After two consecutive years of declining customer satisfaction, the car-rental industry as a whole leveled out in 2009, according to the annual customer satisfaction survey from J.D. Power and Associates.
Keep reading to find out which rental car company topped the list, and which companies you may want to avoid "¦
The companies were rated on six key factors (listed in order of importance): costs and fees, pick-up process, rental car, return process, reservation process, and shuttle bus/van.
Enterprise topped the rankings for the sixth consecutive year, scoring well in every category across the board. National showed great improvement in 2009, moving up two spots to finish in second. Hertz ranked third on the list, performing among the best in every category except costs and fees, where it was just about average.
Not surprisingly, these top three companies also had the fewest customer-reported issues and complaints.
Meanwhile, Alamo and Avis hovered right around the industry average for overall satisfaction. Although Alamo was average in most aspects, it did rank better than most in costs and fees.
The rest of the companies surveyed (Budget, Thrifty, Dollar and Payless) were notably below average in overall satisfaction, with Payless bringing up the rear.
The study surveyed 12,900 business and leisure travelers who rented a vehicle from an airport location between September 2008 and October 2009.
By Dan Bence for PeterGreenberg.com.
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