Aug. 11, 2015—Enterprise Rent-A-Car released its second quarter 2015 rental data on Monday. The results show that the national average length of rental (LOR) rose slightly in the second quarter of 2015 to 11 days overall, reversing the downturn that was seen in the first quarter’s data.
Compared with the second quarter of 2014, the LOR increased 0.3 days and was up 0.5 days over the five-year average. The data, gathered by Enterprise’s Automated Rental Management System (ARMS), tracks the length of time replacement vehicles are rented to customers.
The increase in the second quarter may have been due to an increase in accidents because of the weather, there were likely other contributing influences, according to Frank LaViola, assistant vice president of collision industry relations for Enterprise.
“While some regions, such as the Midwest, experienced wetter than normal weather conditions, others were below normal and still increased in LOR,” said LaViola. “So, we need to look at other factors that may be driving longer cycle time. Those could include technician shortages and training, the complexity of newer vehicles being repaired and other issues, such as parts delays.”
Read more about LOR trends that could be influencing cycle time in August’s issue of FenderBender.
The Northeast region had the highest LOR at 12.3 days. The lowest LOR occurred in the Northwest region with an average of 9.4 days. The Mountain region had the largest increase in LOR, 1.2 days, which can be partially attributed to the recent hail in Colorado.
