 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Car rental |
| Founded | 1966 |
| Founders | Robert Sorensen |
| Headquarters | Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. |
Number of locations | 200+ |
Key people |
|
| Revenue |  US$164 million(2024) [1] |
| Website | acerentacar |
ACE Rent A Car Reservations, Inc. is a privately held car rental company founded in 1966 and based in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Robert Sorensen and Ken Osterand, native Chicagoans and lifelong friends, first ventured into business together by opening two car washes in Indianapolis (5800 W. Washington St. & 3433 W. 16th St.) under the name, Speedway Auto Laundry, in 1957.
In 1966, in order to meet the demand for car rental from the surrounding neighborhoods, the two men added 10 Volkswagens to their business, operating under the Airways Rent A Car brand until early 1969.
Later that year, with an interest in expanding their operations to the Indianapolis International Airport, Sorensen, Osterand and nine other Airways Rent A Car operators, broke away from the Airways system and co-founded the now defunct American International (AI) Rent a Car franchise system.[ citation needed ]
Osterand retired in 1978, leaving Sorensen the sole owner, and by 1986, his operations had grown to several locations throughout Indiana and the Chicago area. It was in that year, after several years of experimentation and dissatisfaction with the system, that Sorensen finally broke off from AI and launched the ACE Rent A Car brand. In doing so, ACE, under Sorensen's leadership, became an early adopter of the emerging Global Distribution Systems (GDS), such as Sabre, PARS, and Apollo. This level of brand exposure helped lay the foundation for the launch of ACE's licensee network that same year.[ citation needed ]
Following Sorensen's death in 1995, his nephew Richard Radzis and long-time employee, Charlie Mullen, took over as primary owners. Over the next 19 years, Radzis and Mullen expanded the footprint of their 3,000 vehicle business into Arizona, Minnesota and Texas, before selling their rental operations to Avis Budget Group in 2014, while still retaining ownership of the ACE Rent A Car brand, licensee system and proprietary software.
As of 2023, the ACE Rent A Car brand had more than 200 licensed locations in over 56 countries, and is the largest system of independent rental car operators in the world. [2]
In 2011, ACE was ranked highest in customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power & Associates annual industry consumer survey. [2] [3] [4] [5] In 2012, ACE was named one of fifty J.D. Power Customer Service Champions across twenty service industries. [6] [7]
Hertz Global Holdings, Inc., known as Hertz, is an American car rental company based in Estero, Florida. The company operates its namesake Hertz brand, along with the brands Dollar Rent A Car, Firefly Car Rental and Thrifty Car Rental.
RAC Limited is a British automotive services company headquartered in Walsall, West Midlands. Its principal services are roadside assistance and general insurance, and its subsidiaries include RAC Motoring Services Ltd, RAC Financial Services Ltd and RAC Insurance Limited. It was a private club owned by its members until sold in 1999, eventually acquired in 2014 and 2015 by GIC Private Limited and CVC Capital Partners.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car is an American car rental agency headquartered in Clayton, Missouri, in Greater St. Louis. Enterprise is the flagship brand of Enterprise Holdings, which also owns other agencies including Alamo Rent a Car and National Car Rental. The company has historically concentrated on what it calls "home city" rentals, often people renting a car while their own was being repaired, but has expanded to airport-based rentals, especially after its parent company's acquisition of Alamo and National in 2007.
J.D. Power is an American data analytics, software, and consumer intelligence company founded in 1968. The company specializes in the use of big data, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic models examining consumer behavior. The firm's business model has evolved to emphasize data and analytics and software products. Industry benchmarking studies are used to evaluate detailed consumer interactions and trends across the automotive, financial services, healthcare, home, insurance, technology, media and telecom, travel and hospitality, senior living, and utilities industries.
Alamo Rent a Car is a rental car agency based in Clayton, Missouri, United States. The company has branches across North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and Oceania. Alamo is owned by Enterprise Holdings, along with other agencies including Enterprise Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental. Alamo typically caters to budget-conscious leisure travelers and is the largest car rental provider to international travelers visiting North America.
Avis Car Rental, LLC is an American car rental company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. Along with Budget Rent a Car, Budget Truck Rental and Zipcar, Avis is a unit of Avis Budget Group.
Budget Rent a Car System, Inc. is an American car rental company that was founded in 1958 in Los Angeles, California by Morris Mirkin. Budget is a subsidiary of the Avis Budget Group, with its operations headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.
Dollar Rent A Car is an American car rental agency, headquartered in Estero, Florida, with offices in many countries around the world. Dollar is owned by The Hertz Corporation, along with other agencies including Hertz Rent A Car, Firefly Car Rental and Thrifty Car Rental. Dollar typically caters to budget-conscious leisure travelers.
Amadeus IT Group, S.A. is a major Spanish multinational technology company that provides software for the global travel and tourism industry. It is the world's leading provider of travel technology that focus on developing software for airlines, hotels, travel agencies, and other travel-related businesses.
A car rental, hire car or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time to the public, generally ranging from a few hours to a few weeks. It is often organized with numerous local branches, and primarily located near airports or busy city areas and often complemented by a website allowing online reservations.
Hotwire is a travel website that offers airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, and vacation packages. It operates by selling off unsold travel inventory at discounted prices. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Hotwire, Inc. is an operating company of the Expedia Group, which also operates the website ClassicVacations, Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbitz, Travelocity and Egencia.
Advantage Rent a Car is a privately held American car rental company headquartered in Orlando, Florida.
Nextel Communications, Inc. was an American wireless service operator that merged with and ceased to exist as a subsidiary of Sprint Corporation, which would later be bought by T-Mobile US and folded into that company. Nextel in Brazil, and formerly in Argentina, Chile, Peru, the Philippines, and Mexico, is part of NII Holdings, a stand-alone, publicly traded company not owned by Sprint Corporation.
GAC Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. is a Chinese automobile manufacturing joint venture company based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group is the former holding company of Thrifty Car Rental and Dollar Rent A Car. Dollar Thrifty Automotive began to operate as an independent car rental subsidiary of the Chrysler Corporation on November 4, 1997 while continuing to support its two brands, Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental. It was acquired by The Hertz Corporation for US$2.3 billion on November 19, 2012.
Vivint Smart Home, Inc. an NRG company, is United States-based smart home and security provider delivering an integrated smart home system with in-home consultation, installation and support, and monitoring. Vivint offers a range of integrated smart home and security products, including cameras, locks, safety sensors, thermostats, lighting, managed through the Vivint Smart Hub and mobile app.
Autolib' was an electric car sharing service which was inaugurated in Paris, France, in December 2011. It closed on 31 July 2018. It was operated by the Bolloré industry and complemented the city's bike sharing system, Velib', which was set up in 2007. The Autolib' service maintained a fleet of all-electric Bolloré Bluecars for public use on a paid subscription basis, employing a citywide network of parking and charging stations. As of 3 July 2016, 3,980 Bluecars had been registered for the service and had more than 126,900 registered subscribers; Autolib' furthermore offered 1,084 electric car stations in Paris agglomeration with 5,935 charging points.
Enterprise Holdings, Inc. is an American private holding company headquartered in Clayton, Missouri, in Greater St. Louis. It is the parent company of car rental agencies Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental, Alamo Rent a Car and also operates several other transportation services including commercial fleet management, used car sales, carsharing, and commercial truck rental operations.
Avis Rent a Car South Africa, better known as Avis, is a South African car rental company headquartered in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. Avis Rent a Car South Africa is part of the Avis Rent a Car System and the company operates as a subsidiary of Barloworld Limited since it was acquired in March 2005 and was delisted from Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The name Avis, however, remained unaltered.
Reliance Home Comfort is a residential and commercial services company headquartered in Canada primarily focused on rental, sales and maintenance of water heaters, water purification, smart home and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. The company has its largest base of operations in Ontario, but also has offices in western Canada and the United States. As of 2017, it served 1.7 million customer households across Canada.
