We get a lot of calls to our reservation centre asking if we allow our cars to be picked up from one Avis location and then returned to another. If you are looking to rent a car one way between two locations within a country then the answer is yes we do! However, a one way fee will often apply (in the UK this is usually £40). People often ask why we charge a one-way fee as our locations share the same fleet. The reason is because we take bookings based on the cars that we have allocated to that location at the time. Obviously if one of these cars moves one way to another location then we will need to try and get this car back to the source location so it is there for the next customer who has booked it. The “one way fee” covers the cost of transporting the car back.

There will be some times when we don’t charge a one way fee. We usually do this to encourage customers to rent a car one way when we need to move cars from one area to another (we do not need to charge a fee if a customer can move the car for us as we save on the transporter costs). You can see this on our avis.co.uk homepage where, at the moment, we have a special for one ways into Scotland as we need to get cars there for the summer peak. Similarly, there is a good chance we will have similar offer for customers renting a car one way out of Scotland when the summer peak ends. Check back in September!

One way rentals between countries is far more expensive and is a reflection of the increased costs to transport the cars back. If this is something you are considering then I would suggest contacting our reservation centre on 08445 81 81 81 for advice as the price can differ greatly dependent on the pick-up and return countries. But please be prepared for a very high price to do this.

I’ve just been on our Avis Prestige website to find some awesome additions to this range. Joining a stable that already included the Audi R8, Aston Martin DB9 and the Mercedes SLK are the Ferrari F1 360 Spider, the Ferrari F430 F1 Spider, the Bentley Continental GT and the Lamborghini Gallardo. And on the back of some rave reviews since it’s launch, we are also welcoming the new Jaguar XF. I think few could argue with the quality of that line-up!

Being a supercar enthusiast, Xavier has selected his pick of the bunch. Let us know which one you would go for using the poll below. Or post a comment if you’ve got your own views on the selection.

Back in April I blogged about the launch of our Avis Home Delivery service. At the time we were still testing the product with some elements of the proposition still yet to be defined. I am now in a position to give a little further details on what you can expect.

Firstly, the price. The cost of delivering the car (or collecting it) is £10 for vehicles being delivered to locations outside of London and £25 for vehicles being delivered inside London (locations that have a London postcode i.e. starting with SE, S, SW, W, NW, N or E). Deliveries beyond 20 miles are subject to an additional charge of £1 per mile.

This service will be available within normal station opening hours which is usually 8am to 6pm between Monday and Friday and 8am to 1pm on a Saturday. Our aim is to deliver the car at the time specified at time of booking but we request that the driver is available an hour before and after the target deliver time. The driver must be there to accept and check the car and have both parts of the driving licence and a valid credit card.

Initially the service was available only by booking directly with the rental office. From tomorrow (18th of June) it will be possible to book this service through our call centre and we are currently aiming to have it available to book on the avis.co.uk website by the 1st of July. That’s it from me. As always let me know if you have any feedback or questions!

Just a quick note today about additional drivers as we’ve had a few questions on the blog about it in the past. I guess it’s pretty much common sense that when you rent a car, only the named driver on the booking is generally covered to drive it. However, it is possible to add additional drivers (as many as you want!) on to the rental so you can share the driving between your friends and family. In the UK this costs £23.50 per driver per rental (but is included free of charge if you opt for Premier Cover). One thing I should note on this is that all additional drivers need to be present when picking up the car to present both parts of their driver’s licence. If in hindsight you decide to share the drivng load, you can always pop into any Avis location during the hire period and add other drivers. Again, you just need to make sure they have both parts of their licence

If you have booked a car to rent in the US then here is a tip for you: your spouse can be added as an additional driver for free! Let me know if you have any questions regarding this product.

A colleague of mine recently conducted a bit of research to come up with some suggestions for the most romantic drives in Europe. I thought I would post this research on the blog as a little bit of inspiration for anyone planning to hit the open road this summer:

Amalfi Coast, Italy
The Amalfi Coast is renowned for its rugged terrain, scenic beauty, picturesque towns and diversity and is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Great St Bernard Pass, Switzerland
At just 45 miles long, the magnificent Great St Bernard Pass travels between Martigny, Switzerland, and Aosta, Italy, making it an unforgettable alternative on your way from Zurich to Milan. As the highest pass in the Swiss Alps, rising to more than 8,000 feet, it is infamous for its glacial majesty and rich history.

Western Highlands, Scotland
In the western Highlands red-sands tone peaks rise above a landscape of moors and hundreds of lochs. Several nature reserves protect the area’s wildlife and terrain and the scenery lends itself to breathtaking drives and exploration.

Route Napoléon, France
The Route Napoléon rises resolutely for more than a thousand metres before reaching the sedate plateau of the Serre, marked by a series of lakes and flanked by mountains it is one of the most beautiful drives in France.

The Cotswolds, England
The Cotswolds are by definition romantic. Choose from two of the “Romantic Road” routes; each will offer you beautiful scenery cut out of river valleys, country towns and villages with magnificent manor houses, churches and to complete what may be classed as perfection with the traditional country pub!

This is of course a list we made up all on our own. If you’ve got any suggestions of your own it then please feel free to share them!

We recently had a lot of feedback posted on here from quite a few blog readers and regular Select Series renters expressing unhappiness at the pricing levels that Select Series cars had been increased to. Concerned that we might be losing valuable custom we conducted a review of our Select Series prices and decided that you were all right, our prices were too high, and that we better bring them back down. I hope you find that our prices are much more acceptable (although please beware that as we go into the busy summer period prices will naturally rise versus earlier in the year). I think that’s a real positive win for our blog readers (although I am sorry you felt you had to complain in the first place).

I hope we’ve proved since launching the blog that your feedback on here really does influence how we are developing as a company so please do keep your comments coming!

I was chatting to my colleague last week about the potential impact the credit crunch would have on our industry. She was surprisingly optimistic having read an article that suggested that car hire might be one of those industries to actually benefit. This hypothesis was founded on the idea that people will be looking to save money by downsizing to a smaller car and renting a larger one as and when they need it. Interestingly we commissioned some research last year to measure how much this potential saving could be. Our research showed that a family of 4, living in Central London and driving a Range Rover Sport 2.7TDV6 HSE (diesel) could stand to save over £6,500 a year (click here for a full article on this research). Given the increasing fuel costs in this country I would expect this saving to have become even higher.

Firstly, I just thought I’d throw this out there as potential money saving tip and would love to hear any tips you have, particularly as many of us start to think about tightening the purse strings to fight off the effects of the credit crunch. But I would also love to know how many of you are actually considering downsizing to a smaller car and renting a larger car when required. Obviously it’s a tough decision to make with a lifestyle adjustment required, even if the savings are significant, and it will be interesting to see whether this is something consumers are genuninely looking to do.