Rental Car Companies have undergone a period of consolidation. While this was happening before 2020, the pandemic sped up the process. In the US market, there are three main companies: Hertz Corporation, which operates Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty; Avis Budget Group, which owns Avis, Budget, Payless and Zipcar; and Enterprise Holdings, which owns Enterprise, National and Alamo.
Companies once tried to differentiate their brands. Take Hertz, for example. Their namesake brand was marketed towards business travelers, and Dollar was more for leisure travelers. The Thrifty brand was the no-frills version, where you’d find older vehicles and have to endure endless sales pitches at the counter before renting a car.
At the beginning of 2022, rental car prices went through the roof. My usual plan of using Autoslash wasn’t helping me find low rates, and I ended up renting cars with Hertz using the corporate rate from my employer.
I observed that a significant number of vehicles in the Hertz parking lot were not being used exclusively by Hertz. At many airport sites, the parking lots for Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty are situated next to each other. These companies share the same physical space, and upon arrival at the parking lot, customers are required to inform the agent about the specific brand of their reservation.
However, if you rent from Dollar, you could be told to go to the Hertz 5-Star aisle and take whichever car you want. This can lead to problems, as I experienced in Austin, TX, where the Hertz agent assigned me a car, but a Dollar agent also assigned the same car to a different customer.
I’m aware that Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty are all owned by the same company. Previously, the airport staff used to move cars around to distribute the available inventory. However, it seems that now they just tell people to pick out a car from whichever brand has cars left on the lot.
Why do large corporations try to differentiate their brands? The main purpose of having various divisions within a company is to cater to different types of customers. If there is a separate check-in area for Hertz, customers would naturally expect a different experience when renting a car. Although Dollar and Thrifty often share the same desk and staff at many airports, Hertz typically has its own area and distinct branding.
Imagine checking in to a Hampton Inn and being told to take a room at the Homewood Suites across the street. If none of those rooms were suitable, you could go to the nearby Hilton because a room is a room.
When it comes down to it, a car is a car. It doesn’t matter if I’m renting the from Hertz, Dollar or Thrifty, it’s all the same vehicle so I’m going to rent with whichever one of them offers me the best price.
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3 comments
Likely root cause is post-pandemic inventory + demand + supply chain issues.
Avis/Budget isn’t a player?
Also add lack of employees to Bob’s post-pandemic inventory + demand + supply chain issues.
Noted and corrected.