New Report: Best and Worst Car Rental Companies in America

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Renting a car these days has gotten a bit easier since the rental car shortage, which began a few years ago. A recent report says renting a car in the United States is a generally positive experience.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Travel Study 2022-2023, which scores the car rental companies on a 100-point scale, shows that satisfaction with the industry over the past year has risen 1% to an ACSI score of 76.

The report covers customer satisfaction results from interviews with 10,588 customers taken from April 2022 to March 2023.

What Is the Best Rental Car Company?

Here are some key findings from the report:

  • Alamo remains #1 after moving up 5% to a score of 83.
  • At the bottom of the list is Sixt (72 ACSI score), which makes its debut in the rankings.
  • Avis comes in second place with an 8% increase and score of 80.

The Best and Worst Rental Car Companies for Customer Satisfaction

Rental Car Company
(Parent Company)
2023 ScoreGain/Loss From Previous Year
Alamo (Enterprise)835%
Avis (Avis Budget)808%
Enterprise794%
National (Enterprise)783%
Budget (Avis Budget)766%
Hertz760
Dollar (Hertz)750
Sixt72N/A
All Others710
All (Average)761%

Although car rentals aren’t as scarce as they were a few years ago, money expert Clark Howard still employs a strategy to help ensure that he’s able to rent a vehicle when he needs to.

How Clark Is Able To Find Available Cars Rentals

“All of the car rental companies have these express rental programs, and they are free to join,” Clark says. “You register your driver’s license number, the credit card you’re going to use to pay for the rental, your preferences, all this stuff.”

I can attest to Clark’s method. As a member of Avis Preferred and Thifty’s Blue Chip Rewards program, I routinely am able to skip the line when I need to rent a car for travel.

Here’s Clark’s two-step car rental process in full.

1. Book on Costco Travel

Costco Travel car rental
Screenshot via CostcoTravel.com

Here’s what Clark says about Costco Travel: “Their rates are usually better than you can find elsewhere — but not always. I always comparison shop, but I’d say probably two-thirds of the time, I book my car rentals through Costco Travel.”

2. Add Your Confirmation # To Your Account With the Rental Car Company

  • Go to the rental car company website: After booking, add your confirmation number to the website of the rental car company you chose. “I put in my confirmation number, first name, last name and it pulls up my reservation,” he says.

Here’s how the page looks that allows you to add your confirmation number on Thrifty.com:

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Thrifty.com rental car confirmation page
Screenshot via Thrifty.com

After that, you’ll be able to take advantage of express check-in, which Clark says will save you time.

“You completely bypass the counters and you go straight to the lot, which gets you to the front of the line and not the back of the line with all the people that are waiting when they’re out of cars.” 

Want to know more ways to save? Read our guide on how to get the best car rental deal.

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