You can find some of the lowest rates on all car rentals with Thrifty Car Rental.
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General information

Fleet

In 2006, Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE: DTG), parent company of the Thrifty and Dollar Rent A Car brands, had a peak fleet of 185,317 cars in the U.S. and Canada.   In the U.S. and Canada, Thrifty Car Rental features quality  products of Chrysler and other fine cars. More...

DTG Revenue

$1.6 billion (2006); Thrifty generated rental revenues of $616 million in 2006 (company owned stores).

Locations
  • U.S. / Canada - 478
  • Other international - 567

Thrifty operates in 68 countries and territories with over 1,028 locations throughout North, Central, and South America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. More...

Employees

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. has more than 8,500 employees in North America. More...

Strategy

Thrifty is a value-oriented car rental company that has a significant presence both in the airport and local car rental markets, a marked difference from many of its major competitors who focus almost exclusively on the airport market.  In the U.S., approximately 80% of its business is focused on the airport market, 20% in the local market. 

The company's Blue Chip Express Rental Program® offers members the benefits of expedited pickup and return.  Members provide Thrifty with a profile that indicates which credit card the customer would like to use, vehicle type and options, insurance coverage and other preferences.  Membership in Blue Chip is free and the service is available at most locations in the U.S. and Canada.   Members also have the option to sign up for Blue Chip Rewards and earn free days by receiving credits for every rental day.
Franchise Philosophy

Historically, Thrifty employed a franchise strategy to become a major global brand; however, the company in 2002 elected to shift to operating some major U.S. markets corporately.  Today, 57% of its retail outlets in North America are franchised, owned by independent businesses that are licensed to use our trade names, systems and technologies.  Nearly all locations outside North America are franchise owned.  Each franchised location is required to maintain strict standards in facilities and service.  From its corporate headquarters, Thrifty centralizes all travel agent commission payments and operates from its headquarters travel agent and consumer inquiry departments, each with toll free numbers, 1-800-TA-BUCKS and 1-800-334-1705 respectively. More...

Thrifty guarantees 100% participation in its corporate account program.

Global Positioning Satellite (GPS)

Thrifty offers GPS-enabled navigation via the Garmin® StreetPilot® c330 and nuvi 660 at most popular locations in the U.S. and Canada. The StreetPilot c330 features an easy-to-use color touch screen with detailed street data including nearly six million points of interest.  With turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions and the ability to choose between a three-dimensional or bird’s-eye view, getting to a destination is easy.  StreetPilot® features the ability to display text directions in 17 different languages and spoken directions in eleven, including English, Spanish, French, German and Italian. More…

Parking Facilities

In addition to car rental, Thrifty provides airport parking with 10,000 parking spaces at 24 Thrifty locations across the U.S. Parking operations can be found in a number of major metropolitan cities such as Chicago, Dallas (Love Field), Kansas City, Seattle and Orlando, Fla.  More...

Travel Agents

Thrifty greatly values its relationship with travel agents and is a long-standing and active member of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA). The company also maintains a travel agent advisory council of nationally respected leaders in the travel agent community and works closely with them on a regular basis. For travel agent assistance, please dial 1-800-TA-BUCKS.  More...

Automation

Thrifty maintains state-of-the-art reservations connections with all major Global Distribution Systems (GDS).  Thrifty established the highest level of connectivity, commonly referred to as 'seamless' with Worldspan and Sabre in 2001, Amadeus in 2003, and Apollo in early 2004.  This provides Travel Agents using the GDS's and consumers using online travel sites – such as Orbitz, Expedia, and Travelocity – with real-time access to inventory and instant booking confirmations by way of direct interaction with Thrifty's proprietary reservations system.  On the voice side, Thrifty offers state-of-the-art natural language speech recognition to provide its 1-800-THRIFTY callers the option of shopping rates by interacting directly with the reservations system through a user-friendly, voice interface.  When ready to confirm their reservation or to speak with a "live agent" for any reason, at any time, callers can simply say "help,” at which point they are connected with a Thrifty agent.

Frequency-Based Partners

Worldwide – American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Gulf Air, Hilton Corporation, Hudson Bay, Kuwait Airlines, Northwest Airlines, US Airways, Qantas, United Airlines and GlobalPass, a consortium of more than a dozen airlines in Latin America.  U.S.Alaska Air/Horizon Air and America West.  More...

Thrifty Car Sales

Launched in 1999, Thrifty Car Sales is a nationally-branded used car sales franchise opportunity.  Thrifty Car Sales offers dealers an outstanding brand name, as well as access to products and services typically associated only with new car franchises.  Currently there are 37 stores in the U.S. in 19 states.   More...

Ownership

Thrifty was founded in 1958.  In 1987, the company completed an initial public offering of common stock and was acquired two years later, in 1989, along with Dollar Rent A Car, by Chrysler Corporation.  In late 1997, Chrysler divested Thrifty and Dollar in an initial public offering as part of the Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE: DTG).  In December 2002, DTG unveiled a new corporate platform; previously functioning as two separate operating companies (Dollar Rent A Car Systems, Inc. and Thrifty, Inc.), DTG now operates as a single company while continuing to support and grow both of its two strong brands independently.   More...