Advantage Rent a Car is a privately held American
car rental
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 (which allow a user to ...
company headquartered in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
.
The company was founded in 1963 by Kenneth and Helen Walker as "$3.99 Car Rentals" and quickly expanded by purchasing several different car rental companies. In 1984, the various car rental brands were consolidated under the name Advantage Rent a Car. The Walker family sold the company in 2006, and by 2008, it was bankrupt. In 2009, the company was purchased out of bankruptcy court by
The Hertz Corporation
The Hertz Corporation 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.
It is one of the three big rent ...
. Hertz was forced to divest the company in 2012 to secure regulatory approval of its acquisition of the
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group
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 ...
. The company changed hands between several
private equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...
firms before going bankrupt again in May 2020. As of July 2020, the brand has been owned by Orlando Rentco LLC, and now operates just 6 locations.
Operations
Advantage operates from 6 airport locations in Atlanta, Dallas, Las Vegas, Miami, Orlando, Nashville and has a fleet of approximately 2,000 cars, ranging from economy cars to SUVs.
The company primarily services the leisure segment of the rental car market.
History
In 1963, a small business owned by Kenneth and Helen Walker called “$3.99 Car Rentals” opened its doors to serve the large military population in
San Antonio, Texas
("Cradle of Freedom")
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. Founded with a fleet of five cars, and initially serving the government traveler, it expanded very quickly over the next 20 years into feeder and leisure markets including local retail and airport markets located throughout the Western United States. During the 1960s and 70s, the company grew through the acquisition of several different franchises. The operation was later consolidated in 1984 under the name "Advantage Rent a Car." As the 1990s progressed, expansion of the Advantage brand continued throughout the U.S. into the Sunbelt states and major leisure airport markets. In 2001, Advantage attained worldwide presence by launching an affiliate partnership program that grew to an international network serving more than 33 countries. In 2006, following the death of Kenneth Walker, the Walker heirs sold the business to Venture Holding Inc.
Bankruptcy and acquisition by Hertz
In December 2008, Advantage filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and closed about 40% of its U.S. retail locations, citing "a simultaneous drop in leisure travel, with greatly increased costs, and frozen credit markets" (presumably an effect of the
financial crisis of 2007–2008
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...
). 440 workers, or almost half its workforce, were laid off at the time. Advantage was at that point privately held by disgraced Minnesota auto dealership mogul
Denny Hecker (who is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence).
On March 31, 2009, the assets of Advantage were purchased by
The Hertz Corporation
The Hertz Corporation 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.
It is one of the three big rent ...
for $33 million, which outbid
Enterprise Rent-a-Car in Minnesota bankruptcy court. The purchase included the Advantage logo and website. Hertz stated its intentions after Enterprise had announced it would acquire the assets. The Advantage website was modified to match (or closely mirror) some design and operational aspects of the Hertz website. By fall 2009, Hertz had rebranded its "Simply Wheelz" economy sub-brand with the acquired Advantage trademark properties, and had largely withdrawn the service.
Hertz described its plans to use Advantage for "... further expansion into the price-oriented travel demographic", "... providing Hertz a second brand to sell to corporate accounts and to market with key travel partners" and "... extending the useful life of vehicles in Hertz's rental fleet for Advantage's fleet needs".
On November 5, 2013, Advantage announced filed for bankruptcy. As of October 25, 2013 "Simply Wheelz" sold 5,295 vehicles through auctions with an average loss of about $1,633 per vehicle, which resulted in a total loss of about $8.6 million.
Sale and bankruptcy
On August 26, 2012, Hertz announced that it had agreed to sell the US Advantage business to Franchise Services of North America and
Macquarie Capital
Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's t ...
, as a divestiture to receive regulatory approval of Hertz's acquisition of
Dollar Thrifty, announced at the same time, and to convert foreign Advantage-branded locations to a new
Firefly Car Rental
Firefly Car Rental is a low cost American car rental brand owned by The Hertz Corporation. Hertz developed the new brand to replace Advantage Rent a Car which had to be sold following the acquisition of Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group
Dollar ...
brand. On December 12, 2012, Advantage Rent A Car was acquired by a subsidiary of Macquarie Capital, which was to be merged with Franchise Services of North America, Inc. (TSXV:FSN) immediately after a shareholder vote scheduled for 1Q13. The merger received final TSX regulatory and shareholder approval on May 3, 2013.
In April 2014, Advantage was acquired by its current owner, Catalyst Capital Group Inc.,
a Canadian investment firm based in Toronto.
On May 26, 2020, the company announced filed for bankruptcy for a third time.
In June 2020, the intellectual property associated with Advantage Rent a Car and EZ Rent a Car, as well as its operating concessions in Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Nashville, and Tampa were acquired by Orlando Rentco LLC.
Sixt
Sixt SE is an international mobility service provider with about 2,000 locations in more than 100 countries. Sixt SE acts as a parent and holding company of the Sixt Group, which is internationally active in the business areas of vehicle rental, ...
acquired ten other former airport locations, on July 1, 2020.
References
External links
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Advantage Car and Truck Rentals LTD
{{DEFAULTSORT:Advantage Rent A Car
1963 establishments in Texas
2009 mergers and acquisitions
2014 mergers and acquisitions
American companies established in 1963
Car rental companies based in Florida
Companies based in Orlando, Florida
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020
Retail companies established in 1963
Transport companies established in 1963