The best car rental company

Every car rental company would like to claim that they offer the best benefits and most options. But which is actually the best car rental company?

While this may change depending on when and where you want to rent a car, let's compare the leading car rental companies on three important things: availability, price, and loyalty program.

For this analysis, we consider eight major rental car brands:

These eight brands are all members of three largest car rental companies.

• Enterprise Holdings (Enterprise, National and Alamo).

• Avis Budget Group (Opinion and Budget).

• Hertz Corporation (Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty).

Each major group of car rental companies offers approximately the same number of rental agencies. But Enterprise's fleet clearly stands out as the largest. While this doesn't guarantee that Enterprise always has a car available, Enterprise certainly has more cars to use.

Note, however, that Avis, Budget and Hertz offer car rental agencies in more countries. So these brands might be the best option depending on where you're traveling.

Number of car rental branches

The major car rental company groups each have a vast global reach. But which one offers the most options?

We don't have enough time to count all the locations ourselves. So here's a summary of the reach of each group of car rental companies based on their latest investor filings.

If we look at each rental company individually, the picture is a little more nuanced. Enterprise has more than 9,500 locations in nearly 100 countries and territories, while Alamo has just 1,100 locations in 84 countries.

Compared to Enterprise, the Hertz brand offers fewer locations (around 8,500) but more countries (146). Avis offers even fewer locations (around 5,500) but the most countries (165). This makes it difficult to determine a single winner based on the number of slots alone.

Since the number of locations yielded mixed results, let's turn to each company's fleet size. And this is where we find a clear winner.

In 2022, Enterprise grew its fleet to more than 2.1 million cars. Meanwhile, Hertz Group reached a peak of 547,400 vehicles and Avis' rental fleet averaged 479,672 vehicles in 2022.

That means Enterprise's fleet is about double the combined fleets of Hertz/Dollar/Thrifty and Avis/Budget.

The size of the fleet, coupled with its greater number of locations, makes Enterprise the big winner in terms of availability.

This analysis also made it possible to establish Cheapest and Most Expensive Car Rental Companies, and there was clearly a winner and a loser. For comparable weeklong rentals, Enterprise offered the lowest rates ($480 on average) and National charged the highest rates ($695 on average).

All other car rental companies were similar, ranging between $542 and $589 for a one-week rental.

Once again, Enterprise comes out on top. Business More offers the friendliest loyalty program of the three major car rental companies because:

• It offers members a simple earning rate.

• It offers the least expensive buyouts.

• Its expiration policy is generous and lasts for three years.

Favorite review gives Enterprise some competition through a minimum revenue rate on rentals. However, Avis' extremely short expiration period can make it difficult for travelers to accumulate points over time.

Travelers earn 1 Enterprise Plus point for every dollar spent on car rentals, before taxes, fees, fuel and surcharges. Free rental days start at 600 points.

This means you can earn a free rental day after spending $600 on base rental fees. Enterprise Plus points only expire if a member is inactive for more than 36 months (three years).

Avis Preferred members earn 1 point per dollar spent on rentals and 2 points per dollar spent on accessories, for a minimum of 100 points per rental. Reward days start at 700 points, which means you'll earn a free rental day at least every seven rentals.

Although Avis Preferred does not have blackout dates, reward days are grouped into tiers based on the standard base rate of the rental. A redemption of 700 points will only net you one free rental worth up to $50 at the base rate.

The downside is that Avis Preferred points expire if you don't have qualifying activity at least every 12 months.

Gold is the base level in the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards program. Like Avis and Enterprise, Hertz members earn 1 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards point per dollar spent.

However, Hertz has devalued its Gold Plus Rewards programs twice in the last three years – usually with little or no notice.

As of this writing, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards redemptions start at 950 points for a one-day Standard Rewards redemption or 1,900 points for a one-day AnyDay Rewards redemption. These are significantly higher exchange rates than those charged by Avis or Enterprise.

Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points expire after 18 months of rental inactivity.

A number of popular travel credit cards can save you money on car rentals. Some offer you bonuses for travel expenses in general or car rental expenses in particular. Some offer collision coverage which allows you to decline the “insurance” offered by the rental agency. Some grant you elite status through rental car loyalty programs. Among the cards with rental advantages:

To view rates and fees The Platinum Card® from American Expresssee this page.

Based on all of the above, it's no surprise that Enterprise ranks #1 in overall customer satisfaction, according to JD Power's 2023 North America Rental Car Satisfaction Study. October 2023.

Enterprise maintained this ranking in this report for the third year in a row. National came in second and Alamo received third place in customer satisfaction.

This ranking only considers traditional car rental companies that offer a classic car rental service (e.g. you collect the keys from a human at the counter, drive the car out of the parking lot and return it to the same location where you got it).

However, there are a growing number of car rental alternatives which offer distinctive and compelling features. Many are peer-to-peer rental companies that operate sort of like an Airbnb for cars and include companies like Turo And Move. Since these cars are usually owned by everyday people looking to earn extra income from a car that would sit idle, these companies can often be cheaper.

Another interesting player, Kyté, stands out because it delivers the car to you. If time is money, then Kyte could be a big winner too.

What is the best car rental company?

Enterprise won this contest by unanimous decision. Enterprise offers the largest fleet, lowest prices, best rental car loyalty program and was also ranked #1 in customer satisfaction according to a JD Power study.

That said, Enterprise doesn't offer locations in as many countries as Avis, Budget, and Hertz. If you're traveling outside of Enterprise's 100 countries, Avis and Budget are more likely to be there to meet your car rental needs.