Car Rental Franchise Statistics: Who Owns the Locations, What Licensees Pay

Car rental franchise share by measure: branded, licensed, franchisee-owned

The answer depends on what is counted. A car rental location can carry a franchise brand and still be run by the brand owner, so a count of branded locations and a count of franchisee-owned locations give very different numbers.

The widest measure comes from the U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 Economic Census: 32.2% of U.S. passenger car rental establishments (NAICS 532111) were in a franchise system in 2017. The narrowest is ownership. Only 4.4% of establishments were franchisee-owned in the same census.

Company filings sit in between. Licensees ran 38.0% of Avis Budget Group locations worldwide at the end of FY2025 (Avis Budget Group FY2025 10-K), but the Avis and Budget FDDs list 10.7% of U.S. outlets as franchised at the end of 2023 (Avis FDD, Budget FDD). Among employer firms in automotive equipment rental and leasing (NAICS 5321), 13.1% said they operated as a franchise in 2023 (Annual Business Survey), with a standard error of 5.4 points.

Definitions. A franchisee-owned establishment is run by an independent operator under a brand license. A franchisor-owned establishment is a company-operated location of a franchise system. Avis Budget calls its franchisees licensees; Hertz uses franchisees.

Franchisee-owned vs company-operated car rental locations, 2007 to 2017

In the latest U.S. tabulation, franchise car rental mostly means company-operated locations of branded systems. Of 3,935 franchise establishments in 2017, 3,400 (86.4%) were franchisor-owned (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 Economic Census). Across all industries with a published owner split, 82.6% of franchise establishments were franchisee-owned.

Earlier censuses show a different mix. In 2007, 2,228 of 2,502 car rental franchise establishments were franchisee-owned (2007 Economic Census); in 2012 the figure was 824 of 1,209 (2012 Economic Census). Total establishments also rose from 6,309 to 12,209.

These swings are too large to read as a trend. Franchise status is self-reported, and the share of sales from establishments that answered the franchise question was 47.6% in 2007 and 71.4% in 2012; the 2017 file publishes only a coded band. A change in how a few large multi-location companies answered would move the split by thousands of locations. The 2017 snapshot is the best available. The 2022 Economic Census has no U.S. franchise table (Census 2022 release list).

Car rental franchise vs independent: receipts and staff per location

Franchise-system car rental establishments were smaller than the rest of the industry in 2017. Receipts per franchise establishment were $1,939,193, 0.72 times the $2,683,973 for non-franchise establishments (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 Economic Census).

Inside the franchise group, owner type made almost no difference to receipts. Franchisee-owned locations averaged $1,930,183 and franchisor-owned locations $1,940,611. Franchisee-owned locations were more heavily staffed: 10.9 paid employees each, against 4.9.

Two cautions apply. The non-franchise group is a residual that includes establishments that did not answer, and it can include large operators that do not franchise. Receipts per establishment describe the industry, not the result any one location can expect; this report does not use or present earnings data.

What Avis Budget and Hertz report about licensees, FY2023 to FY2025

Of the three listed rental companies examined, Avis Budget Group is the only one that states licensee location counts by brand and region. Licensees ran about 3,700 of 10,250 locations in FY2023, 3,800 of 10,250 in FY2024 and 3,800 of 10,000 in FY2025 (FY2023 10-K, FY2024 10-K, Avis Budget Group FY2025 10-K).

Royalties from those licensees were $133 million, $143 million and $150 million, or 1.11%, 1.21% and 1.29% of total revenues. The filing states that Avis and Budget royalty fees were each about 1% of the brand’s revenues. Royalties are a fee on licensee revenue, not licensee revenue itself, which the 10-K does not report.

The licensee footprint is mostly international. In FY2025, licensees ran 1,505 of 2,375 international Avis locations and 445 of 2,320 in the Americas, a region that also covers Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. Of the $150 million in royalties, $40 million came from the Americas.

Hertz reports company-operated and franchisee locations only as a combined count, about 11,400 in FY2023, 11,200 in FY2024 and 11,000 in FY2025 (FY2023 10-K, FY2024 10-K, Hertz FY2025 10-K). It states that fees from franchisees were about 2% of worldwide vehicle rental revenues in each year, and that U.S. franchisees can generally terminate without cause on 180 days’ notice.

One wording difference is worth flagging. The FY2023 and FY2024 Avis Budget filings say Avis-brand licensees operate approximately half of the brand’s locations worldwide; the FY2023 table shows 2,070 of 5,110 (40.5%). The FY2025 filing drops the sentence. This report uses the table counts. For unit growth across listed franchisors see public franchisor unit growth.

Airport vs neighborhood car rental franchise models

The filings do not count franchised locations by airport and off-airport type. Avis Budget describes licensed locations as ranging from large operations at major airports and whole-country territories to relatively small operations in suburban or rural locations (Avis Budget Group FY2025 10-K).

Hertz gives the airport mix for company-operated and franchisee locations combined. In its Americas segment, 2,000 of about 4,600 locations were at airports and 2,600 off airport at the end of 2025; the off-airport share fell from 63.5% in 2023 to 56.5% (Hertz FY2025 10-K).

The smaller franchisors price the two models differently. Priceless and NextCar charge $25,000 for a single point location with no territory and $30,000 for a six-mile primary service area. Airport fees depend on enplanements and car rental revenue statistics and run from $30,000 to $125,000 at Priceless (Priceless FDD, October 2025). Green Motion and U-Save quote $10,000 to $250,000 for a commercial or residential trade area and $25,000 to $800,000 for an airport (Green Motion FDD, U-Save FDD). Avis and Budget set the fee by territory population: $25,000 up to 50,000 people plus $5,000 per added 5,000, with the right to charge more for an airport, resort or other prime location.

Truck rental for contrast: dealers and dealerships, not franchisees

Truck, trailer and RV rental and leasing (NAICS 532120) is even less franchisee-owned. In 2017, 974 of 6,394 U.S. establishments (15.2%) were in a franchise system and 164 (2.6%) were franchisee-owned (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 Economic Census).

The large consumer networks use commissioned dealers. U-Haul lists over 23,000 independent dealers and over 2,400 company-operated stores, and its dealers act as rental agents paid a commission on gross rental revenue (U-Haul FY2026 10-K). Budget Truck rents through about 800 company and dealer-operated U.S. locations, about half company-operated (Avis Budget Group FY2025 10-K).

The one truck franchise in this report’s FDD set is commercial leasing tied to truck dealers. PacLease lists 455 franchised and 2 company-owned U.S. outlets at the end of 2025, and its FDD says most franchises are owned by or affiliated with a Kenworth or Peterbilt dealership (PacLease FDD, February 2026). Leasing and rental of trucks share one NAICS code, so the Census figures cannot separate them.

Recent firm data: about one in eight vehicle rental firms franchise

The Annual Business Survey asks employer firms whether they operate all or part of the business as a franchise. For automotive equipment rental and leasing (NAICS 5321), the share was 12.1% in 2020, 13.4% in 2021, 12.0% in 2022 and 13.1% in 2023 (2024 ABS), against 4.7% for all sectors (Census ABS 2024).

The standard errors run from 3.2 to 5.4 points, so the year-to-year moves are noise. The ABS counts firms, not locations, reports no owner split, and stops at the 4-digit level, which mixes car rental with car leasing and truck rental. The 2019 file reaches only NAICS 532 (4.2%).

SBA loans for a car rental franchise: volume and median loan

SBA lending to car rental franchises is rare. From FY2011 to June 30, 2026, 17 SBA 7(a) and 504 loans ($12.05 million) carried a vehicle-rental franchise brand, about 1.1 a year, with a median of $428,100 (SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA data as of June 30, 2026). Only 6 were approved from FY2020 on.

By industry code, SBA approved 392 7(a) loans to passenger car rental businesses from FY2010 ($105.9 million). 14 were franchise-coded (3.6%), against 10.1% of all 7(a) loans. The franchise-coded median was $430,000; the rest had a median of $50,000.

The SBA Franchise Directory gap does not explain the low share. SBA stopped publishing the directory when its rule took effect on 2023-05-11 (Federal Register) and reinstated it with SOP 50 10 8 on 2025-06-01 (SBA notice). Car rental loans approved before the gap had 2 franchise codes in 83; during it, 1 in 103; after it, 1 in 37.

Truck rental shows the same pattern. The 2 franchise-coded 7(a) loans recorded under NAICS 532120 went to dumpster and junk-removal brands, not truck rental systems. For lending across all franchise sectors, see SBA franchise loans and the SBA Franchise Directory report.

What car rental franchise FDDs charge: fees tied to revenue, territory and fleet

This report read seven FDDs issued April 2024 to February 2026: four independent car rental brands (Priceless, NextCar, Green Motion and U-Save), the two Avis Budget car rental brands (Avis and Budget) and one truck leasing system (PacLease). Three fee features stand out.

Percent-of-revenue fees. Avis and Budget charge a 7.5% license fee on gross revenue. Priceless and NextCar charge the greater of 4% or a monthly minimum of $800 to $2,400, plus 1% for marketing. Green Motion and U-Save charge the greater of 6% or $500 to $1,500 a month, plus 2% for a marketing fund. PacLease charges 1% of revenue up to $6 million a year, 0.5% from $6 million to $12 million, and nothing above that.

Reservation costs. Bookings carry their own fees. Priceless lists $5 per brand-site reservation plus 5% of time and mileage revenue, and travel agency commissions of 10% to 35%. Green Motion lists broker commissions of 10% to 32% per reservation.

Fleet. The fleet dominates the investment. Vehicles are 82.2% of the high Avis and Budget Item 7 estimate (a 30-car fleet, financed), 86.8% at Priceless and 78.5% at NextCar. Several FDDs set fleet minimums: Priceless and NextCar guide one car per 1,000 residents in a six-mile territory by year three, and Green Motion and U-Save require 20 vehicles at opening and 50 by month six. Item 7 totals across the car rental FDDs run from $167,900 to $2,592,533.

Only Priceless and NextCar include an Item 19 financial performance representation; this report does not use it. For how these fees compare with other sectors, see franchise royalty rates and franchise initial investment. The automotive services view of the same FDDs is in automotive franchise statistics.

Does the licensee pattern hold? Testing the car rental franchise hypothesis

The working hypothesis was that car rental is heavily franchised by location count, concentrated in neighborhood and smaller-market licensees of the big systems, which report franchised locations as a large share of locations but a small share of revenue.

Held: small share of revenue. Avis Budget licensee royalties were 1.29% of revenue in FY2025 while licensees ran 38.0% of locations; Hertz franchisee fees were about 2% of vehicle rental revenues.

Held only abroad: large share of locations. Licensees ran 62.2% of Avis and Budget international locations. In the United States the share is small: 10.7% of Avis and Budget outlets in the FDDs and 4.4% of all car rental establishments in the 2017 Census. U.S. franchised outlets at the two brands fell by 35 from the start of 2021 to the end of 2023.

Not supported: smaller locations. Franchisee-owned car rental establishments had about the same receipts per location as company-operated franchise locations in 2017 and about twice the staff. No filing counts licensees by market size. The finding the data supports: U.S. car rental is a branded, company-operated industry, and franchising is mainly how the big systems cover places they do not run directly, chiefly outside the United States.

What a buyer should check before a car rental franchise

These are the points the filings and FDDs above show to vary most. They are questions to ask, not advice.

• Territory type and fee basis: single point, radius, population or airport, and whether airport fees are set by enplanements or rental revenue (Item 5 and Item 12).
• Minimum royalty and minimum fleet: whether the percentage fee has a monthly floor, and the fleet size required by month six or year three (Item 6 and Item 12).
• Reservation and commission costs: per-reservation fees and travel agency or broker commissions (Item 6).
• Fleet financing: whether Item 7 assumes financed vehicles and who provides the financing (Item 7 and Item 10).
• Outlet history: franchised vs company-owned counts and reacquisitions (Item 20). Avis Budget states that it periodically acquires licensees.
• Financial performance: whether the FDD has an Item 19 at all (see franchise Item 19).

For the general process, see buying a franchise and franchise costs.

Where the data stops

No public source counts U.S. car rental locations by franchise status after 2017. The 2022 Economic Census did not tabulate franchise status for the United States, the ABS stops at 4-digit industries and counts firms, and the 10-K filings report approximate worldwide or regional counts. Enterprise Holdings does not appear in the SEC list of companies with traded securities and has no franchise registration in the DFPI index, so it is outside the filing and FDD data. Hertz does not split company and franchisee locations. No source reports licensee sales.