Hertz Corporation, founded in 1918 is one of world's largest car rental companies. The company has locations at airports and in cities across North America, Latin America Europe Asia Australia and New Zealand.
Hertz's headquarters are located in Estero, Florida. His namesake brand has an estimated fleet of over 6 million vehicles. Hertz is also the owner of a number other brands like Dollar Rent A Car & Firefly Car Rental.
Hertz Corporation's roots can be traced back to the year 1918, when Walter L. Jacobs (age 22) opened a Chicago car-rental business with a dozen Ford Model Ts. In 1923, Hertz purchased Jacobs' business, renaming it Hertz DriveUrSelf.
John Hertz purchased the Hertz automobile brand from General Motors. Since then, the company has become the global leader of the industry. Hertz had over one million cars in its fleet by the late 1980s and was the leading company in the resale of used vehicles to customers.
Hertz offers customers the opportunity of purchasing their cars at the end of their rental period as part its overall strategy. It allowed customers to retain their cars longer and also increased the income of Hertz.
Hertz had financial troubles in the 1990s, despite its successes. The company was losing customers because of a low profit margin for its passenger car rental business. Hertz responded to this by reducing costs and restructuring the fleet.
Hertz has a strong competitor in Enterprise Holdings & Avis-Budget Group. Hertz is one of three major rental car companies operating in the United States. It has a market share of 36%.
Hertz earns a significant portion of its income from the resale of used cars. The inventory of Hertz includes dozens of different makes and models. Rental rates include gasoline and insurance.
It also provides a number of additional products and services. These include the Rent It Here—Leave It There programme, child car safety seats, ski racks, NeverLost navigational devices, and the #1 Gold Club. It offers fuel payment, personal effects insurance and vehicle washing.
Hertz also sells a variety of industrial and construction equipment. Its equipment fleet consists of a broad assortment of earthmoving, material handling, aerial and electrical, air compressors, pumps, compaction and construction-related trucks.
Hertz introduced a Prestige Collection of select luxury cars in 2001. The collection was available to customers in specific markets. The selection primarily consisted of Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo vehicles, but it did include several other makes and models from Premier Automotive Group, an enterprise of Ford.
Besides reselling cars, Hertz also provides services to companies that require rental fleets. They include a heavy-equipment rental division and a truck leasing department.
In May 2020, Hertz filed for bankruptcy protection in Delaware. The filing sparked a wave investor activism. In less than a month after the filing, the stock price of Hertz tripled. Carl Icahn was the owner of 39% Hertz shares and three board seats at the moment of the filing. He also had invested $2.3B in Hertz's shares from 2014-2020.