Hertz has been rated the best car rental firm in two recent surveys-one conducted by J.D. Power and Associates, the international market research firm, and the other by Zagat, famous for its restaurant guides. However, a third study by research firm D.K. Shifflet & Associates awarded Avis-which topped last year's Power survey-the highest satisfaction levels.
While each study used a different methodology, the varying results-J.D. Power gave National the number-two place and Avis number three, while Zagat rated Avis the second-best company and National third-show that ranking the rental companies is by no means an exact science. J.D. Power, for example, rated seven car rental firms' airport rentals, using the responses of both business and leisure renters. But Jon LeSage, executive editor at Auto Rental News in Redondo Beach, Calif., noted that by not breaking out business and leisure rentals, the survey doesn't make a distinction between the level of service offered by Hertz #1 Club Gold and that of lower-priced, second-tier companies such as Dollar Rent A Car, which carries a different expectation. "It's hard to compare them," he said.
Perhaps that partially explains the below-average scores of Budget, Alamo, Dollar and Thrifty. (J.D. Power would not release these scores, although it said Dollar was up two points from the 1996 survey.) With Power's industry average for the customer satisfaction index set at 100, Hertz did exceedingly well, with a score of 109, compared with 102 in 1996. National also scored higher than it did last year, 105 compared to 101 in 1996.
The J.D. Power study is based on responses from more than 4,000 questionnaires sent out to car rental customers across the United States, who evaluated 7,675 rental experiences. Respondents rate the companies on 55 attributes. The most important this year are the pickup process (contributing 34 percent to the customer's satisfaction), return (24 percent), rates and value (17 percent), vehicle (15 percent), and reservation process (10 percent).
Perhaps the most significant factor in Hertz's superior rating is satisfaction with its #1 Club Gold express rental service, said Paula Sonkin, J.D. Power's director of client accounts. "The companies that perform the highest do the best in areas most important to customers," she said, noting National's strength is in price value, while Avis excels in pickup, return and reservations.
Zagat's fourth Car Rental Survey, which will be published in June as part of its "1997 Zagat Survey of U.S. Hotels, Resorts and Spas," included not just on-airport firms but also local-market and discount companies such as Enterprise and Rent-A-Wreck. More than 10,000 frequent business travelers rated 11 firms on a scale of 0 to 30 by vehicle condition, service, convenience of location and model availability.
Hertz received an overall average of 23.05, Avis 21.8, National 20.45 and Budget 18.23. Dollar and Thrifty were almost even at 16.71 and 16.07, respectively, and Alamo scored 15.97. Zagat also rated the companies by value, which generally followed the ratings-Hertz was first, Avis second and National third.
That's surprising, considering that the on-airport firms of Hertz and Avis routinely charge the highest rates. But Tim Zagat said "efficient service-especially speed in getting consumers their car-and car quality weigh more heavily in the selection process" than price.
D.K. Shifflet's survey rated eight car rental companies for a three-year period, ending Dec. 31, 1996, for both airport and local, or non-airport, rentals. It was based on a sample of responses from more than 4,000 business travelers. Unlike the Zagat survey results, there was a big difference between those companies that received the highest ratings in the satisfaction index and those in the value index.
Avis, National and Hertz were all rated above the average of 100 in the satisfaction index, with Avis receiving a score of 106, National 104 and Hertz 102. But in the value index, Thrifty scored 109, National and Enterprise tied for second place with 106; Alamo, Avis and Budget all received 101; and Dollar and Hertz got a 93 rating.