CAR vs UHAL: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: CAR is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. CAR and UHAL share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined CAR and UHAL exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Avis Budget Group runs one of the three big global vehicle-rental platforms, operating the Avis, Budget, Budget Truck, Payless and Zipcar brands across airport, off-airport, urban and international markets. Revenue comes from renting a large owned-and-leased vehicle fleet, and the economics hinge on utilization, per-day pricing and the residual value of cars when they are sold out of the fleet. The company competes with privately held Enterprise Holdings, Hertz, Europe's Sixt, and peer-to-peer platforms like Turo and Getaround.

Full CAR guide

U-Haul Holding Company, renamed from AMERCO in late 2022 and headquartered in Reno, Nevada, runs three operations under one roof. Moving and Storage is the bulk of it: self-moving equipment rental through more than ~25,000 locations across all ~50 states and ~10 Canadian provinces, a fleet of roughly ~207,600 trucks, ~136,500 trailers and ~43,200 towing devices, plus U-Box portable containers and hitch installation. The company is the third largest self-storage operator in North America, with about ~1,147,300 rentable units and ~100.3 million square feet at owned and managed facilities, and it is the largest propane retailer in the United States. Two insurance subsidiaries sit alongside: Repwest writes property and casualty coverage tied to the rental business, and Oxford Life sells life products and annuities. As of March 31, 2026 the company employed about ~32,600 people in the United States and ~2,100 in Canada.

Full UHAL guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• CAR drivers: Fleet utilization and pricing recovery; Vehicle residual values and fleet mix.
• UHAL drivers: The used-truck resale cycle; Storage lease-up versus storage construction.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The equity is small relative to enormous fleet and corporate debt, so modest swings in used-car residual values, interest rates or demand can move the stock sharply, and the shares carry a beta well above the market. For UHAL, reported earnings have collapsed relative to the share price, leaving a trailing price-to-earnings ratio around ~210x that offers no support if the depreciation cycle lasts longer than management expects.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick CAR if you believe its drivers more; UHAL if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the CAR and UHAL guides.

CAR. CAR does not screen on a simple price-to-earnings basis because trailing earnings per share are negative, so investors lean on enterprise-value-to-EBITDA and the path back toward the company's roughly $1 billion adjusted EBITDA goal. With about 35 million shares outstanding and negative book equity, the stock behaves like a leveraged call on the rental cycle. Figures are approximate and drawn from the company's 2025 full-year and first-quarter 2026 disclosures.

UHAL. The trailing multiple looks extreme, around ~210x, because fiscal 2026 net earnings of about ~$83.1 million sit under about ~$1.18 billion of depreciation while operating cash flow was about ~$1.79 billion. Book value is a steadier reference: stockholders' equity of about ~$7.66 billion against roughly ~195.9 million total shares works out near ~$39 per share, against a UHAL quote around ~$69. Moving and Storage adjusted EBITDA of about ~$1.64 billion on a trailing basis is the figure management itself points to.

Headline figures (approximate, JULY 2026): CAR shows revenue (fy2025) ~$11.7B, revenue (q1 2026) ~$2.53B, up ~4% YoY, net loss (fy2025) ~$995M, adjusted ebitda (fy2025) ~$748M; UHAL shows revenue (ttm) ~$6.09B, fy2026 revenue ~$6.04B (+3.6%), fy2026 net earnings ~$83.1M (from ~$367.1M), q1 fy2027 revenue ~$1.68B (+3.2% YoY).

CAR and UHAL are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined CAR and UHAL exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.