Anyone have an on-site Rental Car operation that's not a franchise?

[XDCX]

I received a PM from one of our members who was wondering if any of our fellow members had an on-site Rental Car operation that wasn't a franchise.

Our member wants the convenience of having rental cars on-site but doesn't want to be a franchisee and have all the hassles of running a rental car operation.

Over the years I've seen several dealerships with Enterprise Rental Car offices and I always assumed there was some arrangement where Enterprise ran the operation and the dealer received some payment in the form of rent or commissions.

Are there any options other than Enterprise? Would a non-franchised Used Car dealer attract a rental car company's interest or would they likely be interested in franchise dealers only?

[jayhawk]

just stated with hertz as an agent 4-5 weeks ago. not going to be a big profit center, but at least we will have cars for our customers, and we will be able to profit somewhat from the effort. nothing against enterprise but their service got progressively worse and they continuosly had a shortage of cars, with NO PROFIT FOR US.

[rd3311]

Are there any options other than Enterprise? Would a non-franchised Used Car dealer attract a rental car company's interest or would they likely be interested in franchise dealers only?

Avis does the same as Enterprise or Hertz as well by setting up offices in franchised stores. They all want the IRR (insurance replacement rentals) especially if you have a decent sized body shop operation, so they can get more longer term rentals rather than the over night warranty tickets. You get paid for servicing their cars and a percentage of the gross dollar sales. The trick is having like make cars on hand to get the higher daily rate for warranty reimbursement.

For example on a KMA warranty ticket if the customer is in a Kia replacement rental you can bill $5 more than a non Kia replacement car.

Payless does the same thing, except you buy the franchise and staff it yourself. It is a good deal because you can also get their car sales franchise with which you get a chance to buy their at risk cars and attend their closed auction sales.

[57years]

Just an FYI on Hertz: We had Hertz in our dealership for 2 years. One day my clerk was unable to verify a reservation on the Hertz computer. Called the next level up at Hertz, and 2 days later we were told that Hertz had terminated our office.

[rd3311]

Just an FYI on Hertz: We had Hertz in our dealership for 2 years. One day my clerk was unable to verify a reservation on the Hertz computer. Called the next level up at Hertz, and 2 days later we were told that Hertz had terminated our office.

One more point here is that when doing service work on fleet cars get their credit card and bill Avis, Hertz, etc when you close the R.O. otherwise it may take time to get paid.

Same with the commissions, match the numbers upfront at the end of the month and hold them responsible for the amount owed to you.

[conn02]

We used to participate in the Chrysler DRAC program. But a year before the BK we went on our own and purchased program cars for rentals. not much in the way of profit but allows us flexibility

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by conn02

We used to participate in the Chrysler DRAC program. But a year before the BK we went on our own and purchased program cars for rentals. not much in the way of profit but allows us flexibility

If I can ask, was it difficult to get insurance coverage for an in-house rental car operation or were you able to add it to your existing policy?

Additionally, did you set up the in-house rental car as a separate corporation or did you determine it wasn't necessary to have a corporate shield to protect the dealership?

[conn02]

not difficult at all had several companies that specialize in this sort of coverage want to write it. Understand, we are talking about less than 15 units for three locations all in the same city. Most independent agents should be able to find an underwriter to quote this coverage

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by conn02

not difficult at all had several companies that specialize in this sort of coverage want to write it. Understand, we are talking about less than 15 units for three locations all in the same city. Most independent agents should be able to find an underwriter to quote this coverage

Thanks for the information - that's good to know.