usrentacar.co.uk ® Car Hire USA Blog

Hi all,

Usually around this time of year I take a moment to check the U.S. domestic rates to see how they will impact on car hire USA over the christmas period but we’ve been so busy here that I haven’t had the time, then we got an email through from suppliers warning that this year could see Florida Car Hire especially, hit an all time high so I thought I better do a bit of snooping.

I visited 4 supplier sites and searched for a 7 Seater Minivan picking up on the 20/12/13 and returning 1 week later. These were the domestic prices (not prepaid prices);

Alamo Rent A Car

As you can see one weeks rental will cost $495.00 plus tax taking it above $600 per week!

Budget Rent A Car

With Budget we couldn’t even get a quote, they were fully sold out for the dates we required!

Dollar Rent A Car

Dollar Rent A Car at least have vehicles available however for the Christmas period you’ll be asked to pay $1400.49 per week!!!

Hertz

Just under a $1000.00 per week with Hertz… it does have unlimited mileage though

So as you can see Christmas pricing in October is already going through the roof and literally just at the time of writing this we’ve had confirmation that Dollar Rent A Car will be imposing a peak season surcharge of up to 108% for pick up’s between the 19/12/13 and the 31/12/13 in Florida.

So if you’re looking to get Christmas car hire USA, i’d advise getting a move on before all our suppliers following suit and raise their prices.

regards,

James

Hi all,

As I reported back in August I thought there maybe a shortage of vehicles over the Christmas period, so it comes as no surprise that today Alamo Rent A Car and National Car Rental both part of the largest car rental supplier in the U.S., Enterprise, have issued a stop sale (no vehicles available) for 7 and 8 seater’s from the following Florida locations between 20/12/12 & 27/12/12.

Alamo Rent A Car

ORLANDO AIRPORT

SANFORD AIRPORT

PEABODY HOTEL

SHERATON STUDIO

DISNEY CAR CARE

BUENA VISTA PALACE RESORT

DISNEY DOLPHIN

HOLIDAY INN MAIN GATE

SHADES OF GREEN

National Car Rental

ORLANDO AIRPORT

SANFORD AIRPORT

ORLANDO  WALT DISNEY WORLD DOLPHIN

ORLANDO BUENA VISTA PALACE RESORT

ORLANDO DISNEY CAR CARE

SHADES OF GREEN

If you’re looking to hire a people carrier over this time and you think you may get a last minute deal, I can assure you this wont happen. I would expect to see similar stop sales issued with other suppliers shortly.

So don’t delay, book today.

regards,

James

Hi all,

Following on from last year when Alamo opened its first office to service Newark Airport they have today announced the opening of a new office to service JFK Airport.

Customers can access the new Alamo location via the airports monorail system, where they will then take a short shuttle bus  ride to the local office.

Jason Altman, Vice President of Airports for Alamo Rent A Car in New York and New Jersey.

We are pleased to introduce another new Alamo branch location in the New York City area and provide our low rates and no-hassle service to travelers arriving from all over the world, Alamo’s quick and easy process enables customers to conveniently choose their own vehicles, based upon their advance reservation and requested car class, and then simply drive away from the airport.

We are still awaiting confirmation that the office will be available to U.S. Rent A Car customers via the tour operators program but as soon we do it will be bookable online.

regards,

James

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