On June 3, Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. (DTAG) announced the sale of the Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental franchises in Knoxville, Tenn., and the sale of the Thrifty Car Rental franchise in Omaha, Neb.—including in-terminal airport operations at the McGhee Tyson Airport (Knoxville) and Eppley Airfield (Omaha)—converting both to franchise operations from corporate stores, effective immediately.

“We have had a few franchisees who have expressed an interest in purchasing the franchise rights to some of the smaller airport markets, while at the same time we are focused on proper allocation of our capital resources,” said Scott Thompson, president and CEO. “We expect, from time to time, that we may selectively identify a few smaller markets that could operate better with an owner-operator, while at the same time, Dollar Thrifty is provided with a much better return on its capital. I don't expect the volume of these transactions to be material, but it does demonstrate some of the flexibility of our business model.”

The sale of the Knoxville McGhee Tyson Airport franchise is to longtime franchisee Jeffrey Schoepfel of GSP Transportation Inc. Schoepfel has a long and successful history with DTG, having been a licensee since 1993. He currently owns Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental franchises in Greenville/Spartanburg, Charleston, Columbia, Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach, S.C., as well as in Augusta, Ga.; he also owns the Thrifty franchise in Savannah, Ga.

In Omaha, the sale includes airport operations at Eppley Airfield. Auto Rental Services LLC, owned by franchisees Vergil and Karen Flodman and Trent and Molly Flodman, also owns the Dollar Rent A Car franchise at the Omaha airport and in Lincoln, Neb. The Flodmans have been Dollar licensees since Feb. 1998.

Other Franchising Activity

In addition, Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. is announcing several additional franchise sales that have recently taken place.

• Fairbanks, Alaska: Dollar Rent A Car franchisee Peter Lundquist of Rental Services, LLC has purchased the Thrifty Car Rental franchise for Fairbanks, Alaska. The new location opens for business this week with an in-terminal facility at Fairbanks International Airport.

• Cumming, Ga.: Franchisees Masoud Fakhrai and Parisa Ghasem of All Rental Inc. have purchased an existing Thrifty Car Rental location in Cumming, Ga.

• Norcross, Ga.: Effective June 1, franchisees Masoud Fakhrai and Parisa Ghasem of All Rental Inc. have also purchased this dual-branded (Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental) location in Norcross, Ga.

• Melbourne, Fla.: This location has been sold to new franchisees Majed Soboh and Saad Ahmad of Brevard Capital Group Inc. and is expected to open the week of June 8.

“We are pleased to announce these latest additions to the Dollar and Thrifty network of franchisees,” said Thompson. “All are proven winners in the car rental industry and we look forward to their continued growth and development as partners in our global Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental brands. I strongly feel that quality franchisees are a very important part of our company and our future.”

As of Dec. 31, 2008, the company had 741 Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental locations in the U.S. and Canada, 400 of which were company-owned stores and 341 that were franchised.