J.D. Power: Higher Car Rental Prices Restrain Satisfaction | Business Travel News

Supply at airport locations has increased, but overall customer satisfaction this year with airport-based rental car companies in North America has remained nearly even with 2021 as fees rise, according to the J.D. Power 2022 North America Rental Car Satisfaction Study.

During the 12 months from August 2021 to August 2022, customer satisfaction with rental companies fell to 829 on a 1,000-point scale based on a survey of 8,445 business and leisure travelers who rented a vehicle at an airport location. The average was one point lower than last year’s results.

The top three rankings were repeats from 2021: Enterprise first at 865, National second at 859 and Alamo third at 837. Hertz’s score increased 10 points to 836, landing it in fourth place, a spot it shared last year with Avis, which dropped 10 points and came in fifth. 

The study looks at six factors “from reserving to returning and everything in between,” J.D. Power managing director of travel, hospitality and retail Michael Taylor told BTN. 

“The swing factor has been the rising price,” he said. “The Enterprise brand has done a pretty good job keeping prices a little more steady than others, at least the perceived price, and that’s one of the reasons why they’ve won the last two years.”

Rental fees this year on average have increased 14 percent to nearly $90, according to J.D. Power.

Taylor also noted that during the time when car rental companies were challenged to supply enough inventory while demand was high, companies raised their prices, and “you can do that only so long and then you run the risk of damaging your brand.” To offset the influence of cost increases on customer satisfaction and their brand loyalty, rental car companies “are going to have to work hard to deliver outsized value by ramping up service.”