A Typical Business Day at the Largest NextCar/Priceless Franchise

Rental Operations•Photos 8•August 2, 2024

While the global brand name rental car operations capture much of the onsite airport business, a reliable tier of independent franchises fills a valued auto rental market niche with their customized approaches to operations and attention to customers.

The NextCar/Priceless franchise near Los Angeles International Airport, owned by NP Auto Group, operates as a family business under owner and CEO Al Patel who recently took Auto Rental News on a tour of its location along West Century Boulevard, the main commercial route into the LAX ground transportation loops.

Topics:Franchise Operators Airport Rentals Los Angeles Car Rental Operators independent operators Rental Operations

Rental cars are prepped and washed on the top parking deck using an environmentally friendly mobile washing service.

Al Patel acquried the franchise in 2016 with 40 cars. He started his career in Los Angeles in 2001 working as a janitor cleaning the same office spaces now used by the rental car companies at the Airport Center building along Century Boulevard.

The fleet staff brings prepared rental cars down from the upper parking deck levels to a doorway behind the rental office for customers to pick up.

"We can give extra one-on-one service to customers," Patel said. "We are more like a concierge service with rentals where we are always working with the customer. We don't implement policies that make life harder."

Owner and CEO Al Patel rents a total of 110 parking spaces in a shared deck behind the office building with the storefronts. Most spaces are on the fifth rooftop level with wide views of the two southern runways at LAX.

The company runs two Ford Transit shuttles that picks up and drops off customers at a designated area just behind the first bus stop outside of the LAX loops.

NextCar Priceless has a fleet of about 500 MY 2022-2025 vehicles, including models from Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, Nissan, Dodge, Jeep and VW. The operation turns over vehicles at about 40,000 to 45,000 miles, down from the 70,000 to 80,000 mile range during the pandemic years.
All photos: Martin Romjue / Bobit/ARN

With car rental services becoming more digital, NextCar/Priceless offers contactless check-in its lobby area.