Hertz, the rental car giant, just floored the gas pedal on its online shopping game, launching a website so slick you can practically smell the new car scent through your screen. Customers can now finance, trade-in, and buy vehicles faster than you can say “Tom Brady touchdown.”
The revamped HertzCarSales.com is no longer just a digital showroom for browsing cars like a kid in a candy store. It’s a one-stop shop where you can seal the deal without stepping foot in one of Hertz’s 45 U.S. retail locations, which, let’s be honest, always smelled faintly of rental car air freshener.
“Our new e-commerce platform is like giving our customers a Ferrari in a world of horse-drawn carriages,” boasted CEO Gil West, probably while polishing a hood ornament. This digital leap is part of Hertz’s plan to make retail its main car-selling channel, leaving auctions in the dust like a bad rom-com.
Hertz is rolling out the red carpet for this launch with none other than football legend Tom Brady, who’s been their spokesman since March and is now slinging cars instead of spirals. The campaign, kicking off Wednesday, promises to make buying a car feel like winning the Super Bowl, minus the confetti.
Hertz’s fleet of 560,000 vehicles turns over faster than a reality TV romance, with half swapped out yearly. A souped-up website means better resale prices, which is music to the ears of a company still humming its “Back-to-Basics Roadmap” tune after a 2020 bankruptcy pit stop.
Analyst Chris Woronka from Deutsche Bank says resale prices are the golden goose for Hertz’s profit-and-loss statement. “They’re not just selling cars; they’re selling dreams of the open road, with better margins than a clearance rack,” he quipped.
Unlike competitors who dump 15-20% of their fleets at wholesale auctions, Hertz keeps it classy, sending less than 10% to the auction block. The rest go to consumers, dealers, or platforms like Carvana and now Amazon Autos, which is basically the online equivalent of a car vending machine.
Hertz’s new platform even lets you trade in your old jalopy, so you can ditch that 2003 minivan with the mystery stain in the backseat. It’s like Tinder for cars—swipe right, and you’re driving off into the sunset.
The Amazon Autos partnership, announced in September, raised eyebrows among dealerships, who fear Hertz is muscling in on their turf like a linebacker at a buffet. Analysts say this could dent traditional dealership profits, but Hertz just shrugs and keeps revving.
After emerging from its pandemic-induced bankruptcy in 2021, Hertz has been clawing its way back to glory. The company’s second-quarter earnings were its best in nearly two years, proving it’s got more lives than a cat in a car chase movie.
Woronka says Hertz is still in the “early innings” of its recovery, but with new vehicle supplies stabilizing, they’re ready to burn rubber. “They’re innovating like Elon Musk at a tech convention,” he said, probably wishing he’d bought stock.
In a world where buying a car online is now easier than ordering pizza, Hertz’s new website might just make you forget the days of haggling with a salesman in a bad tie. Here’s to hoping Tom Brady’s next pass is a convertible with your name on it.
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