Who Owns Enterprise Rent-A-Car?
Updated on February 25, 2019 by Kristin
Categories: Car Rental Tips
Enterprise Rent-A-Car is a brand of Enterprise Holdings, which is owned by the Taylor family based in St. Louis, Missouri. The Taylors' ties to car rentals go all the way back to 1957, when Jack Taylor launched Executive Leasing with seven vehicles.
In addition to the namesake brand, Enterprise Holdings also owns Alamo Rent a Car and National Car Rental. Combining all three sister companies, the parent company is the largest rental car firm in the world based on its revenue and vehicles. Its brands are similar overall, but focus on different segments of the market. The Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand offers more locations and some extra perks compared with Alamo, which focuses on the leisure travel segment of the car rental business. National Car Rental is considered to be the most premium brand of the three.
Enterprise is likely to be an option for renting a car no matter where you are in the world, as it counts more than 7,800 locations around the globe. It's likely you'll see several locations in a certain city or region, as the company focuses on having branches in neighborhoods.
History of Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Enterprise Rent-A-Car harkens back to Jack Taylor's first company, Executive Leasing, which started operations in 1969. The name came from the USS Enterprise, the aircraft carrier Taylor served on in World War II.
Over the decades, Enterprise has grown its services and locations, and saw big momentum in the early 1990s. It opened its first international location in Windsor, Canada in 1993, and then expanded to Europe in 1994 with a location in Reading, England. A year later, the car rental provider opened its first airport branch in Denver.
Enterprise has also grown several companies under its brand, including the Exotic Car Collection by Enterprise and Enterprise Fleet Management for corporate rentals.
How to Make the Most of Renting from Enterprise
There are several ways to make the most of your rental experience:
Join the frequent renter program. The free Enterprise Plus loyalty program lets members earn one point per dollar spent on their base rental rate. You can then redeem those points for free rental days.
Use the app. Make sure to download the Enterprise app, which provides a quick, easy way to manage reservations and contact roadside assistance. One nifty feature of the app is that it allows you to set a "favorite" location to save the pain of searching through all of the branches.
Schedule a pickup. If you need to get to the pickup location, don't call an Uber just yet. Enterprise is known for picking up passengers and taking them to the rental office. All you have to do is call the rental office at least two hours ahead of your reservation to schedule the pickup. Note that this is only available during that location's business hours and is not available at airports.
Check out Enterprise partners. Enterprise partners with top travel brands, such as Hilton and Amtrak, as well as some airlines. This allows you to earn rewards with those programs when you rent a car. Make sure to ask about this benefit at the rental desk.
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