, Columnist
You Better Not Ding Your Rental Car This Summer
Technology can help car rental companies cure a post-pandemic financial hangover.
Need a ride?
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Car rental firms earned windfall profits during the pandemic thanks to vehicle shortages, but earnings for this historically low-margin oligopoly has since returned to earth.
Three of the largest publicly traded rental groups — Avis Budget Group Inc., Hertz Global Holdings Inc. and Sixt SE — all swung back to losses in the seasonally weak first quarter, and their shares have performed poorly over the past year, with Hertz by far the weakest.