Hertz Strategy and Business Model

Executive Overview

Hertz is a global vehicle-rental company best known for the Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty brands. Founded in 1918 and headquartered in Estero, Florida, Hertz operates at major airports and neighborhood locations across the Americas and in selected international markets, with a broader worldwide footprint through franchisees. Its core business is short-term vehicle rental for leisure and business travelers, but it also serves local replacement demand, rideshare drivers, and used-vehicle buyers through Hertz Car Sales. Economically, Hertz is not just a travel-services company; it is also a large-scale fleet owner, financier, and vehicle remarketer. That means daily pricing and utilization matter, but so do procurement timing, maintenance cost, financing cost, and the resale value of retired vehicles. In FY2023, Hertz reported about $9.4 billion of revenue. The company entered 2024 in a strategic reset after elevated vehicle depreciation, especially on electric vehicles, pressured earnings. Management’s near-term agenda has centered on rotating the fleet faster, reducing exposure to underperforming electric vehicles, tightening cost control, improving fleet mix, and using its scale, brands, and airport positions to restore more normal rental-car economics.

Hertz at a Glance

Logo
Common name	Hertz
Full legal name	Hertz Global Holdings, Inc.
Headquarters	Estero, Florida, United States
Ownership	Publicly held; no controlling shareholder disclosed in the company’s 2024 proxy materials
Ticker	HTZ
Exchange	NASDAQ
Market Cap	$1.60B
Revenue (FY2024)	#N/A
Founding / major historical milestones	Founded in 1918; acquired Dollar Thrifty in 2012; spun off Herc Holdings in 2016; filed for Chapter 11 in 2020 and emerged in 2021
Industry or industries	Vehicle rental, travel services, fleet remarketing, mobility services
Key products or services	Passenger vehicle rental, corporate and leisure rental programs, rideshare rentals, ancillary rental products, used-vehicle sales, franchise licensing
Geographic footprint	Company-operated rental businesses across the Americas and selected international markets, plus a wider franchise network worldwide
Business segments as officially reported	Americas Rental Car, International Rental Car, Corporate
Company website	https://www.hertz.com/

1. What Is the Strategy of Hertz?

Hertz does not publish its strategy in A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin’s exact language, but its FY2023 Form 10-K, 2024 earnings materials, and management commentary make the operating logic clear. Hertz is trying to win in rental cars through scale, brand segmentation, network density, and tighter fleet economics, with 2024 focused especially on correcting residual-value and electric-vehicle missteps.

1. 1a. What is the winning aspiration of Hertz?

   Hertz’s practical winning aspiration is to be a leading global rental-car company that converts brand strength and network scale into durable profitability and cash generation. In early 2024, management messaging shifted from broad growth narratives to restoring normal economics: lower vehicle depreciation per unit, better fleet utilization, stronger pricing quality, and improved earnings consistency. In other words, for Hertz, winning is not simply renting more cars; it is earning acceptable returns on a large financed fleet while maintaining customer relevance across travel and local mobility use cases.

2. 1b. Where does Hertz play?

   Hertz plays primarily in short-term vehicle rental, especially airport rental, business travel, leisure travel, local replacement rentals, and selected mobility niches such as rideshare-driver rentals. It serves multiple price points through a multi-brand portfolio, with Hertz positioned as the flagship brand and Dollar and Thrifty covering more value-oriented demand. Geographically, the economic center of the business is the Americas, especially the United States, supplemented by international company-operated businesses and franchisees. Hertz also participates in vehicle remarketing through retail and wholesale sales of retired fleet vehicles.

3. 1c. How does Hertz plan to win?

   Hertz plans to win by matching a large, flexible fleet to demand better than competitors while preserving pricing discipline. Its recipe includes strong airport positions, a recognized brand portfolio, loyalty and corporate-account relationships, direct digital booking, and fleet-management capabilities that smaller competitors struggle to replicate. In 2024, the most important “how to win” move was operational rather than promotional: rotate the fleet more effectively, reduce exposure to vehicles with weak residual-value performance, and improve the balance among rate, utilization, maintenance cost, and remarketing proceeds.

4. 1d. What capabilities must Hertz have in place?

   Hertz needs capabilities in vehicle sourcing, demand forecasting, revenue management, maintenance and reconditioning, airport and branch operations, digital reservation systems, customer-service execution, treasury and asset-backed financing, and vehicle remarketing. Residual-value management is especially important. A rental-car company can appear healthy on revenue while still destroying value if it buys the wrong vehicles, holds them too long, or disposes of them poorly. Hertz also needs enough organizational discipline to coordinate procurement, pricing, operations, and finance as one system rather than as separate functions.

5. 1e. What management systems does Hertz require?

   Hertz requires management systems that closely track fleet productivity and capital efficiency. In practice, that means monitoring rental pricing, utilization, average fleet size, depreciation per unit, maintenance and damage expense, vehicle interest cost, and remarketing performance. It also requires planning routines that link fleet purchases to travel demand and seasonal peaks, as well as governance over fleet mix decisions by vehicle class and powertrain. Because the fleet is both the product and the balance-sheet burden, Hertz’s management system has to operate more like a capital-intensive industrial company than a simple travel-booking platform.

2. What Are the Current Strategic Initiatives of Hertz?

Hertz’s publicly disclosed initiatives in 2024 were unusually concrete because the company was dealing with real earnings pressure rather than presenting a generic transformation story. The main strategic initiatives were these:

• Reset the electric-vehicle fleet. In January 2024, Hertz announced that it would sell about 20,000 electric vehicles from its U.S. fleet and reinvest part of the proceeds in internal-combustion vehicles. Management tied that decision to weaker-than-expected residual values and higher collision and repair costs for certain electric vehicles. This was one of the clearest strategic actions the company disclosed in 2024.
• Normalize depreciation and fleet holding periods. Hertz’s 2024 agenda placed heavy emphasis on reducing vehicle depreciation per unit by rotating the fleet more effectively, improving remarketing outcomes, and aligning purchase and disposal timing with market conditions. For Hertz, this is not a back-office detail; it is central to earnings recovery.
• Improve revenue quality, not just volume. Management commentary in 2024 emphasized better pricing discipline, a healthier mix of demand, and tighter fleet utilization. That implies a focus on where Hertz rents vehicles, to whom, at what rate, and with what length-of-rental characteristics, rather than simply pushing utilization at any price.
• Rebalance fleet mix across OEMs and vehicle types. After the electric-vehicle write-down experience, Hertz’s public messaging pointed toward a more measured approach to fleet composition. That likely means more diversified sourcing and greater caution around concentrated exposure to any one vehicle type whose repair economics or resale values can move quickly.
• Tighten operating costs. Hertz has also highlighted cost discipline across maintenance, claims, reconditioning, and broader operating expenses. Because rental-car profitability is highly sensitive to relatively small changes in per-unit cost, these operational improvements matter materially.
• Support direct digital and customer-experience improvements. Hertz has continued to emphasize customer experience, loyalty, and digital booking and servicing. In this industry, digital investment is most valuable when it reduces friction at pickup and return, shifts bookings toward direct channels, and improves customer retention among repeat travelers and corporate users.

3. What Is the Business Model of Hertz?

• What customers actually buy. Customers buy temporary access to a vehicle, usually for a day, a weekend, a week, or longer. They are also buying convenience: airport access, broad vehicle choice, loyalty benefits, reliable reservations, and quick pickup and return.
• Recurring or repeat-driven versus one-time. The revenue model is transaction-based rather than subscription-based, but it is highly repeat-driven. Frequent travelers, corporate accounts, insurance-replacement renters, and rideshare drivers can rent repeatedly. Demand is episodic at the trip level but recurring at the customer-cohort level.
• How pricing power works. Hertz has some pricing power when fleet supply is tight, travel demand is strong, and brand and location convenience matter. But pricing power is not absolute. The company must constantly balance daily rates against utilization, competitor moves, airport traffic, seasonality, and vehicle availability.
• Why the business mix matters. Airport leisure rentals, corporate rentals, local replacement rentals, rideshare programs, ancillary products, and used-vehicle sales all carry different economics. A headline revenue number can hide major changes in profitability if the customer mix, location mix, or disposal environment shifts.
• What drives margin and cash generation. The biggest drivers are revenue per car, fleet utilization, vehicle depreciation, maintenance and damage expense, airport concession costs, labor productivity, and financing cost. Cash generation is heavily influenced by fleet purchases and disposals, since selling retired vehicles can release large amounts of cash while poor residual values can destroy margin.
• Revenue model. Hertz’s revenue is primarily pay-per-use: time-and-mileage rental charges plus ancillary products and fees. It also earns revenue from franchise operations and from selling retired vehicles through retail and wholesale channels. The business is therefore a mix of service revenue and asset-turnover economics.

4. What Products and/or Services Does Hertz Sell?

Hertz’s offerings are broader than a simple airport car-rental counter suggests.

• Core vehicle rental. This is the largest and most strategically important offering. It includes short-term rentals for leisure and business travelers, with fleet options spanning economy, standard, sport utility vehicles, luxury, vans, and specialty vehicles depending on market.
• Value-brand rental. Through Dollar and Thrifty, Hertz serves more price-sensitive customers and travel occasions. These brands are important because they let Hertz address value demand without collapsing the pricing position of the flagship Hertz brand.
• Corporate, local, and replacement rentals. Hertz serves negotiated corporate accounts, neighborhood renters, and customers needing temporary replacement vehicles. These segments can help balance the weekly and seasonal swings of pure airport leisure demand.
• Rideshare-driver rentals. Hertz has offered rental solutions for drivers on ride-hailing platforms. This is not the core of the company, but it has been a visible adjacent use case, especially in recent years.
• Ancillary products and services. Like other rental-car companies, Hertz sells add-ons such as protection products, fuel options, tolling services, and child seats. These can be meaningful contributors to unit economics.
• Vehicle remarketing and used-car sales. Hertz sells retired fleet vehicles through retail and wholesale channels, including Hertz Car Sales. This is not the main customer proposition, but it is economically critical because resale proceeds shape total fleet returns.
• Franchise and licensing arrangements. In some international markets, Hertz extends its brands through franchise relationships rather than wholly owned operations. Those arrangements support geographic reach with lower capital intensity.

In revenue and strategic importance, short-term vehicle rental remains the core business. Used-vehicle sales are also highly important economically because they determine how much of the fleet investment Hertz recovers at disposition.

5. What Are the Key Competitors or Peers of Hertz?

6. What Is the Marketing Strategy of Hertz?

Hertz’s marketing strategy is built around brand architecture, travel-intent capture, loyalty, and partnerships rather than pure mass advertising. Marketing matters, but in this industry it supports a larger operating system that includes location access, fleet availability, and pricing analytics.

• Brand laddering. Hertz uses multiple brands to target different customer price points and trip occasions. The flagship Hertz brand supports premium and mainstream demand, while Dollar and Thrifty address more value-sensitive travelers.
• Loyalty and repeat behavior. Programs such as Hertz Gold Plus Rewards help drive repeat bookings, especially among frequent travelers and business users. Loyalty is important because it lowers reacquisition cost and increases the share of direct bookings.
• Travel and partner marketing. Hertz uses airline, hotel, credit-card, and travel-platform relationships to stay visible at the point of trip planning. These partnerships matter because car rental is often purchased as part of a broader travel itinerary.
• Performance marketing and digital conversion. Search, metasearch, app engagement, and website conversion are central. Direct digital bookings are typically more attractive economically than heavily intermediated bookings.
• Account-based selling for corporate customers. Negotiated commercial accounts are less about consumer brand advertising and more about sales coverage, service consistency, and account retention.

Overall, marketing is a supporting capability rather than Hertz’s sole differentiator. In rental cars, branding can improve conversion and support pricing, but it cannot compensate for weak fleet availability, poor pickup experience, or bad residual-value decisions.

7. What Are the Key Customer Segments of Hertz?

• Leisure travelers. This is a core segment, especially in airport locations and holiday destinations. Leisure demand is often seasonal and price-sensitive but crucial for peak-period utilization.
• Corporate travelers and negotiated accounts. Business travel supports weekday demand and can improve repeat volume and booking visibility. Corporate accounts often carry negotiated rates but can be strategically valuable because of frequency and customer stickiness.
• Local and insurance-replacement renters. These customers rent outside the airport context, often because of accidents, vehicle repairs, or short-term local needs. This segment helps diversify Hertz beyond airline passenger traffic.
• Rideshare drivers. Hertz has participated in rentals to ride-hailing drivers. This can help utilize fleet in a different demand pattern, though the economics and fleet wear profile can differ from traditional travel rental.
• Value-oriented travelers. Through Dollar and Thrifty, Hertz serves customers for whom price is a primary decision factor.
• Used-vehicle buyers. These customers are not the core rental audience, but they matter through Hertz Car Sales and wholesale disposal channels because they ultimately determine the residual value recovery on retired fleet.

Hertz is diversified across customer types, but the business remains heavily tied to travel demand, especially in the U.S. airport market.

8. What Is the Sales Model of Hertz?

Hertz sells through a mix of direct, enterprise, travel-intermediated, and franchise channels.

• Direct consumer channels. Customers book through Hertz’s website, mobile app, call centers, and rental counters. Direct channels typically offer better economics and more control over the customer relationship.
• Corporate direct sales. Hertz uses account teams and negotiated agreements to serve business customers, travel managers, and institutional accounts.
• Travel intermediaries. Online travel agencies, travel agents, airline and hotel partners, and other booking platforms help Hertz capture trip-planning demand, though these channels can come with lower net economics or less customer ownership than direct bookings.
• Physical network. Airport counters and local branches remain important sales and service points. In rental cars, distribution is still physical as well as digital.
• Franchise model internationally. In some markets, Hertz reaches end customers through franchisees rather than through wholly owned operations. That broadens coverage with less capital commitment.
• Vehicle sales channels. Retired fleet vehicles are sold through Hertz Car Sales, other retail channels, and wholesale auctions.

Channel structure affects growth and margin. Direct digital bookings improve unit economics and customer data capture. Corporate accounts can stabilize volume but often involve negotiated pricing. Intermediated travel channels broaden reach but may reduce margin. Franchise arrangements extend brand presence with lighter capital intensity but less direct control.

9. In What Geographies Does Hertz Operate?

Hertz operates through both company-owned businesses and franchise relationships. As of FY2023 reporting, the company organized its operations into Americas Rental Car and International Rental Car, with the United States as the clear center of gravity.

• Americas. The Americas segment includes the company’s largest operating base, anchored by U.S. airport rental and supplemented by local and neighborhood operations. This is the most important region economically.
• International company-operated markets. Hertz also operates in selected markets outside the Americas, including parts of Europe and other regions where it has direct operations.
• Franchise footprint. The Hertz brand family reaches additional countries through franchisees. This gives the company a broader global presence than its directly operated business alone would suggest.
• Physical operating hubs. Major airports are the most visible nodes, but Hertz also relies on neighborhood locations, maintenance and reconditioning facilities, car-sales lots, and back-office and treasury functions that support fleet financing and reservations.

The footprint is broad, but the economics are not evenly distributed. Hertz is globally recognized, yet the company remains materially concentrated in the U.S. rental market.

10. Who Are the Owners of Hertz?

Hertz is a publicly traded company under the ticker HTZ. The company emerged from Chapter 11 in 2021 with backing from an investor group led by funds associated with Knighthead, Certares, and Apollo affiliates. By 2024, Hertz operated as a normal public company with primarily institutional ownership and without a disclosed controlling shareholder. Because ownership stakes in public companies change over time, the latest proxy statement is the best source for current 5% beneficial holders.

11. How Is Hertz Organized?

Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. is the parent holding company, with operating activities conducted largely through subsidiaries, including The Hertz Corporation. From a reporting perspective, Hertz grouped the business in FY2023 into three segments:

• Americas Rental Car. The core rental-car business in the Americas and the company’s principal earnings engine.
• International Rental Car. Company-operated rental businesses outside the Americas.
• Corporate. Central functions, financing, and other non-operating-segment items.

Operationally, Hertz is also organized by brand, channel, and location type. The Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty brands target different customer segments, but many underlying capabilities such as procurement, fleet financing, reservation systems, and parts of back-office support are shared. That is typical of rental-car companies: the customer sees separate brands, while the enterprise tries to capture scale behind the scenes.

12. How Does Hertz Operate?

On a day-to-day basis, Hertz operates as a fleet-planning, branch-operations, and remarketing business.

1. Plan and finance the fleet. Hertz forecasts travel demand, decides what vehicles to buy, and funds much of the fleet through vehicle-backed financing structures.
2. Source and prepare vehicles. Vehicles are purchased from automakers, delivered into the network, inspected, prepared, and assigned to the right markets and brands.
3. Take reservations and manage pricing. Hertz uses digital systems and location-level controls to manage vehicle availability, pricing, and mix by market, season, and customer type.
4. Execute pickup, return, and customer service. Airport counters, local branches, and self-service tools handle reservations, vehicle handoff, upsell, and problem resolution.
5. Maintain and reposition the fleet. Vehicles need cleaning, fueling or charging, maintenance, damage assessment, repair, and periodic rebalancing among locations as demand changes.
6. Dispose of vehicles and recover capital. When holding periods end, Hertz sells vehicles through retail and wholesale channels. This final step has an outsized effect on profitability because resale values drive depreciation outcomes.

The main operational complexities are seasonality, airport concession structures, labor execution at high-volume locations, OEM supply timing, damage and repair cycle time, and residual-value risk. Electric vehicles added an additional layer of complexity because repair cost, repair time, charging logistics, and resale-value behavior differed from prior expectations.

13. What Are the Growth Opportunities for Hertz?

For Hertz, the most plausible growth opportunities are not all about adding locations or buying more vehicles. Several are really earnings-recovery and capital-efficiency opportunities.

• Restore normal fleet economics. The largest near-term opportunity is to improve earnings by lowering depreciation per unit and improving disposal outcomes. That is a growth opportunity in economic profit even if unit volume grows only modestly.
• Increase direct and loyalty-driven bookings. Shifting more demand toward direct channels can improve margins and strengthen repeat behavior.
• Recover higher-value business mix. A healthier mix of corporate, leisure, and local demand can lift pricing quality and utilization. If business travel and premium demand improve, Hertz’s flagship brand can benefit.
• Expand off-airport and local use cases. Insurance replacement, neighborhood rentals, and other local-demand segments can reduce reliance on airline passenger volumes.
• Use franchise and partner channels for asset-light reach. Franchise expansion can broaden geographic coverage without requiring the same level of direct capital deployment as wholly owned growth.
• Improve ancillary revenue and attachment rates. Better merchandising of protection products and other add-ons can lift revenue per rental day, provided customer experience and transparency remain strong.
• Selective fleet innovation. Electric vehicles, premium vehicles, and other specialized categories can still be growth areas if the economics are disciplined and aligned with real customer demand.

The main constraints are residual-value volatility, used-car market conditions, financing cost, OEM supply, airport fee structures, travel demand cyclicality, and the balance-sheet burden of a capital-intensive fleet.

14. What Is the History of Hertz?

• 1918: Hertz traces its roots to a car-rental business founded by Walter L. Jacobs in Chicago.
• 1923: The business was acquired by John D. Hertz, whose name became the company’s enduring brand.
• 20th century: Hertz passed through several large corporate owners over time, helping establish it as one of the best-known names in rental cars.
• 2005-2006: Ford agreed to sell Hertz to a private-equity consortium, and Hertz Global Holdings became a public company in 2006.
• 2012: Hertz acquired Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, adding the Dollar and Thrifty brands and strengthening its value-oriented position.
• 2016: Hertz spun off its equipment-rental business, Herc Holdings, sharpening its focus on vehicle rental.
• 2020: The collapse in global travel during the COVID-19 pandemic drove Hertz into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
• 2021: Hertz emerged from Chapter 11 with new owners and later returned to public trading. The company also drew major attention for large electric-vehicle fleet announcements.
• 2024: Hertz announced that it would sell roughly 20,000 electric vehicles from its U.S. fleet, underscoring a shift from aggressive electrification messaging toward a more economics-driven fleet strategy.

15. What Are the Key Suppliers to Hertz?

Suppliers matter enormously to Hertz because the company’s economics begin with vehicle procurement and continue through maintenance, repair, and disposition.

• Automakers. Original equipment manufacturers are the most important supplier category. Hertz buys large volumes of vehicles from global automakers. Publicly disclosed relationships in recent years have included companies such as Tesla, Polestar, and General Motors, though Hertz sources from a broader pool of manufacturers.
• Maintenance, parts, tire, and repair vendors. These suppliers influence vehicle availability, turnaround time, and total operating cost. Their importance rose further as Hertz dealt with higher electric-vehicle repair expense.
• Airport authorities and concession counterparties. Strictly speaking, these are not traditional materials suppliers, but they are critical operating partners because access to airport demand is foundational to the business.
• Technology and payment providers. Reservation systems, digital payments, tolling, telematics, and customer-service technology are central to modern rental operations.
• Charging and energy partners. For electric vehicles, charging infrastructure and related services became strategically relevant suppliers.
• Auction and remarketing partners. Third-party wholesale channels matter because they help Hertz monetize retired vehicles and manage fleet exits.

Supplier structure matters strategically because a rental-car company can look similar to peers on the surface while earning very different returns depending on what vehicles it buys, what repair costs it incurs, and how efficiently it exits the fleet.

16. What Are the Key Brands Owned by Hertz?

Brands are an important strategic lever for Hertz because they let the company serve different price points and customer needs without relying on a single one-size-fits-all proposition.

17. How Does the Supply Chain of Hertz Function?

Hertz’s supply chain is less about raw materials and more about moving vehicles through a capital-intensive life cycle efficiently.

1. Sourcing. Hertz buys vehicles from automakers based on expected demand, pricing, vehicle class needs, and residual-value assumptions.
2. Inbound logistics and fleet induction. Vehicles are delivered, registered, prepared, and placed into the operating fleet.
3. Network allocation. Hertz distributes vehicles across airports and local branches based on seasonality, geography, and brand demand.
4. Service logistics. During the rental life, the company must clean, fuel or charge, maintain, inspect, repair, and sometimes reposition vehicles across the network.
5. Reconditioning and turnaround. Fast turnaround between rentals is crucial because idle vehicles depress utilization and returns.
6. Disposition. At end of holding period, vehicles move into retail or wholesale remarketing channels to convert fleet assets back into cash.

Supply-chain reliability and flexibility are strategically important because Hertz must have the right vehicle in the right place at the right time, then exit that vehicle before maintenance cost and depreciation overwhelm rental revenue. Electric vehicles complicated this process by introducing additional charging, repair, and residual-value variables.

18. What Are the Key Assets of Hertz?

Hertz is an asset-heavy company. Its returns depend heavily on how well it deploys and monetizes a large physical fleet.

• The vehicle fleet. This is the core asset base and the company’s largest operational and financial commitment.
• Airport concessions and branch network. Access to major airports and local rental points is a real competitive asset because customer convenience is central to the category.
• Brand portfolio. The Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty brands are valuable intangible assets that support pricing, awareness, and segmentation.
• Reservation, pricing, and fleet-management systems. These systems help match vehicles to demand and are important to revenue quality and utilization.
• Asset-backed financing platforms. Hertz’s ability to fund a large fleet efficiently is itself a strategic asset.
• Remarketing channels. Retail and wholesale vehicle-disposal capabilities are critical because they determine how effectively Hertz turns fleet assets back into cash.
• Franchise relationships. International franchise arrangements extend the reach of the brand with less direct capital deployment.

Asset intensity creates operating leverage. When fleet economics are favorable, returns can improve quickly. When used-car prices, utilization, or financing conditions deteriorate, profitability can fall just as quickly.

19. What Is the Finance Strategy of Hertz?

For Hertz, finance strategy is inseparable from operating strategy. The company does not merely sell a service; it owns and finances a large depreciating fleet. That makes capital structure, liquidity, and asset turnover central to strategy.

• Use vehicle-backed financing. Hertz typically funds much of its fleet through asset-backed securities and other vehicle-backed facilities. This matches financing to the underlying fleet assets but also makes the company sensitive to interest rates, residual values, and capital-market conditions.
• Separate fleet economics from corporate overhead. Good management requires a clear view of what the fleet is earning after depreciation, maintenance, and vehicle interest, not just what consolidated revenue is doing.
• Preserve liquidity and flexibility. Given the lessons of the pandemic and the 2024 fleet reset, liquidity management remains essential. Hertz needs room to rotate the fleet, absorb pricing swings, and manage periods of weaker used-vehicle values.
• Allocate capital to the fleet first. In practical terms, the biggest capital-allocation decision at Hertz is usually what to buy, when to buy it, how long to hold it, and how to dispose of it. That often matters more than classic corporate-finance debates about dividends.
• Improve working returns through operations. Lower maintenance costs, faster repair cycle times, stronger utilization, and better remarketing all improve financial outcomes without requiring headline revenue growth.

As of 2024, Hertz’s public emphasis pointed toward restoring fleet returns and protecting liquidity rather than pursuing an aggressive balance-sheet expansion strategy.

20. What Major Acquisitions Has Hertz Made?

Acquisitions have mattered in Hertz’s history, but the company has not looked like a serial acquirer in recent years. The most important modern acquisition remains Dollar Thrifty.

• Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group (2012). This was the defining strategic acquisition of the modern Hertz portfolio. It added the Dollar and Thrifty brands, expanded Hertz’s reach into value-oriented rental, and strengthened scale in a business where network density and fleet purchasing matter.
• Portfolio reshaping has recently mattered more than new acquisitions. The spin-off of Herc Holdings in 2016 and the sale of Donlen in 2021 were major strategic portfolio actions, even though they were divestitures rather than acquisitions.
• Current posture. As of 2024, Hertz’s public messaging emphasized operational recovery, fleet economics, and balance-sheet discipline rather than major new M&A.

21. How Companies Like Hertz Leverage Independent Consultants through Umbrex

Hertz’s agenda spans strategy, operations, procurement, digital, finance, and fleet economics. Companies like Hertz engage Umbrex when they need talent with top-tier consulting training but do not need a full consulting team with the overhead of a large firm. Umbrex has built a global community of more than 8,000 independent management consultants based in more than 50 countries, including alumni of McKinsey, Bain, BCG, and other leading firms. For a company facing the kinds of issues Hertz faces, Umbrex can provide highly targeted specialist support.

• Fleet rotation and residual-value diagnostic. Build a fact base on vehicle class, OEM, holding period, and disposition channel to improve returns on fleet capital.
• Electric-vehicle economics reset. Assess charging, repair, utilization, and resale economics by market to determine where EVs make sense and where they do not.
• Revenue-management and pricing redesign. Improve rate setting, segmentation, and fleet allocation by location, trip purpose, and customer cohort.
• Airport-station productivity improvement. Redesign counter, pickup, return, cleaning, and reconditioning workflows to improve customer experience and asset turns.
• Maintenance, repair, and damage-cost transformation. Reduce cycle time and vendor cost in maintenance, collision repair, claims, and vehicle downtime.
• OEM sourcing and procurement strategy. Support negotiation strategy, supplier diversification, and total-cost-of-ownership analysis across automakers and service vendors.
• Direct-booking and loyalty growth program. Improve website and app conversion, loyalty economics, partner strategy, and the balance between direct and intermediated channels.
• Off-airport and local-market growth strategy. Evaluate insurance replacement, neighborhood rental, and rideshare-driver opportunities by city and channel.
• Finance and fleet-capital PMO. Support scenario planning for asset-backed financing, fleet capex, liquidity, and asset-disposition timing.
• International franchise and operating-model review. Assess where Hertz should use company-operated expansion versus franchise partners and how to improve economics across both models.