or call our reservations department on 0845 226 8523.

I hope some of you can take advantage of these great low rates.

regards,

James

Hi all,

2011 has been hard for the average Joe but for Car Hire USA suppliers things couldn’t have been rosier, statistics show a total revenue of $22.4 billion, an 8.1% increase over 2010.

At this time of year I always like to take a look at the statistics I think are the most important; Number of vehicles, Number of pick up locations and total revenue for the top four car hire suppliers.

Alamo Rent A Car

The number one supplier and largest in the U.S. is The Enterprise group consisting of Alamo, Enterprise and National Car Rental in 2011 they had an estimated 920,861 vehicle on the road being picked up from 6187 locations across America including airports and city locations. They had 2011 total total revenue exceeding $1 Billion.

Hertz

The number 2 car hire usa supplier for 2011  is Hertz. Including their budget brand (Advantage Rent A Car), Hertz had an estimated 320,000 rental cars available from 2500 pick up locations bringing in a combined approximate revenue of $4,241,000,000.

Budget Rent  A Car

The Avis/Budget Group consisting of Avis Rent A Car and Budget Rent A Car operated approximately 285,000 USA rental cars out of 2,300 locations bringing in a estimated yearly revenue of 4,110,000,000.

Dollar Rent A Car

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group consisting of Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental had 118,000 vehicles on the road from an estimated 445 USA locations bringing in a revenue of appropriately $1,645,000,000.

As you can see from these statistics the battle to buy Dollar Rent A Car between Hertz and Budget is very important in securing the number 2 spot in the U.S.

Enterprise continue to dominate the U.S. market in 2011 and the likely hood of anyone toppling them is very slim.

regards,

James

Hi all,

For the past 3 years we have been keeping a keen eye on the annual JD Power Rental Car satisfaction study.

Now in its 16th year, the study measures overall domestic customer satisfaction with USA car rentals at airports by examining six factors (listed in order of importance): costs and fees; pick-up process; return process; rental car; shuttle bus/van; and reservation process.

Overall satisfaction in 2011 averages 758 on a 1,000-point scale, up from 750 in 2010, driven by increases in satisfaction across all six factors compared to 2010.

“Rental car companies continue to build upon the improvements made in 2010 and are bouncing back from the lower satisfaction levels reported in 2008 and 2009,”

Stated Stuart Greif, vice president of the travel practice at J.D. Power and Associates.

“As positive as this increase in satisfaction is, there remains ample opportunity for rental car companies to further delight their customers in the future, particularly in leveraging technology.”

But who was top I hear you cry?

For the last few years Enterprise Rent A Car have run away as top of the car hire tree…. so did they finish top this time?…..The answer – NO

Well what about Budget Rent A Car?…again NO.

Dollar Rent A Car? – NO

Alamo? – NO

Thrifty Car Rental? – again NO…

The overall winner was little known independent car hire company ACE Rent A Car, a domestic specialist who although have been getting good reviews in the past have never quite managed to hit the criteria for entry as beaten all the muti billion pound companies…. so a massive congratulations to them. It appears they truly do live by their company moto of “Take care of the customer and everything will take care of itself.”

Top 10 Car Rental Companies

1. ACE Rent A Car
2. Enterprise Car Rental
3. National Car Rental
4. Hertz
5. Alamo Rent A Car
6. Budget Rent A Car
7. Dollar Rent A Car
8. Avis Rent A Car
9. Advantage Rent A Car
10. Thrifty Car Rental

Great to see the little guy coming out on top and showing that the advantage of being small is being able to look after the customer correctly.

regards,

James

Hi all,

Three of the four big guns of USA Car Hire released their quarter 3 results this week.

Avis/Budget, Dollar Rent A Car and Hertz all posted extremely healthy results compared to the same period in 2010, promoting the question’ recession! what recession?

The Avis Budget Group reported revenue of $1.6 billion, an increase of 7% versus third quarter 2010. For it’s U.S. arm this represented a revenue increase of 6% mainly due to an increase in volume and additional sales.

Dollar Rent A Car for the third quarter that ended Sept. 30. reported a net income of $66.6 million, or $2.13 per diluted share, compared to a net income of $49.2 million, or $1.62 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2010. Scott L. Thompson, DTG president and CEO stated;

We are pleased that the company is reporting the highest quarterly profit in its history, we remain keenly focused on profitable revenue growth, productivity initiatives, cost control and disciplined fleet management.”

Hertz also reported a strong 3rd quarter with worldwide revenues of $2.4 billion, an increase of 11.3% year-over-year boosted by the growth in U.S. insurance replacement; 30.9% volume growth in their low cost bran; and 14.4% revenue growth in worldwide equipment rental which helped them generate a Corporate EBITDA margin of 42.1%for the quarter.

What about Alamo? I hear you cry. Well Alamo Rent A Car, who are owned by Enterprise Holdings are the only major USA Car Hire company to be privately owned and therefore are not required to post quarter results however they have provided highlights of its fiscal year; recording $14.1 billion in worldwide revenues, up more than 12% from $12.6 billion in 2010, which likewise represented a 4% increase over fiscal 2009.

So in summary Car Hire USA looks extremely healthy, a very buoyant second hand car hire market has helped boost revenue and demand is exceeding supply.

With all this money the major car rental companies are making where would you like to see improvement?

regards

James

Hi all,

Back in September I posted on the usrentacar blog about the vehicle type’s being collected by our customers from Orlando International Airport. This post proved to be very popular and at present is the most viewed post of 2011.

The information collected is supplied by our actual customers either via the usrentacar app or by the post rental review email we send every customer.

Below is a list of Florida Car Hire vehicle types being collected from Sanford International Airport.

n/a – not applicable, supplier doesn’t offer this category.

Please note that the information above is provided by usrentacar.co.uk customers and does not guarentee the make or model described. The information also doesn’t take in to account any upgrades either purchased locally or given free of charge by the supplier.

As you can see the vehicle types generally do not waiver that much from Orlando International Airport, although it was interesting to note that I could find no alternative Convertible being given by Dollar Rent A Car, all our customers received Ford Mustang in Florida.

What vehicles have you collected from Sanford?

regards,

James

Hi all,

Back in July I posted about the current car hire wait times at Orlando International Airport,  today I thought it might be an ideal time to revisit this post and see if any of the supplier have managed to decrease their queue times.

Wait Time is a feature of the usrentacar voucher app, which can be downloaded for free from either the apple store or the Android Market, the app allows usrentacar customers to view the wait time for their specific supplier for that day or display the overall average time for that location. All the times displayed are specific to the customers pick up location and supplier.

Customer’s are encouraged to leave their own wait time which helps us build up the appropriate data.

In July when I posted about the average wait times at Orlando International Airport, Alamo Rent A Car and Budget Rent A Car were top of the tree with an average wait time of 23 mins, 3 months on lets take a look at the results.

Average Supplier Wait Time at MCO

Dollar Rent A Car – Average Wait Time – 12 Minutes

Alamo Rent  A Car – Average Wait Time – 16 Minutes

Budget Rent A Car - Average Wait Time – 17 Minutes

So each of our suppliers Wait Time’s have improved since July, however hats off to Dollar Rent A Car who have decreased their average wait time at Orlando International Airport from 30 minutes to just 12 minutes! Great work guys.

What are you experiences of collecting from Orlando International Airport?

regards,

James

Hi all,

Here at usrentacar.co.uk we talk a lot about rental agreements, the rental agreement is your legally binding contract with the car hire USA supplier which you are asked to sign locally.

I thought it might be an idea to show you what your rental agreement will look like.

Alamo Rental Agreement

1. Rental Agreement No.

Designated by the Rental Agreement number, the rental agreement must be completed at the rental pick up location and should be carried with you in case you are required to prove you are legally in posession of the vehicle.

2. Car Serial Number

Designates the vehicle rented on the rental contract.

3. Rental Date, Time, Alamo Office

Shows the date, time, and Alamo rental station to return the vehicle in which the vehicle was rented.

4. Return Date, Time, City

Shows the requested date, time, and Alamo rental station to return the vehicle without incurring any additional charges.

5. Allowable Drivers

Lists the drivers who are authorized to drive the vehicle. Extra drivers may be added at the time of rental. Additional charges may apply for additional drivers or underage drivers.

6. Additional Options/Other Information

Lists the additional options that may have been selected, such as, an upgrade of car, personal protection options, fuel options, etc.

7. Charges

Lists the itemization of charges associated with the rental. Charges include the base rate of the vehicle, airport fees, state taxes, surcharges, other governmentally imposed fees, and additional options. A total line shows the balance due. This may be paid by credit card (American Express, Diners Club, VISA, MasterCard, EuroCard, traveler’s chaques or cash, United States/Canadian dollars. If you use a credit card, the balance due will be charged at the time the vehicle is picked up. Your signature on the Rental Agreement is also allows Alamo Rent A Car to charge your card with any possible extras at the end of the rental, such as late return of the vehicle.

If at the end of the rental you would like to pay the balance due in cash, Alamo will process a credit of the original charges to your credit card. This credit may appear on a later credit card statement.

The lead name on the confirmed reservation (the primary renter) must be the person whose credit card is used to pay the charges. If the credit card of another person with a valid drivers license is used, that person will become the primary renter and the original name on the reservation will become an additional driver. Additional charges may be applied for an additional driver.

8. Rental Signatures

Confirms the terms of the rental agreement by all persons listed on the rental agreement.

Remember the rental agreement is a legal document between yourself and the car hire supplier, please make sure you have fully read and understand it before signing.

Kind regards,

James