Car rental industry statistics 2025

General car rental industry statistics

ConsumerAffairs has compared and summarized top rental car company customer reviews for 20 major car rental brands. Among those are some of the brands owned by the three largest American car rental companies: Enterprise Mobility, Avis Budget Group and Hertz.

1. Enterprise Mobility — the parent company of the Enterprise, National and Alamo car rental brands — leads the car rental market in terms of its number of locations and revenue. The company made an estimated $19.9 billion in revenue in 20226 and has an estimated 5,500 locations.
2. Avis Budget Group is the parent company of Avis, Budget, Payless Car Rental and the car-sharing service Zipcar. In 2022, Avis Budget Group’s revenue was approximately $9.5 billion in the Americas, where its Avis and Budget brands had 4,190 locations. About 70% of Avis Budget Group’s revenue derives from its airport locations, and 64% of its customers use its rental cars for leisure rather than business.
3. Hertz is the parent company of the Dollar and Thrifty car rental brands. Hertz has 5,500 locations, with 1,900 located in airports and 3,600 not in airports. The company’s 2022 revenue in the Americas was about $7.3 billion, of which 70% came from its airport locations. Cars were rented for leisure by 68% of its customers.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Budget were the most popular car rental brands over the past year, according to customers surveyed in January 2024.

Top companies that consumers rented a car from over the past year, according to survey responses:

Market shares of car rental companies

The U.S. market share for Enterprise Rent-A-Car was nearly 44% in 2017, which is a very impressive figure for a single car rental brand. Its parent company, Enterprise Mobility, had an even more impressive market share that year when factoring in its subsidiaries, which combined for a market share of 58.6%.

But that dominance diminished somewhat following the COVID-19 pandemic, and competitors Hertz and Avis made significant gains by 2023.

The influence of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the car rental industry. U.S. car rental revenues declined by about 30% from 2019 to 2020, and it created long-lasting disruption as car rental companies reduced their staff and car fleets.

• Due to reduced demand, major car rental companies sold up to 770,000 cars, the equivalent of 1 in 3 cars that were previously rented to customers. Additionally, 40,000 jobs in the car rental industry were eliminated.
• Hertz filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its U.S. operations on May 22, 2020. However, the company completed its bankruptcy restructuring process on June 30, 2021.
• As consumers began to travel again after travel restrictions were lifted, car rental companies struggled to handle the renewed demand for their vehicles. Coupled with this challenge, there was an industry-wide semiconductor chip shortage, which limited the car rental companies’ ability to replenish their car fleets.
• The combination of high customer demand for rental cars and the limited supply of those cars following the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a jump in rental car prices, which increased from an average of $76 per day in 2019 to $90 per day in 2022.

Revenue statistics

As consumers resumed traveling, attending work events and participating in conferences during the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the car rental industry bounced back. Revenue in 2023 surpassed annual revenue from 2019 by about 8%, marking the first year following the pandemic that the car rental industry’s revenue reached pre-pandemic levels.

An expected annual growth rate of about 1.6% will bring projected industry revenue to nearly $32.5 billion by 2028.

Recent and projected annual revenue for the U.S. car rental market ($B) with year-over-year (YoY) changes

Number of users/renters

In 2023, 48 million Americans used a car rental service, up 19.4% from 2022. This represents approximately 18% of Americans over the age of 18. The number of Americans using rental cars is expected to increase to 52 million in 2028, reflecting a 1.6% annual growth rate.

Recent and projected annual rental car users in the U.S. (in millions)

Impact of car-sharing services

Car rental companies are promoting car-sharing services as an alternative to ride-hailing services like Uber. Ride-hailing services allow consumers to book on-demand cars and drivers; car-sharing services allow consumers to rent cars they can drive themselves for limited periods.

Hourly car-sharing rates range, on average, from about $5 to $15. These low rates make car sharing an affordable alternative to both traditional rental cars and ride-hailing services. Some car-sharing services use a peer-to-peer (P2P) model, in which consumers who own cars can rent out their vehicles to other consumers. Turo — often referred to as “the Airbnb” of car rentals — is particularly well known for its P2P car-sharing services.

Aside from their affordability, many car-sharing companies come with other appealing benefits. A car rented through Zipcar, for instance, may have a dedicated parking space. That said, car-sharing services have their drawbacks as well. Insurance providers often exclude the use of car-sharing services from their policies, so some drivers may need to pay for additional coverage from the car-sharing company that they patronize.

Major car rental companies, including Enterprise and Hertz, have added car-sharing services to their portfolios. Hertz, for instance, reported in its earnings call for the third quarter of 2023 that its car-sharing volume enjoyed 50% YoY growth. Many competing companies — including Zipcar, Getaround and Gig Car Share — offer car-sharing services exclusively, without long-term rentals.

Car rental forecasting and trends

Car rental companies are expanding their fleets with cars that cause less damage to the environment, have lower fuel costs and offer more advanced safety and navigation technology.

Expanded EV offerings

EVs have low fuel costs and produce no tailpipe emissions. Some consumers may be interested in renting an EV to test it out before they purchase one of their own; others may simply be interested in renting an EV to reduce the environmental impact of their driving during their rental period.

The major car rental companies are focusing on expanding EV vehicles across their fleets. In January 2024, Hertz indicated it intends to incorporate a variety of EV models and price points into its fleet and expand its charging infrastructure. In 2023, Avis reported that it is continuing to build its EV infrastructure resources across its footprint, commensurate with its anticipated growth. The company indicated that it has EVs of different makes and models from the majority of its manufacturers.

Enterprise identifies three key focus areas for its long-term electric strategy: customer experience, power and charging viability and equitable access. In 2023, Enterprise partnered with automakers to add more EVs to its fleet and allowed customers to test-drive EVs. It also helped brands like Domino's execute their EV strategies.

Connected cars

Car rental companies are adding more “connected cars” to their fleets. These cars are equipped with communication systems that allow them to share and receive real-time movement and safety data with other vehicles, pedestrians and local infrastructure. The U.S. Department of Transportation believes this technology’s ability to detect road hazards has “the potential to move our society toward zero crashes.”

Connected cars currently make up about 23% of Enterprise’s global vehicle fleet, and the company plans to connect its full fleet by 2026.

References

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