We are aware that a lot of our customers start their journey with a flight and some of them may be affected by the upcoming BA cabin crew strike. If, due to this strike you need to modify your travel arrangements, here is some information on how to make changes to your car rental booking with Avis.

Note from Avis BA Partnerships Team:

The forthcoming British Airways cabin crew strike, starting tomorrow and taking place on 20, 21, 22 March and 27, 28 , 29, 30 March, may be affecting your car rental requirements. We’d like to take this opportunity to outline your options if you have a car reserved with us over this period.

If you have a pay-later reservation and need to cancel or amend it, please call the BA Partnership Dedicated line at our Call Centre on 0844 581 0124 and one of our agents will make the necessary arrangements for you. The sooner you can cancel or amend your booking the easier will be to find a suitable alternative to your original reservation.

If you have pre-paid for your rental and need to amend or cancel, again please contact our dedicated line at the Call Centre on 0844 581 0124. If you need to request a refund, please send the request along with your Avis reservation number to:

Avis Rent a Car Ltd
Customer Services
Avis House
Park Road
Bracknell
Berkshire
RG12 2EW
United Kingdom

If you booked your Avis car directly with British Airways either at ba.com or with a BA Call Centre, please contact their Customer Services Duty Office to make any amendments or cancellations:

Telephone: +44 208 707 4461
Email address: duty.office@holidays.britishairways.com

Please contact us as soon as possible with your revised requirements. Thank you for your patience and understanding during these exceptional circumstances.

As we all know business can be unpredictable and sometimes it’s hard to envisage what your future needs will be. That’s why we have developed Avis Flex; our new, fully flexible solution for corporate long-term car rental. This provides your business with a great fixed daily rental price and the only commitment from you to us will be to keep the car for a minimum of 28 days. Plus the longer you keep the car the lower the daily price.

Flexibility and price aren’t the only reasons to get long-term car rental from Avis. We also promise you will also benefit from:

• No Deposit Required
• Free 2,000 Miles on your car, every month you rent
• Flexible terms & conditions with no complicated contracts
• Free Collision Damage Weaver Insurance
• Delivery and Collection service to your home or business
• Free 24 Hour Roadside Assistance

For more information on Car Rental and Leasing click here

We are currently only offering Avis Flex to our corporate customers, but we would love to get your feedback and opinions on this product.

As part of the team at Avis London City I am proud to announce that we are now the premier car rental company for London City Airport, and will be for the next 7 years.

This means that Avis now are the only car rental company with access to the main front car park and our customers do not have to take the lengthy walk to the long stay car park to collect their rental car.

We are also excited as we have had a brand new office, which is situated just next to the terminal building and has a Traffic Master and Flight Information Screen to help get your journey off to the best possible start.

Also to help improve the service at Avis London City we’ve extended the opening times at the weekends, by recommendation from our local customers.

If you are picking up your Avis rental car from our London City location, myself and the team look forward to meeting you and to find out what you think about our new office.

Avis have produced a white paper on Duty of Care to help small to medium business (SMEs) who require members of there staff to travel for work.

FACT: 200 drivers are killed or injured each week whilst travelling on company business*

That’s a chilling figure, but the law of averages says that many of these drivers will be working for SMEs simply because they employ more people than any other sector of UK corporate business.

Research has consistently shown it is the SME sector which is least aware of the responsibilities facing employers around their driver’s safety and for that reason puts them most at risk of prosecution, if an employee is involved in, or causes a major accident whilst driving on company business.

SMEs, just like large corporate companies are expected to adopt a road safety policy, even if they only have a few employees driving on company business to ensure they protect themselves against possible prosecution.

To read the full white paper click here

Yesterday our partner, British Airways, announced that they are to provide 5,000 business class return flights to small and medium-sized businesses to help boost overseas sales during the economic crisis. Today, we’re delighted to announce that Avis has agreed to support this campaign (that is also supported by the Daily Mail) by offering 1,500 free car rentals to small businesses worth more than £175,000. Small businesses are often referred to as being “at the heart of the economy” so it is a real pleasure to be able to help this campaign succeed in achieving it’s very important objective.

We’re currently in the process of agreeing terms and conditions of the proposal with the government’s UK Trade & Investment, which is also backing the campaign along with British American Business. Full details will be posted on www.avis.co.uk within the next few days and I’ll update this blog post with the full link once details have become available.

In the meantime, firms who want to apply for BA’s return business class flights can do so on the UK Trade & Investment website (UKTI).

Did you know that from January 12th this year, UK travellers to the United States need to register on line with the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) before departure? All nationals and citizens of Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries – including the UK – will be required by law to get travel authorization prior to boarding the airplane.

Travelers can now register online. The information provided is the same as what was completed on the forms aboard the plane, the same data that most countries already collect at their borders. ESTA will eventually replace those forms.

In fact, our very own world traveller, Robert White, nearly got caught out by this change in procedure on his round the world trip. Luckily, his Mum told him before he flew or he might not have made the last leg of his tour!!

Rob told us “It’s pretty straightforward. It pretty much asks the same questions as the Visa Waiver form i.e. personal info and passport info, where you’re staying in the US, and all those questions about whether you’re a no-gooder!! It only takes a few minutes and I got authorization straight away.”

According to the US Embassy website, almost 14,000 travelers are registering with ESTA each day and all UK citizens planning to travel to the United States in the future are encouraged to apply now. Travelers don’t need to have specific travel plans in order to register. Registration is valid for two years or the life of the traveler’s passport, whichever is shorter. So far, 99.6% of those registering have been approved – most within four seconds.

So, if you’re travelling to the US this year, or know someone who is, make sure you’re registered. Otherwise, they might not let you on the plane!!

Following on from our post on this topic last year, Avis now have close to 500 locations, spanning 10 different countries across Europe, offering the 3 Minute Promise speed of service guarantee. A list of our top European locations can now be found on our website.

The Avis 3 Minute Promise is quite simple – if you are an Avis Preferred member with an up to date profile, a reservation and renting at a participating Avis location, we guarantee to have your car keys in your hand within 3 minutes. Why not test us by taking a stopwatch or time ticket next time? This allows us to measure the time it takes to get you on your way.

And if we don’t deliver, we’ll send you a voucher to be spent on the high street! The type of voucher depends on where you live. For example all UK residents, regardless of whether you rent here or in Europe, would receive a £20 John Lewis voucher.

We know offering customers a speedy and 1st class service is important. The 3 Minute Promise doesn’t mean you’ll lose human contact with us all together. It just means we are challenging ourselves to meet your expectations. And if we don’t, you get some extra spending money!

To find out more or to sign up for free to become an Avis Preferred member, visit our website.

Just a short note to let you know that Avis have extended the Fiat 500 trial due to popular demand and positive customer feedback. You can now rent this fantastic little car up to the end of March 2009.

The Fiat 500 has just won BusinessCar magazine’s City Car of the Year Award. This prize – decided by the publication’s readers – follows other accolades for the 500, including Car of the Year 2008, Auto Express’ Best City Car 2008 and Fifth Gear’s Car of the Year. And if this great car couldn’t get any better, Fiat will be showing off their convertible version at the Geneva Motor Show in March!

Have you tried one yet? Why not let us know if you liked it? If you haven’t experienced the Fiat 500, visit the Avis website for details of how to book your drive today.

Last year, I visited Amsterdam, home of Van Gogh, Anne Frank and many, many canals. People talk about the liberal attitude of the city but when you visit, there is so much more to see and do. In fact, in terms of popularity, Amsterdam is the 5th busiest tourist destination in Europe with more than 4.2 million international visitors a year.

One of the highlights is definitely the Van Gogh museum. This is where the permanent collection is shown to the public. Some of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings are present in the collection and this museum is the most visited museum in Amsterdam.

The one thing you can’t avoid is the canals. It seems that round every corner, you are crossing a bridge! However, get on a river cruise and you will see another side of Amsterdam. Most take you round in huge glass topped boats but if you’re lucky enough, try to get on a smaller one with a private operator. You really do explore the sights of Amsterdam most people don’t get to see.

Driving is tricky in Amsterdam, with one way streets to contend with, as well as the numerous bikes and trams. However, if you do need a car, Avis has a location in central Amsterdam as well as one at Schipol Airport, located 11 miles outside of Amsterdam.

I read on the BBC website on Wednesday that the Bank of England has delivered its gloomiest assessment of the UK economy yet with Governor Mervyn King expecting growth to be flat and he could not rule out a recession.

In these testing times, we’ve been writing posts on this blog for a while now about saving money whilst driving and hiring cars. Over a year ago, we wrote a blog post suggesting tips for driving economically. Given the high fuel prices at the moment, I thought it might be worth reminding everybody of this information.

I thought it also might be worth reminding you about our blog post “Are you thinking about downsizing?” which could save you over £6,500 per year.

Have you got any money saving tips associated with driving? Why not let us know and we’ll share them with everyone.