World's Largest Car Rental Enterprise Marks 10 Years of Customer Service Excellence, Fleet Expansion and Revenue Growth
ST. LOUIS, Oct. 24, 2017 /CNW/ -- Sixty years after it was founded and 10 years after it acquired the National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands, Enterprise Holdings Inc. ("Enterprise Holdings") – together with its affiliate Enterprise Fleet Management – marked fiscal year 2017 by increasing annual revenues 6.5 percent to achieve $22.3 billion.
"Our total revenues not only continued to increase significantly during FY2017, but they actually more than doubled during the last decade along with our fleet size. In addition, since 2007, we have grown our share of the U.S. airport business 10 percentage points," said Pam Nicholson, President and Chief Executive Officer at Enterprise Holdings, the world's largest car rental company.
Enterprise Holdings operates the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands through its network of independent regional subsidiaries and franchises. Among all North American car rental companies, Enterprise Holdings has the lowest leverage ratio and is the only one with an investment-grade credit rating.
FY2017 ended July 31. Enterprise Holdings and its affiliate Enterprise Fleet Management are owned by the Taylor family of St. Louis and, as privately held businesses, do not disclose net income.
Customer Service Excellence
During FY2017, Travel + Leisure magazine honored Enterprise, National and Alamo as some of the World's Best Car Rental brands for the fourth year in a row. Business Travel News magazine again recognized National and Enterprise as the two top brands in its annual Car Rental Survey. Money magazine ranked Alamo and Enterprise as the two best car rental brands. In the U.K., both BusinessCar and Fleet News magazines picked Enterprise as the top car rental brand.
In addition, the Enterprise, National and Alamo brands secured the top three spots in the J.D. Power North American Rental Car Satisfaction StudySM last fall – and for the fifth year in a row. Enterprise, National and Alamo were the only brands to finish above the industry average.
Other key metrics and milestones for FY2017 are as follows:
- Nearly 1.9 million vehicles worldwide
- 9,900 fully staffed neighborhood and airport locations
- 70 million customer transactions globally
- More than 38 percent of U.S. airport business
- More than 25 billion miles traveled by Enterprise, National and Alamo customers, including 400 million miles logged for one-way trips
- 100,000 employees
- More than 90 countries and territories, including North America, Central America, South America, the Caribbean and Europe, plus parts of Asia-Pacific and the Middle East
Enterprise Holdings also added franchise locations in Argentina, Armenia, Curacao, Georgia, Paraguay and Vietnam – and announced a strategic investment and Master Franchise Agreement amendment with Brazilian car rental and fleet management company, Unidas. As the company has noted many times, consistent and focused customer service translates well in any language or culture.
"These kinds of milestones are achieved only one way in an industry as competitive as ours," Nicholson stressed. "They are a direct result of our employees' incredible work ethic and their all-in focus on customer service excellence and efficient operations."
As the National and Alamo brands were being acquired in August 2007, the family-owned-and-operated business made it clear that the two-year integration process – previously highlighted in the Harvard Business Review – would be thoughtful and strategic. At the time, Andrew C. Taylor, Executive Chairman at Enterprise Holdings, said: "All of us on both sides of this transaction are now part of a family-owned company that is dedicated to three things: 1) Listening to and satisfying our customers; 2) Creating opportunities for our employees; and 3) Achieving long-term sustainable growth."
Ten years later, those words still ring true.
Total Transportation Solution
During FY2017, the National brand launched an advertising campaign stressing the importance of providing time-sensitive frequent airport travelers unmatched control. The Alamo brand – the Official Rental Car of Walt Disney World® Resort and Disneyland® Resort – maintained its leadership position as the largest car rental provider to international travelers visiting North America.
The Enterprise brand debuted a new advertising campaign to highlight its comprehensive "rent-buy-share" transportation offerings. In fact, for many Enterprise-branded business lines, expansion was the key to success this past fiscal year:
- Enterprise Truck Rental initiated a significant expansion strategy throughout North America, opening 35 new offices, including locations in Maryland, Indiana, West Virginia and Hawaii.
- Enterprise Rideshare – the fourth largest U.S. public transit provider in passenger miles today – expanded vanpooling programs throughout the U.S. while simultaneously reducing traffic congestion, parking requirements and carbon emissions.
- Enterprise Car Sales expanded into new locations in Arizona and California, and sold 12 percent more vehicles during FY2017 than the previous fiscal year.
- Enterprise Car Club expanded its car-sharing (hourly and daily rental) fleet throughout the U.K., where it now operates with more than 40,000 members and in 25 cities.
- Enterprise CarShare is offered through more than 125 university campuses and hundreds of business and government agencies in the U.S.
- Enterprise Fleet Management expanded its total managed fleet to more than 470,000 vehicles in North America. It also launched a new mobile app that locates maintenance and fuel facilities, receives push-alerts, pulls up maintenance cards, files accident claims with photos, requests roadside assistance, and logs business and personal mileage.
Industry Leadership
"We at Enterprise have always taken a great deal of pride in our partnerships and leadership role, especially at the most grassroots level," Nicholson stated. As a result, during FY2017, the company highlighted the success and economic impact of its local operations in key locations, from Canada to Colorado and Indiana to the Chicago neighborhood of Wicker Park/Bucktown.
Enterprise Holdings further reinforced its leadership in the automotive, travel and transportation industries by submitting comments about the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Federal Automated Vehicles Policy. Among other things, Enterprise Holdings urged NHTSA to recognize the rental industry and fleet management operators as key stakeholders in the development of state and federal policies. Enterprise Holdings also participated in a panel discussion – "Navigating Risk throughout the Mobility Ecosystem" – at the 2017 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and helped address how autonomous technology, cyber threats and other risks and liabilities may impact emerging mobility opportunities.
Additionally, Enterprise Holdings sponsored a special 2017 report titled "Driving Forward: The Future of Urban Mobility," published by the Wharton Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL). As TheInformation.com news site reported in January 2017: "Enterprise, a 60-year-old company that owns and rents more cars in the U.S. than anyone else, is gaining newfound attention in Silicon Valley and Detroit, judging by conversations with tech executives lately. The reason is simple: Enterprise is one of the few companies that can manage large fleets of cars at scale. That's a skill likely to be in demand as more companies launch ride-sharing services using self-driving cars."
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
The Enterprise Holdings Foundation – which operates under the leadership of President Jo Ann Taylor Kindle and Senior Vice President and Executive Director Carolyn Kindle Betz – provided $36.5 million in grant funding to charitable causes during FY2017.
In honor of the company's 60th anniversary, the Foundation announced the launch of its Fill Your Tank program – a six-year, $60 million commitment to address food insecurity around the globe. Other large-scale donations included ongoing support for the Enterprise Rent-A-Car 50 Million Tree Pledge and American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program.
In addition to philanthropy, Enterprise Holdings' CSR efforts include corporate sustainability goals like minimizing waste, reducing energy consumption and increasing access to fuel-efficient vehicles. For instance, in North America, more than 80 percent of Enterprise, National and Alamo vehicles average at least 24 mpg on the highway, and nearly half achieve 24 mpg or better combined (highway and city) fuel efficiency. During FY2017, Enterprise Rent-A-Car received MetLife's first-ever Sustainability Products & Services Award. The award recognizes suppliers that go above and beyond in their sustainability efforts and provide MetLife with innovative and impactful sustainable products, services and partnerships.
For more information about Enterprise Holdings Inc., visit www.enterpriseholdings.com.
SOURCE Enterprise Holdings Inc.
Laura Bryant, Enterprise Holdings, [email protected]
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