What DLM does

DLM is a French vehicle rental operator founded in 1969 and headquartered in Lille. The company runs a network of 34-37 branches across metropolitan France, supported by a logistics and maintenance platform at Vitry-en-Artois, and deploys a fleet of approximately 14,000 recent vehicles.

Its core offering is split between tourism car rental (citadines, compacts, sedans, SUVs, monospaces, minibuses, electric vehicles, and license-free cars) and utility vehicle rental (3m3 to 30m3 vans and trucks, tipper trucks, car-carriers, and TPMR/Handybus accessible vehicles). The company also operates long-term leasing (LLD) for professionals on 1-5 year terms with VAT-recovery benefits, and a used-vehicle resale channel under the dlm-occasions sub-brand.

DLM serves individual consumers, business professionals, moving/relocation customers, construction/trades professionals, and enterprise fleet clients, distributing through owned branches, an online booking platform, phone reservations, and dedicated B2B account managers. Insurance is bundled via a core partnership with AXA. The business model combines transactional daily rentals with recurring subscription-style long-term leases and one-time used-vehicle sales; there are no disclosed AI/ML capabilities or proprietary technology stack beyond standard online booking and SEO-optimized web pages.

Name

DLM

Legal name

DLM Location

Website

https://dlm.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1969

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

DLM is a French vehicle rental company founded in 1969, operating ~35 branches across metropolitan France with a fleet of 14,000 vehicles for tourism cars, utility vans and trucks, and professional long-term leasing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Vehicle Rental Services

NAICS

Passenger Car Rental and Leasing (53211), Truck, Utility Trailer, and RV (Recreational Vehicle) Rental and Leasing (532120), Passenger Car Leasing (532112), Automotive Equipment Rental and Leasing (5321)

SIC

Services-Auto Rental & Leasing (No Drivers) (7510)

akta.pro primary industry

Long-Term / Monthly Car Rental (THADAAAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Long-Term Commercial Van & Truck Rentals (Monthly/Contract) (THADAJAK), Long-Term Car Rental (Monthly/Extended Hire) (TLABAAAD), Corporate & Government Contract Car Rental (THADAAAJ)

Keywords

• Vehicle rental services
• Car rental
• Utility vehicle rental
• Long-term leasing
• Moving truck rental

Headquarters

HQ city

Lille

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices36 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Short-term vehicle rental: Daily rental of cars and utility vehicles for personal use, vacations, business trips, and short-term needs. Customers pay per day with optional kilometer packages.
2. Medium-term vehicle rental: Rental periods spanning weeks to months for professionals and individuals with extended transportation needs.
3. Long-term rental (LLD - Location Longue Durée): Professional leasing solutions for businesses with terms typically ranging from 1 to 5 years with fixed monthly payments. Allows businesses to benefit from VAT recovery.
4. Used vehicle sales: Sale of used rental vehicles through dlm-occasions.com
5. Ancillary services: Additional revenue from insurance products, moving equipment kits, GPS rental, and other add-on services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

DLM rents cars and utility vehicles (vans, trucks, minibuses) to individual consumers and businesses across France through a network of 34-37 branches. Offerings span short-term daily rentals, medium-term rentals spanning weeks to months, and long-term leases (LLD) typically of 1-5 years for professional clients, supported by ancillary services such as insurance, GPS, and moving equipment.

Product overview

DLM operates as a comprehensive vehicle rental platform offering both tourism cars and utility vehicles through a network of approximately 36 branches across France. The core product portfolio consists of two main categories: (1) Location voiture de tourisme covering citadines, compactes, berlines, SUVs, monospaces, minibuses, electric vehicles, and license-free cars; and (2) Location utilitaires encompassing vanettes (3-6m3), fourgons (8-14m3), trucks (20-30m3), tipper trucks, car carriers, and wheelchair-accessible vehicles. Additional services include long-term leasing (LLD) for professionals and short-to-medium duration rentals. The company positions itself as an accessible rental solution serving both individual travelers and business clients, with vehicles ranging from compact city cars to 30m3 moving trucks.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DLM-occasions: Used vehicle sales platform

Products and services

• Tourism car rental (Location voiture de tourisme) Daily and short-term rental of passenger cars for tourism, leisure, vacations, and personal mobility across France, including city cars, sedans, SUVs, monospaces, minibuses, electric cars, and license-free vehicles (Aixam, Ligier, Microcar).
• Utility vehicle rental (Location utilitaires) Rental of commercial vehicles including small vans (3-6m3), large vans (8-14m3), trucks (20-30m3), tipper trucks, car carrier trucks, and wheelchair-accessible vehicles (Handybus/TPMR) for moving, construction, and goods transport.
• Long-term vehicle leasing (LLD) Long-term lease (Location Longue Durée) of vehicles for businesses and professionals, typically 1-5 years with fixed monthly payments, enabling VAT recovery and removing fleet ownership burdens.
• Used vehicle sales (DLM-occasions) Retail sale of pre-owned vehicles previously in the DLM rental fleet, marketed through a dedicated sub-brand platform dlm-occasions.com.

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• AXAcoreOthersAXA is the primary insurance partner for DLM Location, providing comprehensive insurance coverage options for vehicle rentals. DLM promotes their partnership with AXA as ensuring simple and safe vehicle rental experiences with coverage for liability, theft, fire, and driver protection.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ucar: French car rental operator offering short- and long-term rentals across an urban branch network. Overlaps with DLM on city-car rental and LLD offerings, primarily serving French metropolitan demand.
• Rent A Car: Major French regional car and utility rental chain with nationwide branch coverage. Closest like-for-like competitor in scale, fleet composition (cars + utility vehicles), and customer segments to DLM.
• ADA: French car and utility vehicle rental chain with a comparable multi-branch network across France. Directly comparable business model — short-, medium-, and long-term rental of passenger cars and utility vehicles targeting both consumers and professionals.

Emerging players

• Virtuo: Digital-first French car rental startup offering contactless, app-based vehicle access in major French cities. Competes for urban, tech-savvy short-term rental demand that DLM historically captured through branch-based service.
• Citiz: French car-sharing cooperative network that DLM is visibly affiliated with via its website (lpa.citiz.coop link). Adjacent mobility model (hourly car-sharing) that overlaps with DLM's short-term rental demand among urban consumers.

Broad incumbents

• Hertz: Global rental brand with French airport and city presence. Comparable product offering but larger scale, denser airport network, and stronger global corporate accounts — a key competitive pressure on DLM.
• Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Global rental incumbent with French subsidiary offering short-term and long-term leasing. Comparable on breadth of services (including LLD), but materially larger scale and stronger corporate channel.
• AVIS Budget Group: Global rental brand with French operations across airport and corporate channels. Competes with DLM for both leisure and business travelers at a larger scale and with greater brand recognition.
• Sixt: Premium-positioned European rental brand with strong French presence (airport and city). Competes with DLM for business and leisure rentals but with a higher-end focus and broader European fleet.
• Europcar: Pan-European car rental incumbent with deep French airport and corporate account presence. Comparable on core rental product but with broader geographic and corporate scale, exerting competitive pressure on DLM's higher-margin segments.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/DLM.Location
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dlm-location
• Instagraminstagram.com/dlm_location/?hl=fr
• Xx.com/dlmlocation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about DLM