Car renters are less satisfied

Customer satisfaction with renting cars at airports declined for a second consecutive year, according to a survey by J.D. Power & Associates that is in its 13th year.

Enterprise ranked highest in customer satisfaction among rental car companies for a fifth consecutive year in the survey, followed in the rankings by Hertz and Alamo, with Alamo improving from 2007. The study measures overall customer satisfaction with renting cars at airports by looking at costs and fees, pickup process, rental car, return process, reservation process and shuttle bus/van.

The latest survey showed that overall satisfaction declined from 750 points on a 1,000-point scale last year to 734 this year. The study was based on more than 13,400 evaluations from business and leisure travelers who rented a vehicle at an airport location between September 2007 and October 2008.