Hertz Chooses New Route for Fleet Management With Amazon Autos Hookup

For a company that’s looking to turn the corner, hitching a ride with Jeff Bezos isn’t a bad option.

Hertz said Wednesday that its vehicle sales unit will partner with Amazon Autos, the new-ish retail platform for used cars launched by Bezos’ all-consuming e-commerce giant last year. Shares in the Florida-based car rental giant rose nearly 6% Wednesday in a testament to the faith investors have in Amazon’s retail might. 

When the Time is Right

Normally, it’s the stars, but fortune, in this case, is when the cars align. And that they did, starting in December 2024, when Amazon launched Amazon Autos to expand the supergiant reach of its retail empire to used and “certified pre-owned” vehicles. Initially limited to Hyundai vehicles as part of a partnership with the automaker, Amazon is now opening up the platform to non-Hyundai models. It already has participating dealers in over 130 US cities to help diversify the offering, and Hertz coming on board will introduce a slate of Ford, Toyota, Chevrolet and Nissan vehicles in one fell swoop. It’s a ready-made road to expansion, one that began immediately in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Seattle on Wednesday, with plans to stretch to all 45 Hertz Car Sales locations in the US.

Hertz, meanwhile, is looking in the rear-view mirror at its pandemic bankruptcy and a failed electric vehicle strategy that followed. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2021, and executives adopted a turnaround plan last year, dubbed a “Back-to-Basics Roadmap,” that makes improving its fleet management a core component of optimizing revenue and costs. That means refreshing its fleet and selling vehicles before they depreciate into pennies, or a “Buy Right, Hold Right, Sell Right” strategy, as executives have dubbed it:

• In the second quarter, the “Buy Right, Hold Right, Sell Right” approach paid off in some respects: Hertz’s depreciation per unit (DPU) per month of $251 was 16% better than executives’ North Star goal of less than $300. That occurred as Hertz continued a rotation of its rental fleet set to finish by the end of 2025, with older vehicles being sold off and replaced with new models.
• On the other hand, Hertz is very much still in turnaround mode. Citing the combination of high borrowing, approaching debt maturities, softening travel demand and costs related to its remaining older fleet, ratings company Fitch maintained its negative outlook for the rental giant earlier this month. Hertz does have the prominent backing of hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, who has argued that US tariffs on auto imports will increase the value of used cars as buyers choose them over jacked-up price tags on new models from abroad.

Flat Tires: Shares in rival used car retailers went into reverse gear following the announcement of Hertz’s Amazon partnership. Avis fell 5.5%, CarMax 2.6% and Carvana 1.6%. At least, if Ackman’s prediction proves correct, they, too, will benefit from more and more prospective buyers paying a visit to the Old Volks home.