Brian Campassi

ACE Rent A Car is a privately held business founded in 1966 by Robert Sorensen. Originally, Sorensen owned two car washes in Indianapolis and added 10 Volkswagens to meet the rental needs of the surrounding neighborhoods. The rental business grew organically. Soon he found himself operating at the Indianapolis International Airport, renting vehicles as part of the now defunct American International franchise system.[citation needed] By 1986, the operation had grown to multiple locations throughout Indiana and the Chicago area. Sorensen left the American International system and formed the ACE Rent A Car chain. A primary motivation for this change was the need to be represented on the emerging Global Distribution Systems (GDS), such as Sabre, PARS, and Apollo. Although ACE was a relatively small company, it became a leading adopter of GDS technology. Today, the ACE Rent A Car chain consists of over 350 affiliated locations worldwide with the company office headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. In addition to serving the major North American airports, the ACE system has a concentration on leisure destinations in the Caribbean, Central and South America, as well as destinations in the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia. In 2011, ACE was ranked highest in customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power & Associates annual industry consumer survey. In 2012, ACE was named one of 50 J.D. Power Customer Service Champions across 20 service industries.