Enterprise Holdings is an American private

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

headquartered in

Clayton, Missouri Clayton is a city in and the seat of St. Louis County, Missouri. It borders the independent city of St. Louis. The population was 17,355 at the 2020 census. Organized in 1877, the city was named after Ralph Clayton, who donated the land for the ...

in Greater St. Louis. It is the parent company of

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 ...

agencies

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Enterprise Rent-A-Car is an American car rental agency headquartered in Clayton, Missouri, in Greater St. Louis. Enterprise is the flagship brand of Enterprise Holdings, which also owns other agencies including Alamo Rent a Car and National Ca ...

National Car Rental National Car Rental is a private American rental car agency based in Clayton, Missouri, United States. National is owned by Enterprise Holdings, along with other agencies including Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Alamo Rent a Car. National typically ...

, Alamo Rent a Car and also operates several other transportation services including commercial fleet management, used car sales (through its Enterprise Car Sales dealers), carsharing, and commercial truck rental operations. It is one of the three big rental car holding companies in the United States, holding a 33% market share, placing it behind the Hertz Corporation and ahead of Avis Budget Group.

History

Enterprise, Alamo and National Car Rental Counter

Established in 1957 as Executive Leasing Company, the company was renamed Enterprise in 1969 in memory of the World War II ship on which the founder Jack C. Taylor served. Jack Taylor's founding philosophy, which has shaped the company's business policy, has been stated as "Take care of your customers and employees ''first'', and profits will follow." Enterprise Rent-A-Car was established in St. Louis, Missouri and the company still has its headquarters in the area and remains managed by the Taylor family. The holding company was formed on August 3, 2009, as a result of Enterprise Rent-A-Car's 2007 acquisition of Vanguard Automotive Group, the former parent company of National and Alamo. The resulting company was 21st on the 2008 Forbes list of "Largest Private Companies in America". Enterprise Holdings was 9th on the 2021 Forbes list of "Largest Private Companies in America". , Enterprise ranked as the largest car rental company in North America, and was the only

investment-grade In investment, the bond credit rating represents the credit worthiness of corporate or government bonds. It is not the same as an individual's credit score. The ratings are published by credit rating agencies and used by investment professionals ...

company in the car rental industry. Further, it was part of the largest global car rental network through its alliance with

Europcar Europcar Mobility Group is a French car rental company founded in 1949 in Paris. The head office of the holding company, Europcar Group S.A., is in the business park of Val Saint-Quentin at Voisins-le-Bretonneux (Saint Quentin en Yvelines), Fr ...

. The success of Enterprise can in part be attributed to its major focus on

customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Each industry requires different levels of customer service, but in the end, the idea of a well-performed service is that ...

Executive history

, the company's chairman and CEO was Andrew Taylor, son of the founder Jack Taylor. On June 4, 2013, it was announced that Pamela Nicholson would assume the role of chief executive officer. Nicholson was not only the first female CEO in the company's history, but also the first that was not a member of the Taylor family of St. Louis. Her predecessor, Andrew "Andy" Taylor, has continued to stay involved with company activities since then as Executive Chairman. In October 2019, the company announced Nicholson would retire by the end of the year. Two months later, it was announced that Chrissy Taylor, then the company's president and chief operating officer, would be promoted to chief executive officer (CEO), effective January 2020. Taylor is only the fourth CEO in the company's more than 60-year history and the third generation of Taylor family CEO leadership, preceded as CEO by her father Andy Taylor and grandfather Jack Taylor. In addition to being promoted to CEO, she retains her current title of president.

Mergers and acquisitions

A planned acquisition of Citer SA was announced in November 2011; this includes the acquisition of subsidiary Atesa. This acquisition would add 30,000 vehicles to the company's fleet and provide entry into the French and Spanish markets. PhillyCarShare, a for-profit car-sharing organization in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, was acquired by Enterprise in 2011 and was renamed Enterprise CarShare in 2014. Enterprise acquired further car-share companies including Mint Cars-On-Demand in 2012 (New York and Boston),

I-GO I-GO was a Chicago-based car sharing organization which is owned by Enterprise Holdings. It was established in 2002 by the Center for Neighborhood Technology as an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization working in the fields of urban ...

in 2013 (Chicago), and in 2014 Occasional Car in Denver and AutoShare in Toronto. Enterprise acquired Performance Gateway, LLC in 2014, which provided “Software-as-a-service (SAAS) services featuring performance management software for use in network management, vendor and employee feedback and training, vehicle rental, automotive insurance, automotive refinishing, and collision repair applications." Enterprise acquired Zimride ride-matching business on July 10, 2013. Terms of the sale were not released. Triangle Rent A Car, another car-rental company based in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the South ...

was acquired by Enterprise in 2015 and it was converted into Enterprise Rent-a-Car. In 2017, Enterprise merged Cyncast Inc. and Performance Gateway, LLC (both acquired by Enterprise in 2007 and 2014 respectively) into ARMS® Business Solutions (ABS) "to provide an integrated management suite to insurance carriers, adjusters, collisions repair shops, manufacturers, and all partners involved in the claims and repair channels." In October 2019, Enterprise launched Entegral, the new name for its technology platform, which "was formerly known as ARMS® Business Solutions (ABS)." In April 2017, Enterprise acquired Dooley Car Rentals, a car rental business operating in Ireland. In January 2019, Enterprise acquired Deem, a managed-travel technology platform that "includes Deem Work Fource and Deem Ground Work, a suite of online booking and travel technology products for business travelers, travel managers, travel-management companies and suppliers." In September 2020, Enterprise acquired Canadian company Discount Car and Truck Rental. The company, founded in 1980, had been privately held. This added nearly 600 locations to Enterprise's network in Canada.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

In 2006, Enterprise Rent-A-Car ranked #1 in sales with $9 billion in sales; unclear what the geographical scope of this sales figure was. Enterprise Rent-A-Car became an Enterprise Holdings subsidiary in 2009. This subsidiary has been recognized as a "Best Place to Launch a Career" by ''BusinessWeek'' for several years prior to 2010. It also has a strong culture of promoting from within, which has contributed to its being a top recruiter of college graduates. In addition, the subsidiary has been named the number one ranked car rental company in terms of customer satisfaction by

J.D. Power J.D. Power is an American consumer research, data, and analytics firm based in Troy, Michigan. The company was founded in 1968 by James David Power III. It conducts surveys of customer satisfaction, product quality, and buyer behavior for the au ...

several times.

Enterprise CarShare

In 2008, Enterprise piloted its first on-campus

carsharing Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pri ...

program at Washington University in St. Louis. The program, called WeCar, was introduced at

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

in July 2009. , WeCar has 100 carsharing programs in more than 30 U.S. states and Canada, and the service offers almost 100

electric car An electric car, battery electric car, or all-electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one or more electric motors, using only energy stored in batteries. Compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric cars are quiet ...

s and

plug-in hybrid A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a hybrid electric vehicle whose battery pack can be recharged by plugging a charging cable into an external electric power source, in addition to internally by its on-board internal combustion engin ...

s, including the

Nissan Leaf The , stylized as LEAF, is a compact five-door hatchback battery electric vehicle (BEV) manufactured by Nissan. It was introduced in Japan and the United States in December 2010, and its second generation was introduced in October 2017. The L ...

and the

Chevrolet Volt The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid manufactured by General Motors, also marketed in rebadged variants as the Holden Volt in Australia and New Zealand and the Buick Velite 5 in China, and with a different fascia as the Vauxhall Ampera in ...

. By September 2013, WeCar was

rebranded Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investor ...

as Enterprise CarShare. In March 2014, Enterprise Holdings acquired AutoShare, a carsharing company that had been founded in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

in 1998 and operated in several Canadian cities. It adopted the Enterprise CarShare name soon after. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

in 2020, Enterprise CarShare shut down business operations in New York and Philadelphia, retail rentals in those cities, Honolulu, and St. Louis, and suspended operations on most university campuses.

ONRAMP Concierge

In 2012, Enterprise launched a mobile

concierge A concierge () is an employee of a multi-tenant building, such as a hotel or apartment building, who receives guests. The concept has been applied more generally to other hospitality settings and to personal concierges who manage the errands of ...

website accessible by scanning a

QR code A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of Barcode#Matrix (2D) barcodes, matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso#Denso Wave, Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optic ...

for smart phones. Known as "ONRAMP Concierge", the service is accessed by customers scanning the code printed on a sticker placed on the driver's side window of the vehicle; the codes were made available to nearly all vehicles in Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Alamo Rent A Car, and National Car Rental following a 20,000-vehicle pilot program started in 2011. The application, once scanned, gives users information about their rental vehicle's make and model, company offers and nearby resources such as gas stations or restaurants. Enterprise launched the application in an effort to raise vehicle awareness and generate sales for its auto manufacturing partners. Enterprise Holdings is no longer supporting the OnRamp Concierge program. To manage and provide feedback about your current rental, you must download the Alamo, Enterprise or National mobile apps in the app store.

Enterprise Center

On May 22, 2018, it was announced that Enterprise had purchased the naming rights of the Scottrade Center, home of the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

. The building's name was to become the Enterprise Center, with the name change effective July 1. The arena's renovations continued their second phase during this time; all Phase 2 renovations and signage changes were complete in time for the

2018–19 NHL season The 2018–19 NHL season was the 102nd season of operation (101st season of play) of the National Hockey League. 31 teams competed in an 82-game regular season. The regular season began on October 3, 2018, and ended on April 6, 2019. The 2019 Sta ...

Ties to Washington University in St. Louis

The executive chairman of Enterprise Holdings, Andrew C. Taylor, is a

Washington University Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is ...

trustee. His father, Enterprise founder Jack C. Taylor, is a

alumnus and served as a trustee and emeritus trustee. In 2001, the

Enterprise Holdings Scholars Program was founded with a $25 million gift from Enterprise Holdings. In 2011, Jack C. Taylor gave Washington University in St. Louis $25 million to further fund the scholarship program.

Businesses

Nissan Pathfinder Commute with Enterprise

Vehicle rental brands

– Flagship car rental brand, focused on “home city” rentals to consumers (often people renting a car close to their home as opposed to at an airport) * Alamo Rent A Car – Car rental brand that typically caters to budget-conscious leisure travelers *

– Car rental brand that typically caters to

business travel Business travel is travel undertaken for work or business purposes, as opposed to other types of travel, such as for leisure purposes or regularly commuting Commuting is periodically recurring travel between one's place of residen ...

ers * Enterprise Truck Rental – Consumer moving truck rentals and commercial vehicle rentals * Enterprise Flex-E-Rent – Commercial vehicle rentals in the United Kingdom * Enterprise CarShare –

Carsharing Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pri ...

service focused on company cars *

Enterprise Car Club Enterprise Car Club (formerly City Car Club) is a British car club operator. Established as CityCarClub in 2000, it was acquired by the American company Enterprise Rent-A-Car in 2015, and renamed Enterprise Car Club in 2016. It now has 1,400 ve ...

– Carsharing service in the United Kingdom * Exotic Car Collection by Enterprise – Exotic car rentals to consumers

Other transportation services

* Enterprise Car Sales – Used vehicle sales * Commute with Enterprise –

Vanpool Vanpools or Vanpooling is an element of the transit system that allow groups of people to share the ride similar to a carpool, but on a larger scale with concurrent savings in fuel and vehicle operating costs and thus usually a lower cost to the ...

fleet management * Subscribe with Enterprise – Subscription based consumer vehicle leasing * Enterprise Fleet Management (affiliate) – Fleet management for companies and government agencies

References

https://www.enterpriseholdings.com/news-stories/news-stories-archive/2022/10/diverse-mobility-portfolio-drives-steady-growth-for-enterprise-holdings.html