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We believe there are significant opportunities to reduce fleet cost inflation and improve fleet utilization and customer satisfaction over the next few years. Perhaps our most important cost initiative, which is part of our ongoing effort to streamline costs that I will be discussing in a minute, is a comprehensive review of all fleet processes. A cradle to grave re-engineering of how we buy, maintain, move and dispose of our rental vehicles.

We believe we can drive better fleet purchasing deals. We can also do a better job getting the cars we want when we need them. Once we take delivery, we can reduce the time before the first rental. The next opportunity is to eliminate the number of days a vehicle isn't generating revenue, whether due to maintenance, body shop, or other factors. At the end of the vehicles rental life, we can reduce the time between the last rental and getting the car off of our books. In addition we can better manage the holding period of our vehicles to maximize the residual value at the sale. As vehicles comprise almost 30% of our overall costs, even small system wide savings will be significant.

Source: Mark Frissora, Chairman and CEO of Hertz (HTZ). August 2, 2007 2Q07 earnings call

Metrics from Thursday's 2Q07 Earnings Releases (Hertz, Keystone, Midas)
Below is key store/location productivity metrics associated with companies that reported earnings Thursday.

click to enlarge
auto retail earnings 1

*Hertz results exclude extraordinary items associated with restructuring and going public

**Keystone results are for fiscal (financial) first quarter 2008.

***Hertz and Midas do not pay real taxes because of operating loss carry forwards.

****Midas consists of mostly franchises and includes international licensees.

Percentage Change (2Q07/2Q06)
Below is the percentage change in per store/location for the second quarter of 2007 (2Q07) versus the second quarter of 2006 (2Q06).

auto retail earnings 2