"This has been a good year for the travel industry in terms of customer satisfaction, as each travel-related segment we measure has experienced improvements, including airlines, airports, hotels and now rental cars," said Jim Gaz, senior director of travel and entertainment at J.D. Power and Associates. "However, the rental car industry may face challenges in the future as domestic manufacturers consider pulling back on fleet sales to focus on their more profitable retail sales. This has the potential of leading to higher rental car rates and an aging fleet of cars."
Enterprise ranks highest in customer satisfaction among rental car companies for a third consecutive year, receiving an overall index score of 789 - a 21-point improvement from 2005. Enterprise performs particularly well in five of the six factors: costs and fees, pick-up process, return process, reservation process and shuttle bus/van. Enterprise is followed in the rankings by Hertz and National, respectively.
The study finds that only 29 percent of customers waited to pick up their rental car - a 15 percentage-point improvement from 2005. However, the average time it takes to pick up the rental car is 21.5 minutes this year. This is an area the industry needs to address since overall satisfaction drops below the industry average with any wait time that exceeds five minutes.
"Once arriving at the airport, travelers are already in an impatient mood," said Gaz. "Having to wait more than what they feel is a reasonable amount of time to receive the rental car is not a good way to start their rental car experience. Considering that more than 21 percent of customers choose a rental car company based on a previous experience, the pick-up process plays a critical role in impacting customer satisfaction."
The 2006 Rental Car Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 4,133 business and leisure travelers who rented a vehicle at an airport location between January and October 2006.
