The Curb-to-Client Index: 8 rental networks, scored on the last mile of the trip
8 networks scored · 5 checks · edition 2026-07 · method v1.0 · last ruled · download the data
0 verified score changes since edition 2026-07 · 39 source documents moved and awaiting review. A moved document is an input; only a human ruling moves a score.
The meeting is at 10; the car decides whether you're composed or apologizing. We scored the 8 major US rental networks on 15 published commitments: skipping the counter, cost clarity, and recovery when plans move. Top scores: 80. The category's biggest name commits to the least.
Key takeaways
- Hertz leads at 80 of 100, against a field average of 67.
- The widest gap is access (skip the counter), where 1 of the 8 networks publish nothing at all.
- Not one network scores full marks on 2 dimensions: access (skip the counter), care & support.
- Scored on published commitments only. Unstated is No, a hedge is No, “contact sales” is No.
- Every score below decomposes into named checks with the source document beside it.
Verdict: Hertz scores highest at 80 of 100, and is strongest on 4 of the 5 dimensions. The ranking is not a recommendation: pick by the dimension your trip actually turns on, using the table below.
Which network is strongest on each dimension?
Direct answer: Hertz is strongest on 4 of the 5 dimensions; cost clarity → Sixt.
| Dimension | Strongest published commitment |
|---|---|
| Access (skip the counter) | Hertz: 2 of 3. 1 of 8 publish nothing on this dimension. |
| Self-serve speed | Hertz: 3 of 3, one of 6 at full marks. Every network publishes something here. |
| Care & support | Hertz: 2 of 3. Every network publishes something here. |
| Cost clarity | Sixt: 3 of 3, the only one at full marks. Every network publishes something here. |
| Flexibility & recovery | Hertz: 3 of 3, one of 2 at full marks. Every network publishes something here. |
Strongest means highest-scoring on published commitments as of 2026-07. It is not a recommendation, and not a judgement about how a network actually treats you. It is what the network has put in writing, which is the only thing this desk will score. Counted from the index data at build time, so it moves when a score moves.
The ranking
| # | Network | Score /100 | A·S·C·$·R (of 3) | What the public record says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hertz | 80 | 2·3·2·2·3 | Gold Choice matches the aisle promise; the EV fleet comes with the most explicit published charging rules in the business. |
| 2 | National | 80 | 2·3·2·2·3 | The Emerald Aisle is the category's defining commitment: pick the car, skip the human. Deposit holds stay unpublished, like everyone's. |
| 3 | Avis | 73 | 2·3·2·2·2 | The app's select-and-go commitment is real; no aisle, and after-hours EV guidance is thinner than the leaders'. |
| 4 | Sixt | 73 | 1·3·2·3·2 | The only major publishing deposit-hold amounts, the cost-clarity commitment the US incumbents refuse. |
| 5 | Budget | 67 | 1·3·2·2·2 | Fastbreak skips the counter; everything above the floor, choice, holds, EV terms, goes unstated. |
| 6 | Alamo | 60 | 1·3·2·1·2 | Online check-in genuinely commits to skipping the line; the rest of the promise set is leisure-grade. |
| 7 | Dollar | 53 | 1·2·2·1·2 | Express membership exists; the published commitments around it are the thinnest of the majors. |
| 8 | Enterprise | 53 | 0·2·2·2·2 | The service-culture giant commits to almost nothing in writing, no skip program, no aisle, no published holds. The counter IS the product. |
Source access, checked 2026-09-01. Of 8 entries carrying a recorded source, 8 have at least one document an independent automated reader can retrieve. 1 source was refused a fetch — 1 of them by hosts whose own robots.txt permits crawling. A refused page is recorded as unverified, never as an absence of commitment, and no score is affected by it. How we record unreadable sources.
The ranking
| # | Network | Score /100 | A·S·C·$·R (of 3) | What the public record says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hertz | 80 | 2·3·2·2·3 | Gold Choice matches the aisle promise; the EV fleet comes with the most explicit published charging rules in the business. |
| 2 | National | 80 | 2·3·2·2·3 | The Emerald Aisle is the category's defining commitment: pick the car, skip the human. Deposit holds stay unpublished, like everyone's. |
| 3 | Avis | 73 | 2·3·2·2·2 | The app's select-and-go commitment is real; no aisle, and after-hours EV guidance is thinner than the leaders'. |
| 4 | Sixt | 73 | 1·3·2·3·2 | The only major publishing deposit-hold amounts, the cost-clarity commitment the US incumbents refuse. |
| 5 | Budget | 67 | 1·3·2·2·2 | Fastbreak skips the counter; everything above the floor, choice, holds, EV terms, goes unstated. |
| 6 | Alamo | 60 | 1·3·2·1·2 | Online check-in genuinely commits to skipping the line; the rest of the promise set is leisure-grade. |
| 7 | Dollar | 53 | 1·2·2·1·2 | Express membership exists; the published commitments around it are the thinnest of the majors. |
| 8 | Enterprise | 53 | 0·2·2·2·2 | The service-culture giant commits to almost nothing in writing, no skip program, no aisle, no published holds. The counter IS the product. |
Dimensions: Access · Speed · Certainty · Cost Clarity · Recovery. 8 scored · July 2026 · changelog v1.0.
What the Index found
The aisle is the moat. Only National and Hertz commit to walk-up car choice, the single commitment that converts a 25-minute pickup into 4. It's been true for a decade and nobody else has matched it in writing.
Nobody publishes the hold, except Sixt. Deposit holds of $200–500 hit every traveler's card and appear in almost no one's published terms. One European entrant publishing the number the US majors won't is a finding all by itself.
Class guarantees are marketing, not terms. Every brand advertises the midsize; none of the eight publishes an availability guarantee with a stated remedy. ‘Or similar’ is doing heavy lifting across the entire industry.
Enterprise's silence is strategic, and scoreable. The largest fleet in America publishes the fewest commitments, because its model routes everything through the counter conversation. Under this instrument, high-touch and low-commitment look identical: No.
Method, in full123 words
Fifteen checks, five dimensions, three each:
- Counter-skip at top tier committed
- Choose-your-own-car aisle committed
- App/keyless unlock committed
- Drop-and-go return stated
- E-receipt automatic
- Skip-line pickup for members
- 24/7 roadside stated
- Human phone line published
- Car-class availability guarantee published
- Fuel options priced online
- Toll program pricing published
- Deposit hold amount published
- After-hours return stated
- One-way bookable online
- EV charging rules published
A check scores Yes only on a documented public commitment: published standards, official policy pages, product and pricing pages, filed plans, app documentation. “Usually,” “varies,” “contact sales,” and unpublished practice score No: the framework's “unknowns are risks” rule, applied to the record. Airport-location terms are used where brand terms differ by venue. This measures the floor a network will put its name to. It does not grade execution on any given day; no desk audit can.
Corrections
Every score is correctable with evidence. If a published commitment contradicts a No, send documentation to rachel@thesalestraveler.com, verified corrections update within 7 days and land in the changelog. Scored companies also hold a formal right of reply, including a published 150-word response, verbatim, alongside the entry.
THE INDEX DESK, The US50 · The Executive Tier · Deal-Day Index · The Layover Office · The Road Office · Curb-to-Client · Booking Channels · Apartment-Stay · The Roaming Index · Conference ROI · Expense Velocity · Road-Ready Sales AI · Status Yield, same method, thirteen markets: scored on published commitments only.