We now know who the next domino to fall in the car rental industry is. Advantage Rent A Car officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today becoming the second major car rental company behind Hertz to seek such protection. This is the third time Advantage has filed for bankruptcy.
With travel continuing to slump the travel industry as a whole is facing an existential crisis in some sectors none of which is more prevalent than the rental car industry which has massive lots of cars (many on leases) sitting idle. Advantage Rent A Car announced the decision on May 27th.
According to some reports, Advantage, which was ironically a spin-off from Hertz, faced down $500 million in liabilities.
Advantage, who serves 27 markets, was relatively silent with further details, although this is the 3rd bankruptcy for the embattled car company which filed during the Great Recession and again in 2013 where current owner, Catalyst, emerged as the “white knight” for Advantage taking ownership as the firm came out of bankruptcy.
Catalyst further grew the business by acquiring E-Z Rent-A-Car in 2016.
The travel industry remains hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with unemployment soaring and recently crossing the 51% mark for the industry.
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