Vehicle renters happier this year

Travelers are happier with the car rental industry than in the past despite longer lines and problems when picking up or dropping off cars, a survey found.

The survey report by research firm J.D. Power attributed the increased satisfaction to daily rates that have dropped an average of $11 per day in 2017.

“Several other key quality measures — notably, wait times and problems with the pickup and return processes — have not improved over the past four years,” said Michael Taylor, the travel practice lead at J.D. Power. “But cheaper daily rental rates overcome those negatives for most renters.”

But Sharon Faulkner, executive director of the American Car Rental Association, a trade group for the car rental industry, said her data doesn’t show a drop in prices. Instead, she thinks car rental companies are simply working harder to make customers happy for fear of getting tarnished on social media sites.

“The last thing I would want would be to have someone attack me through social media,” she said.

Although ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft have taken business away from the taxi industry, Faulkner said the car rental industry has been hurt more by high parking fees charged by hotels.

Satisfaction up 2.2%

The satisfaction rating for car rental users rose by 22 points, to 826 on a 1,000-point scale, according to the survey from more than 11,000 travelers in North America. This comes despite wait times to pick up cars increasing two minutes since 2013 and continued problems with picking up and returning cars, the report found.

Enterprise ranked the highest among rental car companies with a score of 851, followed by National (846), Alamo (828) and Hertz (822), the report said.