Don’t expect rental car rates to come back down anytime soon. After reporting its fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth in revenue per day (double-digit growth in the last three quarters), Dollar Thrifty Auto Group (DTG) cited “industry pricing discipline” as part of its expectation for 2-4% year-over-year revenue growth for 2010. Pricing will remain firm even though DTG does not expect a significant recovery in the rental business this year. DTG is focused on profitability:
“We continue to focus on profitability of rental transactions. If it is consistent with our strategy at times, we will lower our transaction days and utilization to maintain proper balance in price and volume.”
Automotive rental companies have staged an amazing comeback from the March, 2009 lows. For example, DTG traded as low as 60 cents at that time. After reporting earnings Wednesday morning, DTG soared over 8% to $30.25 – a new two-year high.
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Soars to Two-Year Highs
