Avis Budget Group's commercial car rental pricing in the
Americas declined 1 percent year over year in the third quarter, but an
increase in leisure rates pushed overall pricing up 2 percent.
The pricing turnaround helped push revenue in the Americas
up 3 percent year over year to $1.8 billion. CEO Larry De Shon said Avis Budget
has been managing its fleet aggressively and "industry fleet levels were
reasonably tight relative to demand during the quarter." Avis Budget's demand-fleet-pricing
system, which can adjust rates several times per day in markets with high
demand and tight fleets, also contributed to the pricing improvement, he said.
While commercial rates decreased, commercial rental volume
increased slightly, and the company retained more than 99 percent of its accounts
during the quarter, De Shon said. Avis Budget is adding new corporate accounts selectively,
he said.
Total rental day volume in the Americas increased 2 percent
year over year during the quarter, and the average rental fleet size increased
1 percent.
Outside the Americas, both rental volume and fleet increased
4 percent, but pricing decreased 2 percent. Europe has been weaker than
expected, in part because "security concerns affected summer demand,"
De Shon said.
Avis
Budget reported a net income of $209 million, up from $184 million in the third
quarter of 2015.