FindaHireCar.com

Avis was once again recognised by more than 200,000 travel professionals worldwide as the "World's Leading Business Car Rental Company" at the 2011 World Travel Awards recently. This was the sixth consecutive year that Avis has received the award for excellence in customer service, business performance, product expansion, innovation and creativity.

Avis also won "North America's Leading Car Hire," for the sixth year in a row, and the "Caribbean's Leading Car Hire," for the fourth consecutive year. Avis was also named the winner in the following categories: World's Leading Luxury Car Rental, North America's Leading Luxury Car Hire, South America's Leading Car Hire, Europe's Leading Business Car Rental Company, Middle East's Leading Business Car Rental Company, Asia's Leading Car Hire, Australasia's Leading Business Car Hire, Indian Ocean's Leading Car Hire, Africa's Leading Business Car Rental Company and Egypt's Leading Car Rental Company.

Graham Cooke, president of the World Travel Awards, said: "Winning a World Travel Award is an endorsement from the thousands of professionals across the globe, and a gold seal of approval for consumers. Avis has once again demonstrated its world-class pedigree in the industry and we congratulate them for continuing to raise the standard of customer service and overall business performance."

"These awards are a testament to the hard work of Avis employees around the globe who strive to exceed our customers' expectations and provide a consistently outstanding rental experience," said Ronald Nelson, chairman and CEO of Avis Budget Group. "We proudly accept these distinguished accolades and thank the industry experts who continue to recognise our commitment to excellence."

Findahirecar.com, the car hire comparison website, has launched its New Year sale with a range of great offers. Travellers can get up to 20% off selected locations booked in before 31st January.

“We think our January sale is the perfect excuse for booking a winter break ” said William Moore, Findahirecar.com's Managing Director. “With up to 20% off car hire for reservations made this month, that trip away could be much more affordable".

Offers include Malaga & Alicante £4 per day (were £5 per day), Faro was £6, now £5 per day. Lisbon was £7 now £6 per day, London down from £13 to £11 per day. Dublin was £12 now £10 per day. Miami was £18 now £15 per day. Geneva was £27 now £25 per day.

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Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of low-cost airline Easyjet, has teamed up with lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman to develop a short-term car sharing club similar to Zipcar & Streetcar.

The Car Club will be UK-based & operate alongside Sir Stelios’s EasyCar online car rental company. The operation is scheduled to launch in spring 2012. The business model differs from other car sharing operations, like Zipcar and City Car Club, because rather than buying a fleet of cars, owners “share” their vehicles and allow them to be rented out for an hourly fee. Car owners will be able to set the rental price of their vehicle and its availability to suit their requirements, and insurance will be included.

Bookings will be taken online, and cars will be fitted with an automated entry and tracker system, allowing owners to be away from their vehicles when they are rented out.

Sir Stelios, said the business model “could be the future of car rental and car ownership”. “Rather than having to buy the cars to be rented and pay the ownership costs, this business model relies on the fact that there are plenty of underused cars on the road already and that is lazy capital that can be put to work again,” he said.

The Car Club will operate on the website of EasyCar, which will continue separately with its traditional system of car hire.

Avis Budget Group has reported revenue of $1.6 billion, an increase of 7% versus third quarter 2010, primarily due to a 5% increase in volumes.

"We delivered record earnings this quarter driven by increased revenue, our strategic initiatives to accelerate profitable growth, our continued focus on cost containment and lower fleet costs," said Ronald L. Nelson, Avis Budget Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We also completed our acquisition of Avis Europe on October 3 and are excited about the growth and profit opportunities that combining our brands across a global platform will afford us."

The company is a leading global provider of vehicle rental services through its Avis and Budget brands, with 10,000 rental locations in approximately 175 countries around the world. Avis Budget Group operates most of its car rental offices in North America, Europe and Australia directly, and operates primarily through licensees in other parts of the world. Avis Budget Group has approximately 28,000 employees and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.

FindaHireCar.com, the car hire comparison website, have the following answers to frequently asked questions.

What is included in the rate?

We normally include Collision Damage Waiver, Third Party Liability Protection, Tax, Airport Fee, Unlimited Milage and breakdown Assistance in our rates however this can change depending on which country you are traveling in.

Is there unlimited mileage?

Normally your rental will have an unlimited mileage policy, however in some instances there may be restrictions. We always advise you of your mileage policy before you book your vehicle.

What is the Fuel Policy?

The fuel policy is dependent on the car rental agent. We display this at time of booking under rate details. The fuel policy is also clearly stated in the terms and conditions under ‘fuel policy’. Normally our car rental agents will provide a full tank of fuel when you are collecting your vehicle and will ask you to have a full tank of fuel when returning the vehicle (“pick up full return full” fuel policy). Alternatively, you might be requested to pay for the tank of fuel upon collection and you can return the car with an empty tank (“pick up full return empty” fuel policy).

Are there additional costs for cross border travel?

Cross border travel fees vary from country to country. Please check with the Car rental agent on arrival as restrictions and charges may apply.

What documents do I need to bring to the rental desk?

You must bring your rental voucher, a credit card in the driver’s name and the drivers licence specified in the terms and conditions of your rental Voucher. UK License holders must present both the photo card and its papers counterpart at time of rental.

What is the cancellation policy?

If the booking is cancelled within 7 days of the car rental booking date and at least 48 hours before pick up time, all funds will be reimbursed.

Airport car hire reservations for the Thanksgiving holiday were up 10% over last year for Alamo Rent A Car, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental.

“We know that millions of travelers will be at the airport next week with only one thing on their minds – reaching their families and friends in time to celebrate Thanksgiving,” said Rob Hibbard, vice president, Enterprise Holdings. “As a result, we have been preparing for this annual travel peak for many months. Our fleet and our employees are ready to meet the needs of car rental customers from coast to coast.”

Alamo, Enterprise and National collectively account for over a third of all airport car rentals in the USA and Canada.

“It’s an encouraging economic sign that car rentals are up over last Thanksgiving,” said Roger Dow, president and CEO, U.S. Travel Association. “Last year, the car rental sector had an economic output of $33.5 billion and supported 152,000 U.S. jobs at 7,170 places of business across America. When Americans travel, they create jobs, boost economic output and increase revenues for states and local communities.”

The UK’s largest airline has just extended their exclusive partnership with Europcar until 2014. Since the deal started back in 2003, over 3 million easyJet customers have booked car hire through Europcar.

Nick Hughes, easyJet’s Head of Ancilliary Revenue and Partnerships, commented;

“easyJet is always looking for ways to make travel easy and affordable for our customers and the continuation of our partnership with Europcar means that millions more customers will benefit from this deal which offers a simple and comprehensive online booking system with the best value-for-money deals available.”

Jehan de Thé, Europcar Group E-Commerce Director, said;

“We are proud to continue our partnership with easyJet. We strongly believe that there is a natural fit between our two market leading organizations. Our key strengths are in the same markets and we share similar goals and aspirations. For eight years, we have provided easyJet customers with a dedicated service and competitive pricing across our extensive portfolio of products, contributing to customer loyalty over the long term. We are now looking forward to serving easyJet passengers for the next three years and will announce shortly some service enhancements.”

The deal means that easyJet customers can book a flight and a rental car simultaneously in one transaction or customers can book car hire separately up to two hours before their flight through the online booking system.

FindaHireCar.com, the car hire comparison website, has 10 driving tips for customers. You can improve the fuel-efficiency of your car by up to 30% by following these simple rules, saving you money and helping the environment.

1. Avoid aggressive driving such as accelerating and braking hard which can increase consumption by 40%

2. Drive steadily at the required speed limit – fuel consumption at 55mph is 15% higher than at 65mph

3. Avoid idling the car for long periods – turn off the engine if idling for more than 30 seconds

4. Inflate tyres to the correct pressure – under inflated types can increase consumption by 6%

5. Select the correct gear and move into top gear as soon as possible without accelerating more than necessary

6. Use air conditioning sparingly and close windows when the AC is on

7. Use cruise control to maintain a steady speed

8. Choose the correct octane fuel for your car

9. Dont carry excess luggage in the car if not required – using your car as a store room increases weight which increases fuel consumption

10. Service the vehicle regularly – dirty oil and air filters for example can reduce fuel efficiency

This desn’t just apply to a rental car, any driver can save money!

Recent research by FindaHireCar.com, the car hire comparison website shows that Venezuela has the cheapest petrol prices, with a litre costing just 2 pence on average.

Unsurprisingly, Saudi Arabia with 20% of the world's oil reseves is next at 8p per litre. Libya, the 9th largest oil producer, is third at 9 pence per litre and Turkmenistan is 12p per litre.  Bahrain makes up the top five with pertrol priced at 13p per litre, hardly surprising when 60% of government revenues coming from oil production.

The rest of the top ten is made up of other Arab oil producers Kuwait (14p), Qatar (15p), Egypt (19p), Oman (20p) and Algeria (20p).

The UK is still the one of the most expensive places to fill up your car with average prices of £1.35 per litre but spare a thought for poor Norwegian drivers who have the world's priciest petrol at £1.64 per litre.

Figures just out from FindaHireCar.com, shows that Spain was still the most popular car hire destination this summer.

Spanish destinations took three of the top five locations booked through the website over the summer period (July to September). Malaga airport on the Costa Del Sol was unsurprisingly the most popular with 7.0% of the total bookings with Alicante a close second on 6.5%. Also in the top 5 was Murcia on Spain’s popular Costa Calida with 2.3% share of bookings.

The third most popular choice by FindaHireCar.com customers was the holiday destination of Faro in Portugal's Algarve. This accounted for 4.1% of total car hire bookings on the site. Fifth spot went to London's Heathrow Airport with 2.3% share.

The rest of the top ten locations comprised Dublin, Mallorca, London Gatwick, Porto & in tenth place was Manchester.