businesscars.com has a solid partnership with Avis Rent a Car in many countries. The company was founded in 1946 with three cars at Willow Run Airport, Detroit by Warren Avis. It established branch operations across the US over the next few years, becoming the second largest car rental company in the country by 1953. By its tenth anniversary in 1956 it had opened its first international offices in Europe, Canada and Mexico. Their corporate motto is "We Try Harder." It was adopted in 1962 (during the tenure of Robert Townsend as its CEO) to make a more positive reference of Avis' status as the second largest car rental company in the US, at the expense of its larger competitor The Hertz Corporation. In 1981, the company instituted its system of vehicle tracking, that was coincidentally named Advanced Vehicle Identification System (AVIS).

Avis has been owned by a number of other companies over the years, along with several periods of being a public company.

These include:

1962 - Investment group Lazard Freres 1965 - ITT Corporation 1977 - Norton Simon 1983 - Esmark 1984 - Beatrice 1986 - Investment firm Wesray Capital Corporation 1996 - HFS Corporation 2001 - Cendant 2006 - Avis Budget Group

Avis Rent a Car System, LLC is currently headquartered in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, New Jersey, United States. Avis, Budget Rent a Car and Budget Truck Rental are all units of Avis Budget Group.

Avis Budget Group operates the Avis brand in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, India, Australia and New Zealand. In other parts of the world, the Avis brand is operated by Avis Europe plc, a separate company which licenses the Avis brand from Avis Budget Group. All together, Avis currently has over 4000 branch offices worldwide. Avis is one of the largest car rental agencies in the world. The company primarily rents General Motors (GM) vehicles, such as Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Saturn, within the United States, though some locations feature other popular non-GM brands, such as Hyundai or Kia.

Avis is a leading rental car provider to the commercial segment serving business travelers at major airports around the world. Avis was the first car rental business to be located at an airport.

You can find car rental offers from Avis and other car rental companies by entering a destination, a pick-up date and a drop-off date on the left side of this page.

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