FranchiseVerdict
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FV-02732·MODERATEExcellent81

Thrifty

Automotive - Repair & ServiceFranchising since 1962Website
Investment
$879K – $16.2M
94th pct Repair & Serv…
Avg revenue
54th pct Repair & Serv…
Royalty
6.0%
17th pct Repair & Serv…
Units
302
79th pct Repair & Serv…
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $879K – $16.2M including a $25K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 64/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 32 loans (below the industry average).
  • 22 litigation matters disclosed in Item 3 — higher than typical. Review the summary for patterns (franchisor-initiated vs. franchisee-initiated).

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Thrifty Rent-A-Car System, LLC
Parent company
The Hertz Corporation
Incorporated in
Oklahoma
HQ
8501 Williams Road, Estero, Florida 33928
Auditor
Ernst & Young LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$9.4B
vs $9.0B prior year

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one Thrifty unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
Item 19 not disclosed — typing your own estimate
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: automotive
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $879K–$16.2M
Working capital
$
FDD reports $20K–$500K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

1%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$128K
EBITDA margin
17.0%
Total invested
$8.8M
Payback
831 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Overview

About

Thrifty is a vehicle rental franchise where franchisees operate rental counter/lot locations, managing customer reservations, vehicle maintenance, fleet acquisition, and daily rental operations. Franchisees typically employ staff to handle customer service, vehicle logistics, and administrative functions while paying 6-8% royalties on gross receipts to the parent company.

CEO
Gil West
Founded
1950
FDD year
2026
States available
26

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$879K – $16.2M
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$20K – $500K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$25K
Royalty
6.0%
Gross Receipts · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
8.0%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
302
Opened
9
Last reporting year
Closed
1
Turnover rate
0.3%
Company-owned
221
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
27%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+11.0%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+22.7%
Compounded over last 3 years
2024
81+8
Franchised units
2025
73
Franchised units
2026
66
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 21 states with active franchisees

The Territory Map

Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 21 states
Not registered

States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

Total loans
32
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

64
Risk · 0-100
MODERATE64 / 100

Thrifty presents HIGH RISK due to undisclosed financials (no Item 19), severe parent company litigation and going concern status, unprotected territories, and lack of transparency on unit-level profitability — making ROI validation impossible despite modest system growth.

Score breakdown · what drove the 64 / 100 rating

  1. 01HIGHParent company has going concern warning — indicates solvency/operational viability questions at corporate level
  2. 02HIGHExtreme litigation exposure: 22 total legal actions (3 pending Thrifty-specific, 4 pending parent, 13 past parent actions) including $168M false arrest settlement and major bankruptcy-related claim vs. Wells Fargo
  3. 03MINORNo Item 19 financial disclosure (average unit volumes/net income) — impossible to validate ROI on $879K-$16.2M investment range
  4. 04MINORUnprotected territory with modest 11% YoY growth (302 units) — suggests market saturation risk and cannibalization potential
  5. 05MINORWide investment range ($879K to $16.2M) indicates highly variable unit economics depending on location type
  6. 06HIGHParent entity instability (Hertz bankruptcy context) creates supply chain, brand support, and operational continuity risks
  7. 07MEDHigh royalty burden (6-8%) without disclosed revenue benchmarks means franchisees cannot assess profitability thresholds

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Geographic
Protected territory
No
Initial term
5 years
Renewal term
5 years
Online sales rights
Granted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
22
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
1 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
Florida

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
66 hrs
On-the-job training
8 hrs
POS system
Approved Counter System
Operating tech stack

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

Franchisee contacts

32 numbers

Locked
(907) 276-••••
AK
(406) 758-••••
MT
(509) 994-••••
WA

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Thrifty · FDD (2026) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above