5.6 Car Rental
Car rental provides essential mobility for hundreds of millions of people annually. The industry serves travelers without vehicles, business people on trips, and owners awaiting repairs or claims. The $104 billion global industry is dominated by the U.S., which will generate $29.9 billion in 2023 (Bonafide Research & Marketing, 2023). Major firms such as Enterprise, Hertz, and Avis Budget Group control over 94% of U.S. rentals through brand families like Enterprise, Alamo, Dollar, and Budget (Schmidt, 2024).
Rental cars offer convenient personalized transportation for diverse circumstances. The car rental industry seeks hospitality professionals but there are few higher education programs
Classifications within the Industry
Numerous characteristics help classify the varied rental car industry. Rental location divides between airport, local neighborhood, and remote outbound rentals. Car class spans economy compacts to premium SUVs and luxury vehicles. Rental duration ranges from daily to multi-month terms. Technology splits traditional counter service from new app-based platforms. Customer types include leisure tourists, business accounts, and insurance replacements. Partnerships with hotels and airlines target deals. Granular segmentation maximizes inventory utilization.
Rental Car Industry as a Career Path
Rental car professionals require customer service aptitude, sales abilities, and operational expertise. Training programs at major firms like Enterprise, Avis, and Hertz groom managers, incorporating hands-on education in sales, marketing, finance, fleet management, and leadership. Enterprise’s highly-regarded program hired 8,500 college grads in 2019, earning repeated top employer recognition (Auto Remarketing, 2019). Rental careers teach small business strategies in a dynamic service industry.
Basic Policies Professionals Should Know
Standard policies are instrumental in ensuring the smooth and efficient operation of car rental services. Professionals need to memorize the basic requirements for renting a car as well as knowing the internal process for the company they work for.
Customers must meet a minimum age requirement (some states require age 21, while others require age 25), possess a valid driver’s license, and have a credit card to rent a vehicle in the U.S. (FINN, 2023). Accessibility to locations is integral and professionals need to know the routes to access the locations and customer vehicles.
All contracts need to include liability coverage options. Driving without insurance in the U.S. is not legal, and many customers do not own insurance.
Most companies offer a sleuth of technological advancements such as a digital check-in system, accessibility via mobile apps, or keyless access to vehicles.
Each company should have a proper fleet of vehicles. Maintaining these assets is normally the job of management. This means safety recalls should be monitored closely and addressed promptly. Demand data, depreciation models, and strategic acquisition partnerships need to be a part of the asset management policies. The implementation of a rate structuring strategy should strike a balance between market demand, overhead costs, and residual values. This is revenue management as well as yield management adherence.
Finally, corporate rates can be complex. All of the aforementioned may be unique to a company. Management needs to understand rate agreements as well as policy agreements based on corporate agreements.
Overall, well-defined policies ensure consistency and enhance the overall customer experience.
The Future, the Trends, and Car Rental
Rental cars evolve with shifting mobility. Partnerships embed rental options across trips and consumer ecosystems. Electrification increases, especially in urban centers. Autonomous vehicles could enable pilotless rentals. The sharing economy disrupts ownership models while peer-to-peer networks augment supply. While new modes emerge, rentals provide personalized, convenient transport under travelers’ full control. Customer expectations and mobility innovations will shape the future.