Chief to Leave Rent-A-Wreck

The president and chief executive of the Los Angeles-based Rent-A-Wreck car rental company said Monday that he plans to retire as soon as a successor is found.

Geoffrey M. Nathanson, 57, a former cable television executive, joined forces in 1977 with Rent-A-Wreck founder David Schwartz and expanded the business from Schwartz’s single West Los Angeles rental car lot to a network of 300 franchises in 45 states.

Nathanson, who owns 20% of Rent-A-Wreck’s outstanding shares, said he would remain a director and consultant to the company. He said that he plans to pursue other “entrepreneurial interests” in the franchise business but declined to be more specific. “I enjoyed building a whole new business. It was exciting, a treat.”

Leading the search for a successor is J. Richard Haigh, a Rent-A-Wreck director and managing director of Richter, Cohen & Co., a New York investment banker.

In an effort to attract business customers, Rent-A-Wreck has started offering new cars, vans and trucks in addition to the used cars that inspired the company’s name. Nathanson said that business customers now provide 25% of the company’s business, and although he expects that segment to grow, he said that Rent-A-Wreck would remain pretty much a “neighborhood car rental business. Our customer is the person who needs a substitute car for a day because his car is in the shop, or because the in-laws have come to visit.”

Rent-A-Wreck, which first sold its shares to the public a year ago, lost $19,000 on revenue of $3.4 million for the year ended March 31. The company blamed the loss on two unprofitable company-owned rental outlets and higher insurance costs. Nathanson said that he is talking with “several parties” who have expressed an interest in buying all or part of his Rent-A-Wreck shares, but he said his decision to resign “was related (to) but not contingent on selling the shares.” Schwartz, who isn’t active in company management, is also talking to potential buyers of his 20% stake.