Who owns Payless?
Payless, a travel brand, is owned by Avis Budget (the United States, NASDAQ: CAR).[1]
Evidence: Avis Budget Group, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-19, SEC EDGAR, 19 February 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Avis Budget Group, Inc. verified
- Owner HQ
- 🇺🇸 United States, Parsippany
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Category
- Travel & transport › Car rental
- Parent ticker
- NASDAQ: CAR
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Payless
Payless is a deep-value rental brand that Avis Budget Group says it licenses or operates at about 310 locations worldwide, roughly 195 run by licensees and 115 by the company, mostly in North America. The group's 2025 annual report says it owns the Payless Car Rental trademark in the United States and several other countries.
What Avis Budget's annual report says about Payless
Sentences about Payless from Avis Budget's latest annual filing[1], copied word for word.
Payless is a leading rental car supplier serving the deep-value segment of the industry, which we license or operate in approximately 310 locations worldwide, including approximately 195 locations operated by licensees and approximately 115 Company-operated locations primarily located in North America, the majority of which are 7 Table of Contents at or near major airports.
Payless' rental fees are often lower than those of larger, more established vehicle rental brands.
The Payless business model allows us to extend the life-cycle of a portion of our rental fleet, as we "cascade" certain vehicles that exceed certain Avis and Budget age or mileage thresholds to be used by Payless.
How often Avis Budget names Payless in its annual report
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central. The brand is named less often than it was three years earlier.
Ownership timeline of Payless
- Current owner Avis Budget [1] verified
Where Payless sits in Avis Budget
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Avis Budget ownership tree →
See the full Avis Budget brand portfolio (6) →
Other brands owned by Avis Budget
Avis Budget controls 6 brands on Brandtree, 6 of them in travel & transport.
Also in travel & transport
Other brands in car rental, and who owns them
Avis Budget has more brands in car rental on Brandtree than any other owner: 4 of 27.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Dollar | Hertz Global | 🇺🇸 United States |
| El Monte RV | thl | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
| Arval | Arval | 🇫🇷 France |
| ASSA Rent | ASSA | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
| Ayvens | Ayvens | 🇫🇷 France |
| Alphabet | BMW Group | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Europcar | Europcar Mobility Group | 🇫🇷 France |
| GreenMobility | GreenMobility | 🇩🇰 Denmark |
About the owner: Avis Budget
Avis Budget is a publicly listed company headquartered in Parsippany, United States. Brandtree records 6 brands under its control, and it is listed as NASDAQ: CAR.
Avis Budget Group is a vehicle rental and car sharing company whose 2025 annual report gives its principal executive offices as 379 Interpace Parkway, Parsippany, New Jersey. It describes itself as a global mobility provider with three main brands, Avis, Budget and Zipcar, and says it and its licensees operate in about 180 countries. The report also lists Payless, Apex, Maggiore and other regional brands in its portfolio.
🇺🇸 Payless and other American brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,399 brands that began in the United States. 461 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Payless is not one of them.
- ABF Freight — ArcBest 🇺🇸
- ABX Air — ATSG 🇺🇸
- Adcom Express — Radiant Logistics 🇺🇸
- Advanced Air — Advanced Air 🇺🇸
- Air Wisconsin — Air Wisconsin 🇺🇸
- Alaska Airlines — Alaska Air Group 🇺🇸
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Payless?
The parent company of Payless is Avis Budget, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Is Payless American?
Yes. Payless originated in the United States and its owner, Avis Budget, is also headquartered in the United States.
Is Payless still owned by Avis Budget?
Yes. As of 10 October 2026, Payless is still owned by Avis Budget. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Avis Budget Group, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-19 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 19 February 2026; retrieved 5 October 2026.
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