National, Enterprise, And Alamo Earn Top Customer Experience Ratings For Rental Car Agencies, According To Temkin Group

Sixth Annual Temkin Experience Ratings Evaluates 294 Companies Across 20 Industries

 National Rent A Car, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Alamo Rent A Car deliver the best customer

 experience in the rental car industry, according to the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual 

ranking of companies based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

National and Enterprise tied for the top spot out of 11 rental car agencies in this year's ratings,

 coming in 142^nd overall out of 294 companies across 20 industries. Alamo came in second with

 an overall rank of 166^th. These three agencies also earned the highest scores in 2015; although, 

Alamo fell from first place to second place after its score dropped a dramatic nine percentage points.

 In fact, of the 11 rental car agencies included in this study, Fox Rent A Car was the only one to 

improve its score in the past year.

"Congratulations to National, Enterprise, and Alamo for continuing to set the bar for customer 

experience in the rental car industry," states Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.

At the other end of the spectrum, Dollar received the lowest score in the industry with a rating

 of 36%, which put it in 292^nd place overall. Dollar is no stranger to the bottom of the list as it

 has spent four of the past five years there. In addition, three other rental car agencies received

 "very poor" scores (below 50%) this year: Thrifty, Advantage Rent-A-Car, and Fox Rent a Car.

Overall, the rental car industry averaged a 52% rating in the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings and 

placed 17^th out of 20 industries. The average rating of the industry decreased by eight percentage

 points between 2015 and 2016, dropping from 60% to 52%.

The ratings of all rental car agencies in the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings are as follows:

• National Rent a Car (61%)
• Enterprise Rent-A-Car (61%)
• Alamo Rent A Car (59%)
• Hertz (53%)
• Avis (51%)
• ACE Rent A Car (50%)
• Budget (50%)
• Fox Rent A Car (49%)
• Advantage Rent-A-Car (49%)
• Thrifty (45%)
• Dollar (36%)

To generate these ratings, Temkin Group asked 10,000 U.S. consumers to evaluate their recent

 experiences with a company across three dimensions: success (can you do what you want to do?),

 effort (how easy is it to work with the company?), and emotion (how do you feel about the interactions?). 

Temkin Group then averaged these three scores to produce each company's Temkin Experience Rating.

In these ratings, a score of 70% or above is considered "good," and a score of 80% or above is

 considered "excellent." In this year'sTemkin Experience Ratings, 20% of companies earned a

 "good" or "excellent" score, while 44% received a "poor" or "very poor" score.

The 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings, along with other ratings, can be accessed at the Temkin

 Ratings website,www.TemkinRatings.com.

The free report, "2016 Temkin Experience Ratings," is available for download at the Custome

r Experience Matters^® blog (ExperienceMatters.wordpress.com) and at the Temkin Group website,

 www.TemkinGroup.com.

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Enterprise Tops J.D. Power Survey For Rental Car Satisfaction

(Photo: Tony Gutierrez, AP)

When it comes to renting a car, customers are feeling very satisfied, according to a J.D. Power study released Wednesday.

From cost, to the ease in picking up and dropping off a vehicle, the overall satisfaction level when renting a car at an airport location jumped to 798 out of 1,000 points, the highest since 2006, in the 2015 J.D. Power North America Rental Car survey. .

“It‘s . .. . a combination of improved service by rental car agencies as well as a more informed consumer,'' says Rick Garlick, global travel and hospitality practice lead at J.D. Power.

In recent years, the car rental process has become simpler, from mobile check-in to "select and go,''.where renters can head straight to the parking lot, choose a car, and drive off without ever stopping at the counter, Garlick says. Such efficiency may be a key reason why for the first time, those renting cars for business are happier than those picking up a car for a vacation. Satisfaction among business customers was 802 points vs. a customer satisfaction score of 796 for those who were renting for personal reasons.

Millennials are also playing a role. They comprise 34% of car renters, and are more satisfied than their Boomer or Gen X peers, with a score of 834 when it comes to business-related rentals, and 809 for leisure trips.

“Millennials, who most people think are the most critical consumers, are actually in this case the happiest people,'' Garlick says. "They tend to get on social media more. (and) we find there’s increased satisfaction with both reading social media commentary and leaving social media commentary.''

The major rental car companies made double digit gains in the last year, but it was Enterprise that  once again came out on top. It scored 831 points, followed by National which netted 818,  and Alamo with a score of 807.

Favorable impressions of the service provided by a rental site’s shuttle bus or van improved the most, leaping 37 points on the index. Satisfaction with rental car costs and fees improved by 29 points, while the experience of picking up a vehicle climbed 26 points.

The survey polled 12,101  customers who’d rented a vehicle at an airport location for business or leisure between Aug. 2014 and Aug. 2015.

Customer satisfaction index ranking
(Based on a 1,000-point scale)

Enterprise: 831
National: 818
Alamo: 807
Industry average: 798
Avis: 795
Hertz: 794
Budget: 785
Dollar: 768
Thrifty: 733

Note: Included in the study but not ranked are ACE Rent A Car, Advantage Rent A Car, Fox Rent A Car and Payless.

Source: J.D. Power 2015 North America Rental Car Satisfaction  Study

 Charisse Jones, USA TODAY

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Launches In Denmark

Continuing its expansion into Europe, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has launched in Denmark through a new joint venture between two well-established Danish businesses.

Danske Bank-owned Nordania Leasing and Semler Group, one of Denmark's largest vehicle retailing and servicing operations, have joined forces to create the new car rental business, which will operate a network of Enterprise Rent-A-Car branches across Denmark.

The company opened a branch at Copenhagen airport on 17 February, has another location already planned to serve customers at Jutland's Billund airport and intends to open more sites throughout the country.
The proposed network of Enterprise Rent-A-Car branches in Denmark will be sited at key airport and transport hubs in order to meet the needs of business and leisure travellers. Branches will also be opened at existing Semler Group dealerships across the country to service customers from local communities.

The joint venture between Nordania Leasing and Semler Group sees the co-operation of two successful Danish organisations, which are already recognised for their superior customer care and understanding of the transport needs of businesses and consumers. All of Enterprise's international partners have been selected for their dedication to customer service.

Head of sales and member of executive board at Nordania Leasing, Henrik Rohmann-Sonderby, said: "Through this partnership we believe we have the opportunity to provide a genuinely new option to everyone looking to rent a vehicle inDenmark. Under the global Enterprise banner, we will combine Danish automotive expertise with a world-renowned culture of customer service."

"We are seeing demand for car hire grow throughout the country, as people want more flexibility and the ability to access vehicles in a range of different ways. Through our partnership with Enterprise we believe that we have the right support to become a major player in the sector."

Peter A. Smith, vice president of global franchising at Enterprise, said: "Establishing the brand inDenmark is significant as it was one of the last countries inEurope where Enterprise has not been available to date. Both Semler and Nordania have a strong vision as well as the infrastructure to deliver against a clear business plan for growth."

"Enterprise is built on customer satisfaction and I am convinced that we have chosen the right partners to carry on this legacy. We're looking forward to working with this very motivated and successful team to continue to grow the Enterprise business across the world, providing customers with more choice and – of course – outstanding service."

Nordania Leasing provides car finance for private individuals and businesses, as well as leasing vans, trucks, machinery, equipment and property for corporations. It employs 200 dedicated employees and has a long track record for sound business management and customer support.

Semler Group is the largest automotive group in Denmark with almost 100 years' experience in the import and sale of cars. The company employs more than 1,600 people and has a network of more than 50 dealerships acrossDenmark. Many of these will also become Enterprise Rent-A-Car branch locations offering full car and van hire services – alongside the traditional car dealerships.

A planned program of international expansion during the last two years has resulted in the growth of the Enterprise network into almost every European country.

With the inclusion of Denmark, the Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand is currently available in 32 countries inEurope and the Middle East. These are Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia,Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK.

The company will become operational in additional countries throughout EMEA in the coming months.

Worldwide Enterprise has operations in more than 70 countries.

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