# Auto rental industry facts 2026

- Canonical page: https://pipetidy.com/industry-facts/auto-rental-statistics
- Author: Hudson Paul, Cofounder and research editor, Pipetidy
- Published: 2026-09-21
- Last updated: 2026-09-22
- Sources last checked: 2026-09-22

## Direct answer

Auto rental operators manage a high-volume relationship business built around availability, reservations, handovers, damage records, extensions, returns, and repeat customers. The market includes 16,466 U.S. employer establishments and more than 73,000 car and other rental enterprises in the EU, making consistent follow-up and customer history operationally important.

## Headline facts

- **16,466** — U.S. automotive equipment rental and leasing employer establishments in 2023. ([U.S. Census Bureau, 2023](https://data.census.gov/profile/5321_-_Automotive_equipment_rental_and_leasing?codeset=naics~5321))
- **73,031** — Car and other rental enterprises in the EU in Eurostat's 2023 tourism-industry table. ([Eurostat, 2023](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/SEPDF/cache/39768.pdf))
- **£59.8B** — Approximate UK rental and leasing services output in 2025. ([Office for National Statistics, 2025](https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/manufacturingandproductionindustry/timeseries/jt3m))

## Regional context

### United States

All 50 states and the District of Columbia. The SBA counted 36.2 million U.S. small businesses in its 2025 profile release. Census data identifies 16,466 employer establishments across passenger-car, truck, trailer, and related automotive rental and leasing.

Source: [SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025](https://advocacy.sba.gov/2025/06/30/new-advocacy-report-shows-the-number-of-small-businesses-in-the-u-s-exceeds-36-million/)

### Southeast United States

Pipetidy's target states: Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia. These seven states contain about 5.49 million small businesses and roughly 8.8 million small-business employees. Airports, tourism, contractors, replacement vehicles, and fast-growing metros create a mixed leisure and business-account market across the seven target states.

Source: [SBA state profiles, 2025](https://advocacy.sba.gov/2025/06/30/2025-small-business-profiles-for-the-states-territories-and-nation/)

### United Kingdom

England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The UK had about 114,000 VAT/PAYE-registered transport and storage businesses and 141,000 agriculture, forestry, and fishing businesses in 2025. Rental and leasing services produced about £59.8 billion in 2025, spanning vehicles, machinery, and other rented assets.

Source: [Office for National Statistics, 2025](https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/ukbusinessactivitysizeandlocation/2025)

### Northern Europe

Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden for this factsheet series. Eurostat's structural business statistics cover detailed enterprise activity across EU and EFTA markets, including transport, storage, rental, repair, and trade. High digital adoption and cross-border travel favor reliable reservation, identity, handover, and fleet-customer records.

Source: [Eurostat structural business statistics](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/structural-business-statistics)

### Central Europe

Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary for this factsheet series. Central Europe contains several of the EU's largest freight and industrial markets; Germany and Poland together produced almost 35% of EU road-freight tonne-kilometres in 2024. Dense cross-border road networks and corporate mobility create multi-location account and return workflows.

Source: [Eurostat road freight, 2025](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20250709-1)

### Australia & New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand, reported separately where official statistics differ. Australia had 261,109 transport, postal, and warehousing businesses in 2025-26; New Zealand transport, postal, and warehousing sales reached NZ$11.75 billion in the June 2026 quarter. Large travel distances and airport-led demand make availability, extensions, handovers, and incident history central to service quality.

Source: [ABS and Stats NZ, 2026](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/business-indicators/counts-australian-businesses-including-entries-and-exits/latest-release)

## Methodology

Pipetidy Research selects primary government, statistical-agency, and publisher-original sources. Each figure retains its source period, geography, and classification; unlike measures are not combined into a synthetic global total.

## Limitations

Industry definitions differ by country and statistical system. Regional baselines describe the wider operating market and should not be read as a like-for-like market-size comparison or as evidence of Pipetidy customer outcomes.

## Suggested citation

Paul, Hudson. “Auto rental industry facts 2026.” Pipetidy Research, P101 LLC. Updated 2026-09-22. https://pipetidy.com/industry-facts/auto-rental-statistics