Hertz 2009 Annual Report Download - page 36

ITEM 1. BUSINESS (Continued)
The U.S. off-airport rental market has historically been dominated by Enterprise. We now have a more
significant presence in the off-airport market and ABG’s brands also are present. We believe that we
maintain the second largest market share, by revenues, in the off-airport car rental market in the United
States. In the three years ended December 31, 2009, we increased the number of our off-airport rental
locations in the United States by approximately 7% to approximately 1,700 locations. Revenues from our
U.S. off-airport operations represented $954.0 million, $975.9 million and $963.8 million of our total car
rental revenues in the years ended December 31, 2009, 2008 and 2007, respectively. Many smaller
companies also operate in the airport and off-airport rental markets.
In Europe, in addition to us, the principal pan-European participants in the car rental industry are Avis
Europe plc (which is not an affiliate of ABG but is operating under a license from ABG), which operates
the Avis and Budget brands, and Europcar, which was acquired from Volkswagen AG by Eurazeo in
2006. Europcar also operates the National Car Rental and Alamo brands in the United Kingdom and
Germany, and through franchises in Spain, Italy and France. In certain European countries, there are
also other companies and brands with substantial market shares, including Sixt AG (operating the Sixt
brand) and Enterprise (operating the Enterprise brand) in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany. In
2006, Europcar acquired the European business of Vanguard Car Rental Holdings LLC, or ‘‘Vanguard,’’
(which previously operated the National and Alamo brands) and entered into an agreement relating to a
trans-Atlantic alliance with Vanguard. In every European country, there are also national, regional or
other, smaller companies operating in the airport and off-airport rentals markets. Apart from Enterprise-
branded operations, all of which Enterprise owns, the other major car rental brands are present in
European car rental markets through a combination of company-operated and franchisee- or licensee-
operated locations.
Competition among car rental industry participants is intense and is primarily based on price, vehicle
availability, service, reliability, distribution locations and product innovation. We believe, however, that
the prominence and service reputation of the Hertz brand and our extensive worldwide ownership of car
rental operations provide us with a competitive advantage. For the year ended December 31, 2009,
based on publicly available information, we believe some U.S. car rental companies experienced
declines in transaction days and varying rental rate revenue per transaction day, or ‘‘RPD,’’ compared to
the year ended December 31, 2008. For the year ended December 31, 2009, in the United States, we
experienced a 7.1% decrease in transaction days and a 1.6% decrease in RPD versus 2008. During the
year ended December 31, 2009, in our European operations, we experienced a low double digit
decrease in transaction days and a low single digit decrease in RPD versus 2008.
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