Enterprise Car Rental
The Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company is a privately held St. Louis, Missouri-based rental car company serving customers in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Ireland, Puerto Rico and the U.K.. They are also the owners of the Vanguard Automotive Group, operator of National Car and Truck Rental and Alamo Rent A Car in North America.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car is the largest rental car company in North America, and has more than 6,900 offices. Enterprise is currently number 16 on the Forbes “500 Largest Private Companies in America” list.
The company is named after the Yorktown class aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, on which founder Jack Taylor served in World War II.
According to Auto Rental News, their 2006 (fiscal year ending July 31) U.S. revenue was US$9.04 billion with a fleet of approximately 720,000 vehicles. The Detroit News reports that Enterprise currently purchases 7% of all new automobiles sold in the United States. As of 2005, they had 5,399 “local market” locations (91% of all transactions), and 419 airport locations (9% of all transactions).
Enterprise’s primary focus is the local rental car market, specializing in car rentals to consumers who need a replacement car as the result of an accident, mechanical repair or theft, or who require a vehicle for a special occasion such as a short business or leisure trip. In the late 1990s, Enterprise Rent-A-Car also began expanding its operations to include the airport market, and now serves airports in the United States, Canada, the UK and Ireland.
The main television advertising campaign for Enterprise Rent-A-Car shows a car wrapped in brown paper, and features the slogan “Pick Enterprise, We’ll pick you up!” Enterprise has become famous for their offer to pick up customers and bring them to the rental office.
Enterprise will rent to all qualifying individuals over 18 years of age (21 in UK), typically without an additional fee for replacement rentals.
