Budget Rent a Car System, Inc. is an American car rental

Car rental

A car rental or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time for a fee...

 company that was founded in 1958 in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 by Morris Mirkin. Budget's operations are headquartered in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township

Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey

Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, commonly called Parsippany, is a township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the township population was 50,649. The name Parsippany comes from the Lenape Native American word parsipanong, which means "the place where...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

.

With its original fleet of 10 cars the company lived up to the 'Budget' name by undercutting the daily and per mile rental rates of the established airport based car rental companies. Mirkin was joined in 1959 by Julius Lederer (husband of Ann Landers). In 1960 the headquarters was moved to Chicago, Illinois and the rental fleet expanded with franchised

Franchising

Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....

 and wholly owned rental outlets.

The company was eventually acquired by Transamerica Corporation

Transamerica Corporation

Transamerica Corporation is a holding company for various life insurance companies and investment firms doing business primarily in the United States. It was acquired by the Dutch financial services conglomerate AEGON in 1999.-History:...

, and then sold in 1986 in a leveraged buyout

Leveraged buyout

A leveraged buyout occurs when an investor, typically financial sponsor, acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage...

 by Gibbons, Green and van Amerongen Ltd., along with management (led by CEO Clifton E. Haley) and selected investors. It was taken public in 1987.

The public company

Public company

This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...

 was purchased by Team Rental Group in 1997, which took the name Budget Group. In 2002 the company's assets were sold to Cendant Corporation

Cendant

Cendant Corporation was a New York-based provider of business and consumer services, primarily within the real estate and travel industries. In 2005 and 2006, Cendant broke up and spun off or sold its constituent businesses...

, which also owned Avis

Avis Rent A Car System

Avis Rent a Car System, LLC is a car rental company headquartered in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, New Jersey, United States. Avis, Budget Rent a Car and Budget Truck Rental are all units of Avis Budget Group....

. In September 2006 Cendant Corporation separated into four independent companies by spinning off its real estate division, now called Realogy, Inc., and its hospitality services division, now Wyndham Worldwide

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts is a group of chains of hotels and resorts located mainly in the United States and Canada, but also in Mexico and the Caribbean.-History:...

, and by selling its travel distribution services division, called Travelport, Inc., to an affiliate of The Blackstone Group. In 2006, following the Travelport sale, Cendant, now composed solely of its vehicle rental services businesses, renamed itself Avis Budget Group

Avis Budget Group

Avis Budget Group, Inc. operates Avis Rent A Car System, LLC , Budget Rent A Car System, Inc. and Budget Truck Rental, LLC...

.

Of the approximately 800 Budget Rental Car locations in the U.S., 600 are company-operated locations and 200 are licensee locations. Internationally, there are 150 company-operated locations and 1,800 licensees.