National Car Rental Announces Commissions Change for Select Business, Government and Leisure Contract Bookings

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--April 9, 2002--National Car Rental, the corporate focused brand of the ANC Rental Corporation, announced today that after careful review of the marketplace, it would eliminate base commissions paid to travel agents for car rentals of individually negotiated corporate and government accounts. National, which currently pays a 5% commission to travel agents booking discounted leisure reservations, will extend this to agents booking all leisure travel reservations. These non-discounted, leisure bookings represent less than 3% of the total business booked by travel agents for the National brand. Both of these changes will take effect for rentals occurring after April 10, 2002.
    "We can't afford not to make this move," said Mike Going, ANC Rental Corporation's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales. "Our key competitors have changed their commission structure, and we would be at a competitive disadvantage if we did not follow suit. We have an obligation to find the most cost effective ways to continue to do business in a highly competitive landscape."
    About two thirds of National's business is booked by travel agents, but more than 60% of travel agent bookings are net of commission and will remain unaffected by the change. National also stated that the commission changes would not affect their preferred partnership overrides with key travel agency partners.
    ANC Rental Corporation, the parent of the Alamo Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2001, while continuing to operate, anticipates that the change in commission rate will save it over $10 million this year. The corporation also noted that negotiated corporate accounts are presently operating at rates from nearly a decade ago, while the cost of doing business has increased by 30% over the same period.
    Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, ANC Rental Corporation is one of the world's largest car rental companies with annual revenue of approximately $3.2 billion in 2001. With over 3,000 locations in 69 countries, over 17,000 ANC associates serve customers with an average daily fleet of approximately 271,000 automobiles.