Feb. 24, 2016—Enterprise Rent-A-Car released its fourth quarter length of replacement rental (LOR) data on Wednesday, which shows that the U.S. average LOR has increased slightly over the same time last year to 11.5 days overall.
The data, which is gathered by Enterprise's Automated Rental Management System (ARMS), tracks the length of time replacement vehicles are rented to collision center customers and is considered a proxy for vehicle repair time.
“Lower gas prices and an increase in miles driven have contributed to an increase in accident frequency, as more vehicles are on the road,” said Dan Friedman, assistant vice president of collision industry relations and strategic sales for Enterprise. “Total loss vehicles have also increased over the past two years, contributing to the rise in LOR.”
California saw the largest increase in LOR. It was up one full day over year over year. Weather events likely played a role in the fourth quarter rise, Enterprise said. The upward trend is expected to continue into the first quarter of 2016.
The only decline in LOR was in the Mountain Region, which dropped 0.2 days to 12 overall. The largest decrease occurred in Wyoming, which was down 0.9 days.