Each automobile rental company would like to claim that it provides the best benefits and the most possibilities. But which is the greatest automobile rental company?
While this may vary depending on when and where you wish to rent a car, let us analyze the major car rental businesses based on three key factors:
- Alamo.
- Avis.
- Budget.
- Dollar.
- Enterprise.
- Hertz.
- National
- Thrifty.
These eight brands are all members of three larger car rental companies.
- Enterprise Holdings (Enterprise, National and Alamo).
- Avis Budget Group (Avis and Budget).
- Hertz Corporation (Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty).
By availability.
Winner: Enterprise
Each major automobile rental company group has around the same number of rental locations. But Enterprise’s fleet is certainly the largest. While this does not guarantee that Enterprise will always have a car accessible, it does mean that there are more cars to go around.
However, Avis, Budget, and Hertz have automobile rental locations in more nations. Depending on where you are traveling, these brands may be the best option.
Number of Rental Vehicle Locations
The major vehicle rental industry groups all have a large global presence. But which provides the most options?
We don’t have time to count all of the places ourselves. So, here’s a summary of each vehicle rental firm group’s reach based on the most recent investor filings.
| Car rental group | Locations | Countries and territories |
|---|---|---|
| Hertz Corporation (Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty) | More than 10,000. | More than 90. |
| Avis Budget Group (Avis and Budget) | More than 10,000. | Approximately 180. |
| Hertz Corporation (Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty) | Approximately 11,600. | Approximately 160. |
When looking at each rental company separately, the picture becomes more detailed. Enterprise has almost 9,500 locations in nearly 100 countries and territories, whereas Alamo has only 1,100 in 84 countries.
Compared to Enterprise, Hertz has fewer locations (8,500) but more countries (146). Avis has fewer locations (about 5,500) but covers the most countries (165). This makes it difficult to pick a single winner based only on the number of sites.
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Size of Rental Automobile Fleet
Since the number of locations yielded inconsistent results, let’s look at the size of each company’s fleet. And this is where we have a clear winner.
In 2022, Enterprise increased its fleet to more than 2.1 million vehicles. Meanwhile, the Hertz group topped out at 547,400 vehicles, while Avis’ rental fleet averaged 479,672 in 2022.
That means Enterprise’s fleet is roughly double the combined fleets of Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty, and Avis/Budget.
Enterprise is the clear winner in terms of availability because of its higher fleet size and number of sites.
By pricing
Winner: Enterprise
NerdWallet conducted a detailed examination of rental car prices.