Airport car rental
The late forties and fifties of the last century revolutionized the concept of travel with the development of the passenger aircraft. With the advent of globalization modern travelers need service due to paucity of time. It is imperative that they have access to easy means of transport at the airport itself when they land either for business or leisure. No matter where you are traveling, car rental companies are available that offer special deals at key leisure destinations. In a consumer oriented market its up to the traveler to take advantage of current rental-car special at any of the participating locations all over the world.
The air traveler has the option of a wide selection of the newest model cars to rent in every size imaginable when he disembarks at an airport. You can rent a convertible or a luxury car for your needs at a bargain rental price. Even if you need a minivan for a larger group or an affordable economy car the choice is with the consumer or traveler.
The air traveler has the option to Choose from more than hundreds of conveniently located car rental sites throughout the United States and the world. Many of the car rental companies that offer facilities for your benefit are located either at or near the airport. They also offer free shuttle service along with low rates.
Competition is intense with a large number of airport car service companies in the market. Among the major global players in the airport car rental segment are Hertz, Avis, Dollar, Budget, National and a host of others.
Most of these companies try and retain their customer base and hence as an incentive offer frequent-flyer miles or credits on your car rentals. Most of these companies also have teamed up with major airlines to give you the best rewards when you rent a car from any of them.
Comfort for the business or holiday traveler is the essence of these companies. Hence their cars offer the latest that technology can get and are equipped with GPS and radio and personalized service that aims to retain their customer base. In addition to the global players in the field airport car rental companies also subsist locally in lots of countries around the world. With the volume of air travel on the increase most companies can mange to book profits but the essence of this is not only just providing a car for rental but the value added service that can be provide.
Among the global players is Hertz. The Hertz Corporation is the world's largest car rental company, with 1,900 locations in the United States and 5,100 locations spread around the world.
It has its headquarters at Park Ridge, New Jersey. The company was begun by Walter L. Jacobs in 1918, which started a car rental operation in Chicago with a dozen Ford Model Ts.
Because of its past association with Ford, the rental fleets of most Hertz locations consist of Ford motor cars and other Ford brands such as Mazda, Mercury and Lincoln. However with the passage of time its not uncommon to find that Hertz also has Non-ford Companies motor cars like Toyota, Hyundai and General Motors.
With mounting market pressure Hertz started in 2000 a Prestige Collection at many rental locations. This collection features cars from Ford's Premier Automotive Group including models from Volvo, Land Rover and Jaguar as well certain models from Mercedes-Benz and Audi as well as other luxury cars. These are offered at highly competitive rates.
The second major player on the global scene is Avis Rent a Car System. This company has its headquarters at Parsippany, New Jersey USA. Avis, Budget Rent a Car and Budget Truck Rental are all units of Avis Budget Group.
Avis currently operates over 4000 branch offices world-wide, including international locations in Australia, New Zealand, the Central American and Caribbean regions, South America and Africa. Avis is one of the largest vehicle rental agencies in the world. - Second only to hertz
The company was founded in 1946 in Detroit by Warren E. Avis. It established branch operations across the United States over the next few years, and by its tenth anniversary in 1956 had opened its first international offices in Europe, Canada and Mexico.
Avis gives good competition to Hertz and in a market oriented world economy have cut throat competition among them. Among the smaller airport rental companies are the National and the Alamo that are run by the Vanguard group. These are mostly confined to America. Their service is good and thy reward their customers . But they have been criticized by many for not providing proper access to wheel chair bound traveler. They were investigated by the Justice dept and reached an out of court settlement.
Another major player is Dollar with nearly 1100 locations world wide. Dollar was founded in 1965 and has made substantial progress since then. Another airport car rental agency is Enterprise rent a car. Founded in1957 by jack Taylor the company operates mainly in North America and Europe.
There are a host of other companies in airport travel segment. With millions of travelers all over the globe the role of airport rental companies is cut and dried. There is also cut throat competition and companies have to come up with innovative ideas not only to retain their customer base but also attract fresh customers. Also most of the companies have initiated a rewards scheme for the frequent user of their brand.The ides is to retain customers. In a market and consumer oriented economy this is inevitable and the customer can have real choice of the services at airports all over the globe.
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