Vehicle sales into rental fleets fell for the second month in a row in April, according to monthly fleet sales figures released by Bobit Business Media on May 1.

Despite the drop-offs last month and in March along with only a 1.1% gain in February, rental fleet sales numbered 466,761 vehicles year to date compared to 464,733 sold through April 30, 2025, up only 0.4%.

Sales activity in the three fleet segments for April 2026 were as follows:

• Rental fleet sales fell 10.3%, from 120,712 rental cars sold in April 2025 to 108,327 vehicles sold last month.
• Commercial fleet sales increased to 73,350 vehicles last month, from 67,485 in April 2025, up 8.7%.
• Government fleet vehicle sales spiked 23%, with 23,819 vehicles sold in April compared to 19,385 vehicles sold in April 2025. (The six major Asian-based automakers did not report any government fleet numbers for April.)

Those numbers resulted in total April fleet sales of 205,496, down 1% from 207,582 vehicles sold in April 2025.

“Rental fleet sales benefited from tax reform and pull-ahead demand the second half of 2025, and the pull-ahead momentum could start to impact purchases, making comparisons during the year tougher,” said Zohaib Rahim, senior manager of economic and industry insights for Cox Automotive. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing or a weakening market to be worried about, but more so a function of the pull ahead volumes being in the market today already. Even with the decline, brand-level performance varies.”

Year-to-date sales in the rental, commercial, and government fleet sectors are still up slightly, with 821,164 total fleet vehicles sold in April for a 3.8% increase over 791,194 vehicles sold in the first four months of 2025.

“The market continues to perform higher than last year through the first four months of this year,” Rahim said. “While commercial and government fleet sales increased last month, they were unable to counter the decline in rental sales, leading to the overall decline in sales for April. Overall, new fleet sales are up roughly 4% in 2026 compared to last year, as all three major segments are also up on the year.”

Bobit Business Media (BBM), owner of Auto Rental News, compiles fleet sales statistics based on aggregate data from the three major Detroit-based auto manufacturers, the Asian Big 6 automakers, and VW. The statistics include cars, SUVs, and trucks.