By Rob Lovitt, msnbc.com contributor
Travelers may hate the airlines and be unhappy with their hotel experiences, but when it comes to renting cars they?re a surprisingly satisfied bunch.
According to the just-released J.D. Power and Associates 2011 North American Rental Car Satisfaction Study, renters? overall impression of their experiences improved for the second consecutive year, measuring 758 on a 1,000-point scale, up from 750 points in 2010.
?Rental car companies continue to build upon the improvements made in 2010 and are bouncing back from the lower satisfaction levels reported in 2008 and 2009,? said Stuart Greif, vice president of the company?s travel practice.
The study, which was based on more than 12,500 evaluations from U.S. and Canadian travelers who had rented a car within the previous 30 days between January and September, looked at six categories: cost and fees, the vehicle itself, shuttle bus/van service and the processes for pick-up, return and booking.
The top-scoring company? ACE Rent A Car, which scored 793 out of 1,000 points, well above the industry average. Included in the rankings for the first time, the company scored particularly well in the shuttle bus/van and cost and fee categories.
ACE was among four companies that scored above the 758-point average:
- ACE: 793
- Enterprise: 787
- National: 768
- Hertz: 761
Seven companies scored below the average:
- Alamo: 757
- Budget: 749
- Dollar: 744
- Avis: 742
- Advantage: 727
- Thrifty: 726
- Fox: 716
The study also found that the average wait time to pick up a rental car was 17 minutes, down from 20.5 minutes in 2010. Nevertheless, that still presents a challenge as customer satisfaction falls off sharply before then. According to the study, the score for overall satisfaction with the pick-up process was 825 points for customers who waited one to five minutes vs. 809 for customers who waited six to 10 minutes.
?Consumers may be unrealistic and irrational [about pick-up times] but if they?re all that way then that?s the expectation,? said Greif, citing a similar scenario in the hotel industry. ?People want to feel a personal connection but having to wait too long cuts against that.?
One way to streamline the process, suggested Greif, is to use currently available technology to give customers real-time updates about shuttle-bus arrivals, steer them directly to their cars and automate the return process.
?There?s no reason you couldn?t have GPS [capability] on the buses and a sign showing how many minutes until the bus will be there,? he told msnbc.com. ?Whether it?s 20 minutes or 40 minutes, you can decide whether you have time to grab a bite, use a restroom or make a phone call.
?Say you?re flying into Detroit and it?s cold. You can wait inside until one or two minutes before the bus arrives instead of sitting there and freezing your keister off.?
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Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.
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