The conference calls for Avis Budget Group and Hertz provide a glimpse of what the near future holds

The conference calls for Avis Budget Group and Hertz provide a glimpse of what the near future holds in car rental. But it s not a complete picture, because first time cruise mexico advice the biggest player, Enterprise Holdings, is a private company.
That surplus fleet had an industrywide effect on car rental pricing in the fourth quarter. Hertz said pricing was down 1.4% in the U.S. overall in the fourth quarter, though the Hertz Classic Brand held up on airport. first time cruise mexico advice Hertz says it is right-fleeted moving first time cruise mexico advice into the summer season.
Hertz also attributed the recent unfavorable pricing to lower rates at Dollar Thrifty and also its deep-discount startup Firefly, which now has 22 airport locations in leisure markets. This mix shift along with growth in insurance replacements would dampen first time cruise mexico advice pricing but create better margins due to lower costs.
According to both companies, pricing fared much better in the first months of 2014 than in the fourth quarter. Though both companies expect better pricing this year, Hertz isn t baking a price increase into its 2014 forecast. Better pricing will come as a result of fleet costs going up, which naturally forces price increases.
Also, as Hertz completes the Dollar Thrifty integration, Hertz plans to reduce fleet, which should drive utilization and pricing. In fact, Hertz expects to be back in the 80%-plus first time cruise mexico advice utilization range later this year.
Avis reiterated that it expects $50 to $70 million in synergies first time cruise mexico advice through the Zipcar integration by expanding onto airports and into Avis and Budget urban locations. Zipcars are now available to Avis and Budget commercial customers. One-way rentals are on the way.
Avis says Zipcar has started sharing hundreds of cars in several cities with traditional Avis and Budget rental operations. Avis reportedly lowered Zipcar s depreciation, insurance, interest, first time cruise mexico advice maintenance and overhead costs.
Both Hertz and Avis Budget announced the implementation of fleet optimization first time cruise mexico advice systems. The systems are designed to help make better decisions across all their brands first time cruise mexico advice for maximizing vehicle hold periods, timing fleet purchases and disposals and putting the right car in the right place at the right time.
An event at Chrysler’s Chelsea Proving Grounds offered a walk-around of the new Ram ProMaster City, a Ram ProMaster test drive, a test of diesel fuel economy and, finally, a worthy trial for a Power Wagon.