For the second year in a row, Enterprise ranked No. 1 in the JD Power 2026 North American Rental Car Satisfaction Study, with its sister brand National in second, JD Power announced Wednesday morning.
Enterprise scored 739 points out of a possible 1,000, up from its 2025 score of 734. National's score was 726, up from 721 a year prior. Advantage Rent A Car rounded out the top three providers, also coming in third for a second consecutive year, with 717 points, up from 711 in 2025.
The industry average for the 2026 study increased 16 points year over year to 707. Scores for each of the 13 rental brands in the study improved compared with 2025. Payless had the largest improvement: Its score of 699 was up 49 points from last year. Fox's score (677) increased by 34 points, Avis (696) improved by 24 points, while Alamo (716) was up 21 points.
The scores are based on a survey conducted from August 2025 to August 2026 of 7,845 travelers who rented a vehicle at an airport location. The study considers seven factors, in order of importance: ease of rental, pick-up/drop-off, level of trust, vehicle, staff, value for price paid and digital tools.
This year's survey found that customers "care about the specifics, and not just any car will do." Overall customer satisfaction rises 10 points when the reserved class of vehicle is available and rises 18 points when customers can select a specific vehicle from the rental car lot, according to JD Power.
About 90 percent of respondents indicated they received a vehicle in the class they reserved, up 3 percentage points from 2025, and 85 percent said they were able to choose a specific vehicle within the class they were given, up 5 percentage points from a year prior.
"The ability of rental car companies to deliver on customers' specific vehicle preferences is an important part of the overall rental experience, and when the reserved class of vehicle is not available, the overall satisfaction score falls by 111 points," JD Power managing director of travel, hospitality and retail Michael Taylor said in a statement.
RELATED: Enterprise Tops JD Power '25 Car Rental Satisfaction Survey