best car rental company

Each rental car company wants to claim that it offers the best perks and most options. But which car rental company is actually the best?

This may depend on when and where you want to rent a car, but let's compare the major car rental companies head-to-head on three important factors: availability, price, and loyalty programs.

This analysis considers eight major car rental brands:

All eight of these brands are members of three major car rental companies.

• Enterprise Holdings (Enterprise, National, Alamo).

• Avis Budget Group (Avis and Budget).

• Hertz Corporation (Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty).

Each major car rental company group offers roughly the same number of rental locations. However, Enterprise's fleet clearly stands out as the largest. That doesn't guarantee that the Enterprise will always have a car available, but the Enterprise definitely carries more cars around.

However, note that Avis, Budget, and Hertz offer rental car locations in more countries. So, depending on where you're traveling, these brands may be your best option.

Number of rental car locations

Each of the major car rental company groups has extensive worldwide operations. But which one offers the most options?

We don't have enough time to count all the locations ourselves. So, we summarize the reach of each car rental company group based on the latest investor report.

If you look at each rental company individually, the picture becomes a little more nuanced. Enterprise boasts more than 9,500 locations in nearly 100 countries and territories, while Alamo has just 1,100 locations in 84 countries.

Compared to Enterprise, the Hertz brand offers fewer locations (approximately 8,500) but more countries (146). Avis offers even fewer locations (about 5,500) but the most countries (165). Therefore, it is difficult to determine a single winner based on the number of locations alone.

Look at the size of each company's fleet, as the results for number of locations vary. And here we find a clear winner.

During 2022, Enterprise expanded its fleet to more than 2.1 million vehicles. Meanwhile, Hertz Group's vehicle fleet reached a maximum of 547,400 vehicles, and Avis' rental vehicles averaged 479,672 vehicles in 2022.

In other words, Enterprise's fleet is approximately twice as large as Hertz/Dollar/Thrifty and Avis/Budget combined.

The size of the fleet and the number of locations it has makes Enterprise the clear winner in terms of availability.

This analysis also established that: Cheapest and most expensive car rental companies, and the winners and losers were clear. For comparable week-long rentals, Enterprise offered the lowest rates ($480 on average) and National charged the highest rates ($695 on average).

Other car rental companies were similar, with weekly rental rates ranging from $542 to $589.

Enterprise rises to the top again. enterprise plus offers the most traveler-friendly loyalty program of the three major car rental companies. Here's why:

• We provide members with an easy-to-understand rate of return.

• Redemption is possible at the lowest cost.

• Its expiration policy is generous at 3 years.

avis priority The lowest rate of return on rentals gives Enterprise some competitive advantage. However, Avis has a very short expiry date, so it can be difficult for travelers to accumulate points over time.

Travelers earn 1 Enterprise Plus point for every dollar spent on rental cars, excluding taxes, fees, fuel and surcharges. Free rental days start at 600 points.

This means you can get one day of free rental after paying the base rental fee of $600. Enterprise Plus points will only expire if the member is inactive for more than her 36 months (3 years).

Avis Preferred members earn 1 point per dollar spent on rentals and 2 points per dollar spent on accessories, with a minimum of 100 points per rental. Reward days start at 700 points. That means at least for every 7 rentals she gets, she gets 1 free rental day.

Avis Preferred has no blackout dates, but award dates are grouped into tiers based on the rental's standard base rate. Redemption of 700 points only entitles you to free rentals up to a base price of $50.

The downside is that your Avis Preferred points will expire if you don't complete a qualifying activity at least every 12 months.

Gold is Hearts Gold Plus Benefits program. Similar to Avis and Enterprise, Hertz members earn 1 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards point for every dollar spent.

But Hertz has devalued its Gold Plus Rewards program twice in the past three years, usually with little notice.

At the time of writing, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards redemptions start at 950 points for a single-day Standard Rewards redemption or 1,900 points for a single-day AnyDay Rewards redemption. These have significantly higher reimbursement rates than either Avis or Enterprise.

Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points expire after 12 months of no rental activity.

Many popular travel credit cards can help you save on car rental costs. Some offer bonus benefits on travel expenses in general or rental cars in particular. Some offer collision coverage that allows you to opt out of the “insurance” provided by the rental company. Some car rental loyalty programs give you elite status. Some of the cards with rental benefits include:

To view rates and fees American Express Platinum Card®look This page.

Given all of the above, it's no surprise that Enterprise ranked highest in overall customer happiness, according to JD Power's 2023 North American Car Rental Satisfaction Study in October 2023.

Enterprise has maintained this ranking in this report for the third year in a row. National was runner-up in customer satisfaction and third in Alamo.

This ranking only considers traditional car rental companies that provide a traditional car rental service (for example, pick up your keys from a human at the counter, drive your car from the parking lot, and return it to the same location you picked it up). Masu.

However, the number is increasing Alternatives to car rental It offers some outstanding and attractive features. Many are peer-to-peer car rental companies, operating something like an Airbnb for cars, and include companies such as: Turo and Moving. Prices from these companies are often lower because these cars are usually owned by regular people who are looking to make some side income with their abandoned cars.

Another interesting player is Kaite, it stands out because it delivers the car. If time is money, Kyte could also be a big winner.

What is the best car rental company?

Enterprise wins this competition by unanimous decision. Enterprise offers the largest fleet, lowest prices, best overall rental car loyalty program, and ranks #1 in customer satisfaction according to J.D. Power.

That being said, Enterprise doesn't offer locations in as many countries as Avis, Budget, or Hertz. If you're traveling outside of Enterprise's approximately 100 countries, Avis and Budget are more likely to take care of your rental car needs.