Dollar-Thrifty Automotive Group
Encyclopedia
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group is a holding company for Thrifty Car Rental and Dollar Rent A Car, formed in 1990 by Chrysler
and spun off in 1997.
The company at one time also owned Snappy Rent a Car (which was sold in 1994), Eurodollar and General Rent a Car (which was closed in 1993). It is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma
.
Prior to 2009 the company primarily rented Chrysler
, Dodge
, and Jeep
vehicles within the United States, though some locations featured other brands, such as Mazda
, Nissan, or Toyota. In October 2009, the company stated that it would move away from its traditional reliance on Chrysler Group vehicles, diversifying its fleet to include more brands than before.
DTAG is a Fortune 1000 company and has over 1,475 locations worldwide including more than 835 locations in the United States. In 2006, the company outsourced its IT operations to EDS
. As of October 2009, the company had about 7,000 employees, 700 of them in Tulsa.
Thrifty Car Rental was founded in 1958. It became a public company in 1987 and in 1989 it was acquired by Chrysler
, where in 1990 it was combined with Dollar Rent A Car.
Together with its corporately-owned locations and those of its franchise owners, the Thrifty Car Rental brand has more than 1,028 locations in 68 countries.
The Blue Chip Express Rental Program is Thrifty's free program that expedites a customer's rental process at most Thrifty Car Rental locations in the United States
and Canada
. The Blue Chip system is specialized for business travelers who need a quick pickup, but is also used for tourists and frequent local renters. The Blue Chip Rewards Program gives customers a free rental day at Thrifty after accumulating 16 rental days. Customers also have the option of adding airline miles instead. Some airlines used in the Blue Chip Rewards Program include American Airlines
, Alaska Airlines
, Continental Airlines
, Southwest Airlines
, United Airlines
and US Airways
.
Dollar Rent a Car was founded in 1965 by Henry Caruso
in Los Angeles, California
. In 1990 it was acquired by Chrysler
. Dollar has more than 647 worldwide locations in 53 countries, with a significant presence in Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America, including more than 358 in the United States and Canada.
Economy: Chevrolet Aveo
Compact: Ford Focus
Mid-Size: Hyundai Sonata
Standard: Ford Fusion
Full-Size: Dodge Charger
Premium: Ford Crown Victoria
Luxury: Lincoln Town Car
Standard Convertible: Ford Mustang
Minivan: Dodge Grand Caravan
Mid-Size SUV: Ford Escape
Mid-Size Open-Air All-Terrain: Jeep Wrangler
Standard SUV: Jeep Grand Cherokee
Full-Size SUV: Ford Expedition
Premium SUV: Chevrolet Tahoe
Luxury SUV: Chevrolet Suburban
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
and spun off in 1997.
The company at one time also owned Snappy Rent a Car (which was sold in 1994), Eurodollar and General Rent a Car (which was closed in 1993). It is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
.
Prior to 2009 the company primarily rented Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
, Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
, and Jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
vehicles within the United States, though some locations featured other brands, such as Mazda
Mazda
is a Japanese automotive manufacturer based in Fuchū, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.In 2007, Mazda produced almost 1.3 million vehicles for global sales...
, Nissan, or Toyota. In October 2009, the company stated that it would move away from its traditional reliance on Chrysler Group vehicles, diversifying its fleet to include more brands than before.
DTAG is a Fortune 1000 company and has over 1,475 locations worldwide including more than 835 locations in the United States. In 2006, the company outsourced its IT operations to EDS
Electronic Data Systems
HP Enterprise Services is the global business and technology services division of Hewlett Packard's HP Enterprise Business strategic business unit. It was formed by the combination of HP's legacy services consulting and outsourcing business and the integration of acquired Electronic Data Systems,...
. As of October 2009, the company had about 7,000 employees, 700 of them in Tulsa.
Thrifty Car Rental
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
, where in 1990 it was combined with Dollar Rent A Car.
Together with its corporately-owned locations and those of its franchise owners, the Thrifty Car Rental brand has more than 1,028 locations in 68 countries.
The Blue Chip Express Rental Program is Thrifty's free program that expedites a customer's rental process at most Thrifty Car Rental locations in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The Blue Chip system is specialized for business travelers who need a quick pickup, but is also used for tourists and frequent local renters. The Blue Chip Rewards Program gives customers a free rental day at Thrifty after accumulating 16 rental days. Customers also have the option of adding airline miles instead. Some airlines used in the Blue Chip Rewards Program include American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
, Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines is an airline based in the Seattle suburb of SeaTac, Washington in the United States. The airline originated in 1932 as McGee Airways. After many mergers with and acquisitions of other airlines, including Star Air Service, it became known as Alaska Airlines in 1944...
, Continental Airlines
Continental Airlines
Continental Airlines was a major American airline now merged with United Airlines. On May 3, 2010, Continental Airlines, Inc. and UAL, Inc. announced a merger via a stock swap, and on October 1, 2010, the merger closed and UAL changed its name to United Continental Holdings, Inc...
, Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines Co. is an American low-cost airline based in Dallas, Texas. Southwest is the largest airline in the United States, based upon domestic passengers carried,...
, United Airlines
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
and US Airways
US Airways
US Airways, Inc. is a major airline based in the U.S. city of Tempe, Arizona. The airline is an operating unit of US Airways Group and is the sixth largest airline by traffic and eighth largest by market value in the country....
.
Dollar Rent A Car
Henry Caruso
Henry J. Caruso is an American businessman and founder of Dollar Rent A Car.Of Italian heritage, Caruso was born in Pennsylvania. His father, August Caruso, worked in the landscape business and decided that the weather in the Mid-Atlantic was problematic and moved the family to Los Angeles,...
in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. In 1990 it was acquired by Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
. Dollar has more than 647 worldwide locations in 53 countries, with a significant presence in Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America, including more than 358 in the United States and Canada.
Vehicles
Both companies rent the same types of vehicles, since the companies are related to each other. The following is a list of the types of cars Dollar and Thrifty rent, or similar:Economy: Chevrolet Aveo
Chevrolet Aveo
The Chevrolet Aveo is a subcompact automobile manufactured since 2002, originally by the South Korean General Motors subsidiary, GM Daewoo—and later by other GM-affiliated entities...
Compact: Ford Focus
Ford Focus
The Ford Focus is a compact car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1998. Ford began sales of the Focus to Europe in July 1998 and in North America during 1999 for the 2000 model year....
Mid-Size: Hyundai Sonata
Hyundai Sonata
The Hyundai Sonata is a mid-size car/full-size car manufactured and marketed globally by Hyundai Motor Company. From the sixth generation onwards, it is known as the i45 in the Australian, Singaporean and New Zealand markets...
Standard: Ford Fusion
Ford Fusion
Ford Fusion is a name used on two different models of cars from the Ford Motor Company.* Ford Fusion * Ford Fusion / Ford Fusion Hybrid...
Full-Size: Dodge Charger
Dodge Charger
The Dodge Charger is an American automobile manufactured by the Dodge division of Chrysler. There have been several different Dodge vehicles, built on three different platforms and sizes, all bearing the Charger nameplate...
Premium: Ford Crown Victoria
Ford Crown Victoria
-1992–1994:Released in March 1991 as an early 1992 model, the Crown Victoria sedan was completely redesigned with a rounder, eight-window roofline . The redesign reduced the coefficient of drag from 0.42 to 0.34; the suspension setup was also heavily revised...
Luxury: Lincoln Town Car
Lincoln Town Car
The Lincoln Town Car is a full-size luxury sedan that was sold by the upscale Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company; it was produced from 1981 to the 2011 model years...
Standard Convertible: Ford Mustang
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A...
Minivan: Dodge Grand Caravan
Mid-Size SUV: Ford Escape
Ford Escape
The Ford Escape is a compact SUV sold by the automaker Ford Motor Company introduced in 2000 as a 2001 model year and priced below the Ford Explorer. Although technically it's a crossover vehicle, it is marketed by Ford as part of its traditional SUV lineup rather than its separate crossover lineup...
Mid-Size Open-Air All-Terrain: Jeep Wrangler
Jeep Wrangler
The Jeep Wrangler is a subcompact four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle and an off-road vehicle manufactured by American automaker Chrysler, under its Jeep marque – and now in its fourth generation. It is a successor to the famous World War II 'Jeep' vehicle by way of the Willys civilian...
Standard SUV: Jeep Grand Cherokee
Jeep Grand Cherokee
The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a Mid-size SUV produced by the Jeep division of Chrysler. While some other SUVs were manufactured with body on frame construction, the Jeep Grand Cherokee has always used a unibody chassis.- Development :...
Full-Size SUV: Ford Expedition
Ford Expedition
The Ford Expedition is a full-size SUV built by the Ford Motor Company. Introduced in 1997 as a replacement to the Ford Bronco, it was previously slotted between the smaller Ford Explorer and the larger Ford Excursion, but as of the 2005 model year, it is Ford's largest and last truck-based,...
Premium SUV: Chevrolet Tahoe
Chevrolet Tahoe
The Chevrolet Tahoe are full-size SUVs from General Motors. Chevrolet and GMC sold two different-sized SUVs under their Blazer/Jimmy model names through the early 1990s. This situation changed when GMC rebadged the full-size Jimmy as the Yukon in 1992...
Luxury SUV: Chevrolet Suburban
Chevrolet Suburban
Chevrolet offered a station wagon body, built on the 1/2 ton truck frame. This model was specifically built for National Guard units and Civilian Conservation Corps units. Much of the body was constructed from wood, and could seat up to eight occupants....
External links
- Dollar Rent A Car official site
- Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group official site
- Thrifty official site
- History of Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group