Avis Rent A Car
Founded in 1946 by Warren Avis (who sold his interest in 1954), Avis Car Rental was the first company to rent cars from airport locations. The company grew rapidly during the 1950’s through franchised and corporate-owned expansion. In 1963, Avis Car Rental introduced the award winning “We try harder®” campaign and the tagline remains the company’s rallying cry even today. Ten years later, Avis Car Rental launched its innovative Wizard reservation system, the company’s cornerstone technology. On the corporate front, Avis Car Rental changed ownership multiple times in the 70’s and 80’s, becoming employee-owned in 1987. That same year, Avis Car Rental introduced the Roving Rapid Return, a handheld computer terminal allowing customers to bypass the Avis Car Rental counter. Two years later, the company launched Avis Cares® to increase renter and employee safety. In 1996, HFS Incorporated acquired Avis Car Rental and then spun off as a separate public company all but the franchising rights, Wizard system, and reservation operations. Over the next four years, Avis Group Holdings purchased several franchised regions and acquired PHH Vehicle Management and Wright Express. In 2000, the company introduced Avis Interactive, the first Internet-based reporting system in the car rental industry. In March 2001, Cendant purchased all of the outstanding shares of Avis Group Holdings and later that year moved its world headquarters to Parsippany, NJ. In August 2002, Avis Car Rental became the first rental car company to offer seamless connectivity with all four major GDS systems.
Avis Car Rental and its subsidiaries operate the world’s second largest general-use car rental business, providing business and leisure customers with a wide range of services at more than 1,700 locations in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Latin American/Caribbean region. Avis Car Rental is recognized as the industry leader in applying new technologies and is one of the world’s top brands for customer loyalty. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cendant Corporation and has marketing agreements with Avis Europe Plc, a separately owned UK-based company owning or franchising an additional 3,100 Avis Car Rental locations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
