Enterprise Rent-A-Car
 | |
| Company type | Private holding company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Car rental |
| Founded | 1957 |
| Founder | Jack Taylor |
| Headquarters |  Clayton, Missouri |
Key people | Andrew C. Taylor, Chairman & CEO Donald A Ross, Vice Chairman Pamela Nicholson, President & COO |
| Revenue | $12.1 billion |
Number of employees | 68,000 |
| Website | enterpriseholdings.com |
Enterprise Holdings, Inc. is a privately held company formed in 2009 to operate rental car subsidiaries: Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental, Alamo Rent A Car, WeCar and its commercial fleet management, used car sales, and commercial truck rental operations.[1]
Enterprise Holdings was formed as part of a reorganization that followed Enterprise Rent-A-Car's acquisition of Vanguard Automotive Group.[1] The resulting company was 21st on the 2008 Forbes list of "Largest Private Companies in America."[2]
Enterprise is headquartered in Clayton, Missouri, U.S., near St. Louis.[3][4][5]
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Enterprise Rent-A-Car is the largest rental car company in North America,[6] and has more than 5,399 “local market” locations (91% of all transactions), and 419 airport locations (9% of all transactions).[citation needed] According to Detroit News[citation needed], Enterprise purchases seven percent of all new automobiles sold in the United States.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s primary focus is the local rental car market, specializing in car rentals to consumers who need a replacement car as the result of an accident, mechanical repair, theft, or who require a vehicle for a special occasion such as a short business or leisure trip. In the late 1990s[citation needed], Enterprise Rent-A-Car also began expanding its operations to include the airport market, and now serves airports in the United States, Canada, the UK, Germany and Ireland.
By 2005, Enterprise Rent-A-Car's customer service has been recognized seven times by J.D. Power and Associates as highest in customer satisfaction for rental car companies at or near airports.[7] The company was named ninth on Business Week's top 25 companies customer service list in 2007.[8][9]
Fleet management controversy
To reduce costs, the company laid off thousands of people. Some safety features standard in retail models are ordered by Enterprise without those features. During model years 2006-2008, 66,000 of the Chevrolet Impalas the company ordered were purchased without side-curtain airbags, saving the company $11.5 million ($175 per vehicle).[10] The practice, which the company notes does not "violate any federal mandate", came to national attention when cars being retired from their rental fleet were sold with claims that side-curtain air bags were included.[10] About 5,000 Chevrolet Cobalts and Buick LaCrosses were also purchased with the side air bags omitted.[10] Enterprise admitted that it inaccurately advertised and sold 745 Chevrolet Impalas -- model years 2006 through 2008 -- that were identified online as having side air bags, when in fact they did not. A company spokesman said that it would inform customers who had bought the cars, and offer to buy them back from the customers if they would like. [10] According to Safety Research and Strategies, a safety research firm that regularly works with the automotive industry, it is a highly unusual practice to delete safety features. "I’ve never seen a standard safety feature removed from a vehicle. I’ve been doing this work for 17 years and, until now, had yet to see this happen,” said Sean Kane of Safety Research & Strategies. [10] Contrary to this, some sources have noted that buying fleet without normally standard features does occur, as auto manufacturers offer this option to fleet buyers.
Criticism
Failing Enterprise is the online community for Enterprise Rent-A-Car customers and employees. Founded in December 2003 by a long-term customer, Barry J. Stiefel of San Francisco, CA, the site and its discussion board (140,000+ posts) provide a venue for discussing Enterprise policies and practices.
Mr. Stiefel doesn't much care that most of the postings on Failing Enterprise are mean-spirited. In Barry's eyes, attention is attention . . . regardless of if it's water-cooler gossip, i.e., who's having sex with who, who got fat and who's getting fired.
Rarely does anyone post relevant, clear-headed or objective posts about ERAC or their displeasure with the company. FailingEnterprise.com is mainly a place to discuss politics now, which is strange, seeing the site is about a car rental company.
Beginning in 2006, Barry Stiefel began blocking access to Failing Enterprise from John Watie . . . since Mr. Watie was, in essence, making the creator of Failing Enterprise look like a fool. The site now only serves 150+ pages daily. But, before Watie broke Mr. Stiefel's will, the site was serving over 60,000+ pages daily!! Guess that's what happens when people mess with those they should not.
Failing Enterprise used to be a community that allowed non-registered members to post. Yet, due to Mr. Watie's vigilance, only registered members can post. This, of course, has driven down popularity of the site. Again, Mr. Watie basically forced Barry Stiefel to run Failing E the way Mr. Watie wanted it operated. And folks say terrorism doesn't work!
Barry Stiefel has tried many things to rest control of his website from Watie's grasp. And all attempts to do so have literally exploded in Barry's face.
Hiring practices
In 2006, Business Week listed Enterprise among the top ten places to begin a career.[11] Although the company's pay for management trainees was among the lowest on the list (at an average $32,500), "those who catch on"[11] quickly get a chance to run a branch office with the responsibility to generate a profit. There are certain requirements and qualifications to become promoted to an Assistant Manager, and many of these qualifications may depend on the employee's sales. According to BusinessWeek's list of "Best Places to Launch a Career," Enterprise was in the top 15. Within five years, a successful manager take positions at headquarters or become area managers responsible for multiple branches.[11].
WeCar
In 2008, Enterprise piloted its first on-campus car sharing program at Washington University in St. Louis.[12] The program, called WeCar, was introduced at University of South Florida in July 2009.[12]
References
- ^ a b "Enterprise launches new holding company". August 3, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
- ^ America's Largest Private Companies: #21 Enterprise Rent-A-Car, from Forbes
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions." Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Retrieved on June 14, 2009.
- ^ "Clayton city, Missouri." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on June 13, 2009.
- ^ Hathaway, Matthew. "KC Star: Enterprise didn’t tell buyers cars lacked side air bags." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. August 17, 2009. Retrieved on August 18, 2009.
- ^ http://aboutus.enterprise.com/
- ^ "Enterprise Rent-A-Car ranks highest on J.D. Power survey" - St. Louis Business Journal
- ^ "Customer Service Champs" - Business Week - March 5, 2007
- ^ "The Customer Service Elite" - Business Week - March 5, 2007
- ^ a b c d e "Investigation finds Enterprise Rent-A-Car sold Chevy Impalas without standard side air bags". The Kansas City Star. August 15, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
- ^ a b c "No. 5 Enterprise: A clear road to the top". Business Week. September 18, 2006.
- ^ a b "USF joins Enterprise WeCar sharing program". Tampa Bay Business Journal. July 23, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
External links
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- Enterprise Holdings official website
- Enterprise Rent-a-Car official website
- WeCar official website
- Failing Enterprise Open Discussion About the Ongoing Problems at Enterprise Rent-A-Car
