Advantage Rent a Car parent company Advantage Holdco has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The company's filing was a "bare bones" filing showing assets between $100 million and $500 million and liabilities between $500 million and $1 billion, according to a note by international law firm Dorsey & Whitney bankruptcy practice partner Joseph Acosta. The company is owned by Toronto-based Catalyst Capital Group, which acquired it out of an earlier bankruptcy in 2014.
"Predominant wisdom is that Advantage Holdco's filing was caused in part by the drop in the value of its car rental fleet, which impacts accessibility to new loans," according to Acosta. "The other piece of the puzzle is that the used car market is virtually frozen, leaving Advantage with little ability to quickly liquidate its fleet of vehicle to generate necessary capital."
Advantage, the fourth-largest car U.S. car rental company, is the second car rental company to file for bankruptcy protection, following Hertz's filing on Friday. Hertz used to own the Advantage brand, having bought it following yet another Advantage bankruptcy in 2009, but it divested Advantage in 2012 as part of its acquisition of Dollar Thrifty.