Enterprise Partnering with The Great Trail to Establish Mobility Fund

WHY IT RATES: After working with Canadian families for a quarter-century, the car rental company continues to give back to a community that accepted it with open arms.—Donald Wood, Breaking News Senior Writer.

The Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand opened its first international office in Windsor, Canada, in 1993. Twenty-five years later, the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation is honoring this significant milestone with a gift to help more Canadians connect with their communities, environment and each other.

The Foundation is donating $250,000 to establish the Enterprise Mobility Fund, which will support trail accessibility projects along The Great Trail throughout Canada.

“We are very grateful to the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation for their generous gift of $250,000,” said Valerie Pringle, Co-Chair of the TCT Foundation Board. “This exceptional contribution will go towards giving Canadians and visitors of different abilities increased access to our country’s magnificent landscapes and heritage.”

Economic Impact and Employment

“Just like Enterprise, The Great Trail is a unique network that connects and strengthens communities,” said Steven Tudela, Senior Vice President of Canadian Operations for Enterprise Holdings, which owns the Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand. “That means we’re not only operating a key part of Canada’s transportation infrastructure, but also helping to make the country’s roadways, greenways and waterways even more accessible.”

Today, Enterprise Holdings is Canada’s largest car rental provider, currently operating a network of eight independent regional subsidiaries that manage more than 750 fully staffed airport and neighborhood locations across the country. Every year, Enterprise, National and Alamo customers log more than 2.6 billion kilometers.

Other transportation services marketed under the Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand name in Canada include Enterprise Truck Rental, Enterprise CarShare and the Exotic Car Collection by Enterprise. Enterprise’s affiliate, Enterprise Fleet Management, provides full-service fleet management to companies, government agencies and organizations operating medium-sized fleets of 20 or more vehicles, as well as those seeking an alternative to employee reimbursement programs.

Last year, Enterprise Holdings contributed approximately $3 billion to the Canadian economy and purchased 4.3 percent of all new vehicles sold in Canada at the cost of $2.3 billion. And the company takes great pride in the fact that Canadian consumers named Enterprise Rent-A-Car the most trusted automobile rental brand for the second year in a row, according to the 2017 and 2018 Gustavson Brand Trust Index. Further, the Enterprise, National and Alamo brands secured the top three spots in the annual J.D. Power 2017 North American Rental Car Satisfaction Study, which surveyed leisure and business travelers who rented vehicles at airports in the U.S. and Canada.

With 5,400 employees in Canada, Enterprise has been widely recognized for its employment and recruiting practices, including as one of The Best Places to Work in Canada by the popular job-finding site Indeed. Additionally, Enterprise is the only car rental brand named one of the best employers in the Greater Toronto Area by Mediacorp Canada Inc., in its 2018 Greater Toronto’s Top Employers competition.

This year, Enterprise Rent-A-Car locations across Canada plan to hire about 500 college and university graduates into its renowned Enterprise Management Training program, which teaches employees how to run a business, empower teams and provide excellent face-to-face customer service.

Community Engagement and Public Affairs

“Community engagement and public affairs are key components in our founding values,” Tudela added. “That’s why Enterprise employees are empowered to support local charities of their choosing.” The company’s foundation and local Canadian employees collectively contributed more than $3.4 million in donations to Canadian charities in FY2017.

Other Canadian initiatives supported by the Foundation include the international Enterprise 50 Million Tree Pledge, which has supported the planting for more than 900,000 trees across Canada. The “Fill Your Tank” project, a $60 million commitment to fight food insecurity around the globe, has committed $9 million to Food Banks Canada over the next six years. Most recently, Enterprise announced the “Routes & Roots: Enterprise Healthy Rivers Project,” which involves a $30 million donation to The Nature Conservancy, a portion of which will support TNC Canada’s efforts bolstering Indigenous land and water management leadership in Canada.

Earlier this year, Enterprise Holdings provided testimony during a Canadian Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications focused on regulatory and technical issues related to the deployment of automated and connected vehicles. As a result, and at the request of the Minister of Transport, the Committee published a report this year called “Driving Change: Technology and the Future of the Automated Vehicle.”

“Enterprise employees live and work in every corner of Canada,” noted Tudela. “We can’t wait for what our future in Canada will bring.”

For more information, reach out to your local travel agent.

SOURCE: Enterprise Rent-A-Car press release.