Avis Expands UK Branches

Avis Rent a Car has been expanding its presence in the UK by 50% with the opening of 37 new offices throughout the country over the last 2 months. The car hire firm, which is based in the US, also has plans for the opening of another 100 leisure branches this year, which will complement their already 38 outlets in the nation’s airports.

Out of the new outlets that have launched, 21 are in partnership with Regus, the business centre operator, which allows customers to rent vehicles from their local Regus office, as well as at another 16 offices at hotels throughout the country. The company says the growth comes in response to strong 2010 figures, during which the specialist team increased its share of the market to 43%.

Aside from expanding its network, Avis has also added to their business travel team, appointing Paul Clark as account manager. He will report to head of business travel sales, Lisa Eastwood and will be responsible for independent travel management firms in the UK. Previously, Clark was the account development executive at the company and was responsible for small and medium enterprise corporate customers.

Avis UK commercial director Anthony Ainsworth says that a 50% growth of town and city branches in just 2 months is big achievement for the company and put them another step closer to reaching their ultimate target of having a branch within a few miles of every home in the UK. Next year, he continued, they will increase their number of branches with a further 100 or more locations. This demonstrates the company’s commitment to providing customers with the choice of finding a car hire solution that suits their needs the best, he added.