Enterprise Tops in Rental Car Company Satisfaction Survey

J.D. Powers and Associates, that consulting firm that has done all those customer satisfactory surveys of car companies, have come out with a satisfaction survey of rental car companies and it has found that Enterprise is the number one rental car company as far as customer satisfaction is concerned.

The current study checked the airport car rental process and focused on six specific factors: costs and fees, pick-up process, the rental car, return process, reservation process and the use of shuttle bus or vans. The highest score possible is 1,000 points. For the 2010 study the average overall satisfaction score is 750. That is up 17 points over the 2009 survey and 16 point over 2008. Every car rental company in the survey improved in customer satisfaction year over year.

Enterprise has ended up first for the seventh consecutive year. Rounding out the list of eight are Hertz, National, Advantage, Alamo, Avis, Dollar and Thrifty. This despite the fact that Enterprise has been sued and is now being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for not repairing recalled cars that it has in its fleet.

Customer loyalty has also improved over the 2009 survey. In 2010, one-third of business travelers and more than one-fourth of leisure travelers said they "definitely will" rent a car from the same brand again. That is a 2 percent increase over 2009 for business travelers and a 5 percent increase among leisure travelers.