Posts Tagged ‘car rental’
Monday, April 26th, 2010
Car rental firms Hertz and Dollar Thrifty have signed an agreement to merge Dollar into the Hertz brand. Hertz will purchase Dollar Thrifty with a combination of cash and common stock at the price of $41.00 per share.
Chairman and chief executive officer at Hertz, Mark P Frissora, said that acquiring the $1.6 billion business was a strategic fit which would benefit both car hire firms. He said that by combining Dollar Thrifty’s more than 1,550 locations around the world with the Hertz global network, customers would be able to choose from an expanded range of rental options.
Frissora said that customers would now be able to access car hire at around 9,800 locations. He went on to point out that because Dollar Thrifty had such a global presence, the firms would now be able to increase their markets across Europe and beyond.
Frissora also said that by teaming up with Dollar Thrifty, Hertz would be better able to challenge other multi-brand car hire firms. He said that both companies would be able to operate at lower costs and that Hertz had already identified $180 million of synergies in areas such as IT, fleet and procurement.
Speaking about the announcement, Dollar Thrifty’s president and chief executive officer, Scott L Thompson, said that by joining with a larger company like Hertz, Dollar Thrifty would now be able to access better technology and more resources with which to expand the value of its leisure brand.
Tags: car hire, car rental, dollar thrifty, global network, Hertz, Mark P. Frissora, Scott L Thompson
Posted in Car Rental News | No Comments »
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
Hertz has announced that Kenneth Seavey will be heading up its off-airport rental business. His title will be President of Off-Airport Operations and he will be looking after one of the fastest growing areas of the Hertz business. With more than 1,700 locations, the off-airport business supplies commercial and leisure vehicle rental in urban and suburban locations around the US.
Mr Seavey will be based at the company’s headquarters in Park Ridge, New Jersey. Hertz Executive Vice President and President of Car Rental and Leasing, The Americas, Scott P Sider, said that Mr Seavey’s depth of experience would be vital in driving the off-airport business.
Mr Sider said that the company plans to open up in another 150 locations this year, and that Mr Seavey’s 20-years with the firm and his senior position meant that he was the right man to look after the growth of the business.
Most recently, Mr Seavey held the position of Division Vice President of North America Operations Support, where he supplied support to both on-airport and off-airport areas of the business. The job gave him a good insight into the daily running of operations and meant that he gained a broad spectrum of knowledge about parts of the business such as executive customer relations and ancillary product sales.
The Hertz off-airport business aims at providing customers with vehicles they can use to take a business trip, go on holiday or simply use for everyday requirements. The Hertz Local Edition aims to provide customers with a comprehensive range of vehicles from compact cars through to SUVs.
Tags: car rental, customer relations, Hertz, Hertz Local Edition, Kenneth Seavey, Off-Airport Operations
Posted in Car Rental News | No Comments »
Monday, April 19th, 2010
The National Air Traffic Service has advised that the present restrictions on flights in and out of the UK remain until at least 7pm today. The volcanic ash cloud which has been disrupting flights since last Thursday has still not dispersed and volcanologists are warning that the production of ash by the Eyjafjallajokull volcano could continue for weeks.
This means that many people who have booked a car hire for leisure or business travel will be unable to pick their vehicle up at the designated time or place. This disruption to customers and car rental firms is set to last at least until tonight, but could well continue, depending on the National Air Traffic Service’s assessment of the situation.
Managing director of Carrentals.co.uk, Gareth Robinson, said that the uncertainty about exactly when passengers will be able to fly again is likely to impact car hire companies who will feel the knock on effect. He said that he has already seen a number of people cancelling their car hire and advised all customers who were facing disruption because of the volcanic ash to find out what their particular rental firms policies were for delayed collections and cancellations.
Tags: ash cloud, car hire, car rental, carrentals.co.uk, National Air Traffic Service, volcano
Posted in Car Rental News | No Comments »
Friday, March 19th, 2010
Speculation is rife within the travel industry that Manchester-based travel organisation Traveljigsaw may be preparing itself for a takeover. The agency was originally set up by David Crossland who agreed to financially back a group of former Airtours employees who wanted to start out on their own. Traveljigsaw now has an annual turnover of over £100 million and employs 120 staff.
Analysts have valued the company at around £150 million and KPMG is rumoured to be undertaking an assessment of the business. Originally set up under the banner of Car Hire 3000, Traveljigsaw now provides customers with access to car rental firms in 27 countries around the world.
Traveljigsaw has become one of the largest independent vehicle rental agencies in Europe and runs a multi-lingual call centre out of the UK.
ISIS, the private equity firm, managed a £25 million management buyout in order to facilitate the sale of the business. This year the company has managed to secure multi-million pound funding deals to allow it to expand by providing the company with much needed working capital.
ISIS have refused to be drawn into discussions on the future of Traveljigsaw, but sources within the travel industry say that a takeover would be a very attractive proposition to a number of firms. However, a deal is unlikely to be struck until later in the year and possibly not until 2011.
Tags: Airtours, car rental, ISIS, KPMG, takeover, Traveljigsaw, vehicle rental
Posted in Finance and Business | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
In an attempt to attract the best people to the job car hire firm Enterprise Rent A Car has announced that it will be making significant changes to its staff hiring policies. The vehicle rental giant now says that it will accept job applications from candidates who do not hold a university degree for its mid-level positions.
Enterprise Europe’s HR director, Donna Miller, said the move would now allow potential candidates to apply for positions on a level playing field. She said that candidates holding degrees often looked more qualified than those without on paper, but that when it came to practical aptitude for the job those without qualifications but with broader business experience would be better suited to a role at the company.
She also said that by allowing candidates with less formal training a chance to apply Enterprise hoped that it would attract people who could bring innovation to the table. This year Enterprise has recruited 750 graduates to positions throughout the UK. Other companies who have also decided to do away with the minimal qualification requirement for job candidates are npower and PwC.
PwC said that it had made the changes to its recruitment policies last year because it was finding that its pool for potential employees was becoming saturated with people who had certificates of higher education but no practical business experience.
Enterprise is currently trying to encourage other firms to follow similar practices in order to attract people who will bring more diversification and innovation into business.
Tags: car hire, car rental, Enterprise, Enterprise Europe, enterprise rent a car, vehicle rental
Posted in Car Rental News | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
Those deciding to rent a car for their holidays have been advised to read and understand the terms and conditions outlined in the hire contract before committing their signature to the dotted line. Recent research by Which? Holiday has found that many car hire companies are severely lacking in the amount of information they offer up to customers before they hand over the keys. Researchers at Which? Holiday looked at eight car hire companies at Heathrow and Charles de Gaul and came up with some worrying results. When trying to examine the contractual terms and conditions on the websites of both Avis and Enterprise they could find nothing. Limited information was found on the websites of Budget, National and Alamo. A lack of information about the total cost of hiring a car from some of the companies meant that it was not possible to do an accurate price comparison because no information was given about the price of waivers or extra costs.
A spokesperson for Enterprise reportedly told the research team that their website was merely a tool for booking a vehicle and that the transaction as well as terms and conditions being made available would take place at the booking desk. National and Alamo also allegedly said that customers should not compare waivers and insurance cover on price alone because their levels can vary.
Hertz, Europcar and Enterprise all told Which? Holiday that the clause in their contracts making the hirer of a vehicle responsible for paying the full price of that vehicle in the event that they cannot produce the keys after the car has been stolen is a way of preventing fraud and negligence. They said that there were circumstances where exceptions would be made.
Tags: Alamo, Avis, Budget, car hire, car hire companies, car rental, Charles de Gaul, Enterprise, Europcar, Heathrow, Hertz, holidays, National, rent a car, Which? Holiday
Posted in Car Rental News | No Comments »
Friday, January 15th, 2010
One of the world’s leading independently owned chauffer services has teamed up with one of the world’s biggest car hire companies in a move that is aimed at offering the customers of both a wider range of vehicle rental solutions. Dav El is an American based service which provides high end luxury vehicle to those who are attending group meetings, functions and conventions. Its fleet consists of Cadillac sedans, stretch limousines, SUVs and minibuses and it has offices in more than 550 cities around the world. With around 15,000 vehicles Dav El offers customers in almost every city the opportunity to hire a luxury vehicle along with a professional driver for any need.
Dav El’s president and CEO, Scott A. Solombrino said that he was pleased that his chauffer service will now offer extra travel options for Hertz customers. He also said that the partnership would provide Dav El with the opportunity to grow its brand around the world.
Mark P. Frissora, President and CEO at Hertz said that a partnership with one of the world’s leading chauffer companies would mean that Hertz is now able to offer its customers yet another option when it came to renting a vehicle. He also said that the fact that Dav El was already well established in many cities around the world would compliment the fact that Hertz has already established itself as one of the world’s major car hire brands. Hertz currently offers vehicle hire solutions in more than 145 countries around the globe.
Tags: car hire, car rental, chauffer, Dav El, Hertz, luxury vehicle, stretch limousines
Posted in Car Rental News | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
Car rental firm Sixt has been voted top car hire company for 2009 by Travel and Leisure Magazine. Sixt received its award alongside other prestigious travel companies such as Singapore Airlines and Virgin America. The awards are given out to those companies which excel in the travel industry and are voted for by over 300,000 professionals within the travel sector. On learning that Sixt had managed to secure the top spot the company’s U.K. managing director, Ian Lawrence was quick to point out that the award was particularly special because it was the consumer who had voted to give it to Sixt. He said that he was excited that Sixt was being presented with the award alongside a number of other extremely prestigious names in the travel industry. He went on to say that Sixt was constantly trying to make its product and its service the best it could be whether it was an executive renting a vehicle for business from them or a family wishing to spend some time together.
Malcolm Cooper from Sixt U.A.E. said that it was the confidence that customers had in the rental firm that pushed Sixt to constantly try to supply a better service to them. He said that Sixt offices around the world would be inspired to try as hard as they possibly could to deliver excellence to those wishing to hire a car through their offices.
Sixt car hire is available at over 3,500 different locations around the world in more than 90 countries.
Tags: award, car hire, car rental, Singapore Airlines, Sixt, Travel and Leisure Magazine, Virgin America
Posted in Car Rental News | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
Car hire comparison site Carrentals.co.uk is advising all customers that the troubles affecting the car rental industry throughout this year are set to continue well into 2010. Carrentals.co.uk managing director Gareth Robinson said that due to the recession many car hire firms have been unable to secure the required funds to increase the size of their fleets in line with customer demand. He said that this has caused a shortage of vehicles as well as price hikes on those vehicles still available.
It had been expected that the recession would produce a reduction in the amount of customers hiring vehicles and that the limited number available would be enough to cater to demand. However the number of people wanting to hire vehicles remained steady and this resulted in some companies selling out completely during peak periods. This trend could get worse in 2010.
easyCar’s Owen Coles said that the industry is bracing itself for chronic shortages of vehicles available to customers. He said that as the recession eases more customers were expected to book car rentals. However there is still an amount of uncertainty as to whether financial institutions are ready to hand over the necessary funds for car hire firms to expand fleets to meet the predicted demand.
Robinson said that his advice to anyone wishing to rent a car next year would be to book it as far in advance of the date of travel as possible. He also advised customers to use a price comparison site to secure the best deals.
Tags: best deals, car hire, Car hire comparison, car rental, carrentals.co.uk, Easycar, hire vehicles, recession, rent a car
Posted in Car Rental News | No Comments »
