ACE Rent a Car

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ACE Rent A Car Reservations, Inc.
Company type Private
Industry Car rental
Founded1966;59 years ago (1966)
FoundersRobert Sorensen
Headquarters Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Number of locations
200+
Key people
RevenueIncrease2.svgUS$164 million(2024) [1]
Website acerentacar.com
First car rental location owned by Sorensen and Osterand, located at 3433 W. 16th Street in Indianapolis (1966). ACE Rent A Car 1966.jpg
First car rental location owned by Sorensen and Osterand, located at 3433 W. 16th Street in Indianapolis (1966).

ACE Rent A Car Reservations, Inc. is a privately held car rental company founded in 1966 and based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Contents

History

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. [2]

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 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. [3]

As of 2025, the ACE Rent A Car brand had more than 170 licensed locations in over 55 countries, and is the largest system of independent rental car operators in the world. [4]

Awards

In 2011, ACE was ranked highest in customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power & Associates annual industry consumer survey. [3] [5] [6] [7] In 2012, ACE was named one of fifty J.D. Power Customer Service Champions across twenty service industries. [8]

YearPublicationAwardRef.
2011 J.D. Power & Associates Highest in Customer Satisfaction [9]
2012 J.D. Power & Associates Customer Service Champion [10]
2024 Newsweek America's Best Customer Service [11]
2025 Newsweek America's Best Customer Service [12]
2025 Time Magazine World's Best Brands [13]
2025 USA Today America's Best Loyalty & Rewards Programs [14]
2026 Newsweek America's Best Customer Service [15]

References

  1. ↑ "Factbook 2025 - Auto Rental News". autorentalnews.com.
  2. ↑ "Jun 01, 1995, page 16 - The Indianapolis News at Newspapers.com - Newspapers.com". www.newspapers.com. Retrieved October 18, 2025.
  3. 1 2 Brown, Chris (November 15, 2011). "The Shape of ACE To Come". Auto Rental News. Retrieved September 2, 2012.
  4. ↑ Stoller, Gary (October 15, 2014). "Fairly unknown ACE Rent A Car No. 1 with customers". ABC news. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
  5. ↑ "J.D. Power recognizes travel providers as customer service champs". Los Angeles Times. March 28, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Travel providers recognized". The Miami Herald. March 28, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2012.
  7. ↑ Pawlowski, A. (November 15, 2011). "Study: ACE is tops among car rental companies". CNN. Retrieved September 2, 2012.
  8. ↑ Pawlowski, A. (March 14, 2012). "JetBlue, Southwest, Virgin America get top customer-service marks". MSNBC. Archived from the original on May 4, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Overall Satisfaction with Rental Cars Increases for a Second Year, Nearing 2006 Levels". November 9, 2011.
  10. ↑ "J.D. Power Releases 2012 'Customer Service Champions' List". March 21, 2012.
  11. ↑ "America's Best Customer Service". Newsweek. 2024. Retrieved May 1, 2025.
  12. ↑ "America's Best Customer Service". Newsweek. 2025. Retrieved May 1, 2025.
  13. ↑ "World's Best Brands of 2025 – United States". Time. 2025.
  14. ↑ "Which companies have the best loyalty and rewards programs? CVS, Kroger, Kohl's made the list". USA Today. 2025.
  15. ↑ "America's Best Customer Service". Newsweek. 2026. Retrieved November 11, 2025.
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