A study on the vehicle size and transfer policy for car rental problems

• The problem of fleet size and vehicle transfer with multi-branches was studied.
• An efficient hybrid heuristic approach was proposed to solve this problem.
• Sensitivity analyses show the effects of various system parameters.

This study addresses the problems of fleet size and vehicle transfer for car-rental companies with multiple branches. The problem is formulated as a constrained mixed-integer programming model within an environment of dynamic demand. We develop a hybrid heuristic approach to solve this problem, using quantitative results to demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed approach. We apply the proposed model to the analysis of a case involving a car-rental company in Taiwan. Sensitivity analyses are also conducted to investigate the effects of various system parameters on the computational results.