Enterprise Rent-A-Car scored 739 on J.D. Power’s 1,000-point scale in the 2026 rental car satisfaction study, the highest of any brand, while Hertz scored 711, four points above the study average of 707. National followed Enterprise at 726, with Advantage at 717, Alamo at 716 and Sixt at 714.
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For Enterprise it is another first place in a study that has crowned it in most years since the early 2000s, with 2026 marking its 18th win in 23 years. The gaps behind it are small, and the study’s own fine print says so: J.D. Power cautions that the rankings reflect numerical scores and do not necessarily indicate statistically significant differences.
The scores, brand by brand
The full ordering comes from Auto Rental News’ report on the 2026 results: Enterprise 739, National 726, Advantage 717, Alamo 716, Sixt 714 and Hertz 711, against a study average of 707. ACE, Payless and Fox also appear in the rankings, though the report does not give their scores. J.D. Power notes that the ranking reflects numerical scores and does not necessarily indicate statistically significant differences, so the 6-point spread among the four brands from Advantage to Hertz should be read as a rough cluster rather than a strict ladder.
The 28-point gap between Enterprise and Hertz is the widest comparison in the top six, and the 13-point gap to National is the nearest challenge Enterprise faced.
Who was surveyed and how the study changed
The study draws on responses from 7,845 business and leisure travelers who rented at airport locations, with fieldwork running from August 2025 through August 2026, according to Auto Rental News. The 2026 rankings cover 13 brands, up from eight in 2023. In 2024 the study was redesigned, moving from six factors to seven dimensions ranked by importance: ease of rental, pickup and drop-off, level of trust, vehicle, staff, value for price paid and digital tools. J.D. Power says scores since the redesign are not comparable with earlier ones.
That caveat matters when reading history, because rental brands have traded the top spot before and the scoring rules have since been rewritten. Under the older design, J.D. Power’s 2019 study put Hertz first with a record airport satisfaction score of 843, based on 9,382 travelers, with Enterprise as the prior year’s winner. A score in the 700s today is not a decline from that 843; it is a different measurement. The 2019 study asked about reservation, pickup and costs and fees on a different set of factors, and J.D. Power’s pickup finding that year, that a smooth pickup process was the key differentiator, would be scored inside different dimensions today.
Enterprise’s long run at the top
Auto Rental News counts the 2026 result as Enterprise’s 18th win in 23 annual studies since 2004, and says ACE Rent A Car finished first in 2011. The pattern goes back further: the 2002 domestic airport study, then in its seventh year and based on more than 3,400 evaluations, also ranked Enterprise first and Hertz second. Enterprise led on rates and value and on pickup and return, while Hertz scored well for the car and the reservation process.
Michael Taylor, a J.D. Power managing director for travel, hospitality and retail, said Enterprise led once again with 739 points. The same name appears in the 2002 coverage, when Auto Rental News quoted Mike Taylor, then director of travel services, saying price is a key factor in satisfaction alongside customer service.
What moves the score most
The clearest finding in the 2026 data is about availability. Taylor said that when the reserved class of vehicle is not available, the overall satisfaction score falls by 111 points. This year 90 percent of customers found their reserved class available on arrival, up 3 percentage points from 2025, and 85 percent could choose a specific vehicle within the class, up 5 points.
The study design explains why vehicle availability carries so much weight. The J.D. Power page describing the North America Rental Car Satisfaction Study says it surveys business and leisure travelers who use airport rental services and benchmarks brands against competitors, using key driver analysis to identify what drives satisfaction and loyalty. A traveler who arrives to find the reserved class gone starts the trip with a problem the counter must solve, and the 111-point penalty is large next to a 28-point lead.
The year-to-year movement among the challengers shows how tight the middle is. Auto Rental News says Sixt placed third in 2024 and Advantage fourth, and in 2025 the two tied for third at 711. This year Advantage rose to 717 and Sixt to 714, so both improved by several points, yet both still trail Enterprise by more than 20. Sixt, which in 2025 said it operated more than 130 U.S. branches, was then renewing a corporate partnership with Siemens, according to Auto Rental News’ June 2025 report on the deal, which also noted the two companies have worked together since 1974.
For travelers choosing a counter, the practical lesson from the data is that a guaranteed vehicle matters far more than the difference between 711 and 726.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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