Enterprise, Hertz Tie At The Top Of Rental Study
<B> Enterprise, Hertz Tie At The Top Of Rental Study</B>
By Lynn Woods
The big surprise in the 1999 Domestic Rental Car Study conducted by J.D. Power and Associates was the top rating of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which shared the highest score--hitting 109, compared with the industry average of 103--with Hertz.
Because Enterprise primarily focuses on the insurance replacement business, it had not previously been included in the survey, which is limited to on-airport firms. However, J.D. Power decided to include Enterprise for the first time this year because of the significant presence it has established at airports. The company now has 30 on-airport locations, compared with just 10 last year, according to Enterprise spokesperson Christy Conrad.
Avis also received a high rating (108), while National, with a score of 104, rated just above average. Alamo, Budget, Dollar and Thrifty all rated below average, though J.D. Power research manager Steve Cohen noted that "some have improved more than three points" compared with last year's survey. J.D. Power doesn't release ratings for companies scoring below average, nor would it say which of those firms improved.
Cohen noted that the car rental industry as a whole scored higher than in previous years. Last year, Hertz and National, the top companies, received scores of only 104, five points below the score Hertz received in this year's survey.
The study is based on 7,500 evaluations received from a random sample of car rental customers who were asked to rate several aspects of service: the pickup process, which is the single most important factor, contributing to 34 percent of the overall satisfaction rating; the return process (25 percent of overall satsifaction); rates and value for money (15 percent); the vehicle itself (14 percent); and the reservation process (12 percent).
According to Cohen, Enterprise received the strongest ratings for its pickup process, which includes the comfort of its airport shuttle buses, explanation of car rental features and extra charges, location of cars relative to the counter, availability of directions and general helpfulness of staff. It also received the highest ratings in the rates category, which included extra insurance charges and gasoline prices.
Hertz tied with Enterprise on the pickup process and also was rated highest in the rental car category (including vehicle performance, choice of amenities, availability and cleaniness of the car) and the return process (including speed and ease of return, convenience of location of the return lot, accuracy of billing, helpfulness of the staff and frequency of the shuttle bus), according to Cohen.
Avis and National tied on the quality of their reservation process, with Hertz doing almost as well. While Avis didn't rate as high as Enterprise and Hertz, the company improved on its rating last year and scored very strong on its rates and return process.
Besides rating the major car rental firms, the J.D. Power study also revealed that travelers spend an average of nine minutes from the time they board the airport shuttle bus until they arrive at the rental car location, and seven minutes returning their cars.
Consumer satsifaction levels are highest when suppliers cut the wait time for picking up a car to just over six minutes and the return time to just over four minutes, the study found. Car rental companies that have wait times of 20 minutes or more at either end of the car rental process will lose customers to their more efficient competitors, the study concluded.