In this context, Travel2latam spoke with Laura Sierra, Sales Director for Mexico of the car rental company, Hertz.
What is Hertz's structure and what are the benefits versus other competitions?
We are the largest rental company in all of Mexico. We have more than 190 offices throughout the country. We belong to the Avasa franchise. We have four brands; Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty and Firefly. And with Hertz we have more than 160 offices in Mexico. We also have permission to market the brands outside of Mexico in more than 150 countries, to move Mexican tourism to other parts of the world. We also have more than 14,000 cars in the fleet, which are vehicles from intermediate level to super equipped. All cars have air conditioning, Bluetooth, ABS brakes, and are very comfortable so that our travelers always arrive safely and calmly at their destination.
For example, do they have coverage on the route if there is a problem?
Of course, our coverage is nationwide. We have emergency service 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And if a traveler ran out of battery or unfortunately had an accident, no matter where in the republic they are, we will send help.
What are the countries where you rent cars the most?
The top destination is the USA, beach cities like Miami or Orlando for the parks. We also have a Mexican office on the Otay, California side. We have both American and Mexican license plates. When the client wishes to return and drop off the vehicle, they can do so either at our CBX Puente Transfronterizo office or they can return by driving across the border to the Tijuana airport. It is wonderful because by having Mexican plates you can make that return to the Tijuana airport. By having a vehicle with US plates, a Mexican commits a federal crime when crossing the US border into Mexico. That's why we have that flexibility of both options.
When we are talking about the different states in Mexico, which ones stand out for car rental?
We have the division of what are leisure trips and corporate or business trips. In terms of leisure trips, the number one destination is Cancun and all the beaches of the Riviera Maya. And in corporate accounts, it is Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara. Now Monterrey is taking quite a turn. More companies are coming to Mexico and that is why we are having more movement in the area.
How did you experience the time of the pandemic and how did you solve the situation?
During the pandemic something very curious happened, we had to close most of our offices due to government regulations and we only kept the airport offices open. We had a large part of the collaborators locked up at home and a large part of the fleet stopped. So we devised a new line of business thinking about not making personnel cuts and having the cars generating productivity.
At that time, e-commerce exploded internationally, whether to order something from the pharmacy, food, etc. These companies or department stores needed support to make home deliveries. We had the infrastructure, the stopped cars and the available personnel. So we opened a new company at that time called Last Mile, we started delivering groceries, pharmacies and so on to customers' homes.
That model was quite successful, then when trips began to recover we left it on standby because our main business is vehicle rental. But car armor also had low production due to the lack of chips, that affected the entire sector. So we wait a bit on the resale of the vehicle, which is the remarketing of pre-owned vehicles, to be able to maintain the fleet level. And fortunately I can tell you that we have already made new vehicle purchases, we have already been able to turn around remarketing and today we have more fleet than before the pandemic. And not only that, but we have practically 60% of the market share in Mexico in airports.