Skift Take
It's been hard for car rental companies to adapt to disruptors like Uber and Lyft, but their recent strategies show promise.
Car rental companies Hertz and Avis have been investing in technology and alternative services to weather the advent of ridehailing apps. Although the efforts are still in early stages, they show signs of growing success.
The Hertz Corporation posted solid results Wednesday for the second quarter of 2019, driven by increased pricing from its three major brands, Hertz, Thrifty, and Dollar. The current low cost of cars helped keep overhead down, and its growing off-airport business allowed the company to raise prices. Global revenue grew 5 percent to $2.5 billion for the quarter compared to the same period a year earlier, beating estimates.
The big questions from analysts revolved around the car company’s other services, including providing vehicles for ridehailing and last-mile delivery in the U.S. In recent years, the company has lost market share as it struggles to cope with ridesharing apps such as Uber and Lyft.
“We dropped our share over the last several years based on taking our eye off the prize. Frankly, I th
