More than just car rental with Avis: We’ve partnered up with Lonely Planet and Stanfords to offer you free highlights maps and the chance
to win a holiday to Tuscany.

If you’re familiar with the Avis We Try Harder blog you’ll know how we often like to share tales of our road trips and offer advice on interesting itineraries to discover with your car hire. However this time we’ve decided to take a step forward and enlisted the help of the professionals; every week Lonely Planet are offering all visitors to the avis.co.uk the possibility to download new highlights maps of popular regions in France, Spain and Italy, and all absolutely free!

This is to celebrate the launch of 7 new-look regional guides covering a range of don’t-miss experiences perfect for foodies, walkers and culture lovers. This new series includes guides for Andalucia, The Italian Lakes, Tuscany & Umbria, Brittany & Normandy, Corsica, Naples & The Amalfi Coast and Provence & Cote d’Azur. And if you order your Lonely Planet guides from Stanfords, you will get 20% discount.

But that’s not all, we are also giving you a chance to WIN a fantastic food-lovers trip for two to Tuscany.

Visit our website to download your free highlights maps and for more information on how to enter the prize draw.

Have you ever been in that situation where you’ve been to an offer page , seen a banner advertising that “incredible discount”, but when it came to book you couldn’t get the right price?

This is what happened to one of our customer, who despite booking a car during the Avis New Year Sale period, she’d seen advertised on our email newsletter, was unable to get the advertised car hire discount. I thought it would be useful to share her experience & attempt to clarify how these promotions work, so next time you don’t miss out on the chance to get the best price for your car hire.

Most of Avis’s discounts are driven by a promotional code which we embed on our offer/sale promotional pages, newsletter links and internal and external banners. When a customer visits one of these landing pages or clicks from one of the links or banners, then proceeds to book, the discount is automatically applied to the price.

If however the visitor sees the banner or the newsletter advertising a specific discount but instead of following the promotional link or banner, goes straight to the booking engine on the Avis home page, the code is not activated and therefore the discount is not applied.

This is always specified in the landing pages, but following the customer’s comment we will make sure to have it even more prominent.

Of course all promotions are subject to availability and to specific terms and conditions which are always state at the bottom of our landing pages, so make sure you read carefully.

Hope this helps! But if you have any other questions please let us know or visit our FAQs page.

Looking at the amount of queries we receive here on the blog, and the feedback we get from our front line teams, it’s quite clear that renting a car generates a large number of questions on a variety of topics, ranging from the type of child seat available to fuel options and damage policy.

Our challenge at Avis is to answer all those questions as clearly, quickly and efficiently as possible. This is why we’ve recently launched a new interactive web FAQ section on our website, which you can find at www.avis.co.uk/CustomerService .

The new section uses a keyword based system to help customers search through a large archive of frequently asked questions. It then provides answers based on relevancy and knowledge built by analysing other customers’ searches.

It also offers suggestions on related topics that other customers searching for similar keywords have found useful.

Customers are also able to rate how helpful they found the answers and send us comments about it, and this will allow us to work on those topics where we fell short of your expectations.

The contact section of the website has changed too; you can now ask questions and even log your complaints/queries directly online. All you have to do is write your question, tell us which topic you are contacting us about and your message will be automatically delivered to the right department.

If you have used the new system or want to give it a go, we would love to know what you think.

With 2010 already upon us we are pleased to unveil the upgraded Avis We Try Harder blog, including a fresh look to go with the new decade.

We have been working behind the scenes updating systems so the site runs faster and along with the design improvements, helping to make it quicker and easier for you to find what you are looking for and generally making it a better blogging experience for you! We have also added links to our Twitter page, where you can keep up to date with all our latest Tweets.

Don’t worry about losing track of your favourite posts, as all of our old blog posts and comments have been kept on the site, so you can still see your old comments and find out what other customers and our staff here at Avis have been saying about travel, car rental and much more.

We hope you like what we have done but would love to hear your feedback on our new blog. We also want to know if there is any information on car rental or Avis that you would like us to write a blog post about.

With wind, rain, ice and snow – winter can throw the very worst at us. So to help make sure you are prepared when travelling by car this season, here’s some helpful advice from the Highways Agency.

For a smoother journey check your vehicle is ready for winter.
Regularly servicing and checking your vehicle is in good running order before setting out, will reduce your chances of breaking down on the road. It’s worth making these checks regularly – especially before a long journey:

• Check and replace the anti-freeze in the radiator
• Make sure your lights are clean and check the bulbs
• Ensure your windscreen is clean
• Replace the battery if it’s not reliable
• Ensure your tyres are correctly inflated and replace them if the tread has reached the legal minimum. For further information please see www.tyresafe.org

For peace of mind always carry an emergency kit.
Gather a few items and keep them in your car – just in case. Below are items that should be in your Emergency Kit:

• Ice scraper and de-icer
• Torch and spare batteries
• Warm clothes and a blanket
• Boots
• First aid kit
• Jump leads
• Food and a warm drink in a thermos
• A shovel
• Reflective warning sign
• Sunglasses – the glare off snow can be dazzling

For a safer journey adapt your driving in bad weather.
Even after roads have been treated, driving conditions may remain challenging especially on stretches of road where there’s greater risk of side winds or of ice forming. These include places where: –

• There are changes in road elevation or exposure
• Where the road passes under a bridge
• Objects at the side of the road create shade
• There is infrequent traffic

It’s also advisable to slow down on corners where the risk of losing control is at its greatest.

Be a smarter driver – check traffic and weather updates.
Before you set off it’s worth taking a few minutes to make sure that there aren’t any problems on your intended route. You can check for live updates as you travel too – but remember not to use your phone while driving.

• Visit http://www.highways.gov.uk/traffic/traffic.aspx
• Check the weather at the metoffice
• Call the Highways Agency information line on 08457 50 40 30
• Tune into DAB Traffic Radio

Remember to take regular breaks from driving – tiredness and loss of concentration are major contributing factors to road accidents.

Think ahead move ahead.

Avis supporting

Avis are pleased to announce that we now offer our customers the opportunity to offset the carbon emissions from their car rental in the UK when they collect there keys. The cost to offset the rental is £1, this has been calculated based on average vehicle emissions, length of rentals, mileage and age of vehicles. The money raised will be allocated by our partner, The CarbonNeutral Company.

To celebrate the launch for every customer who chooses to offset the carbon on their rental in December 2009 and January 2010, Avis will match the total amount collected.

We would also like our customers to choose which project they want us to invest the carbon offset fund in. We have selected three potential projects, now all we need is for you to vote in our blog poll for one of the following:

Candelaria Hydro Power Project – Guatemala
The project involves the generation of renewable energy through the installation of a run-of-river hydropower plant in Guatemala. The project generated emission reductions of approximately 14,500 CO2 equivalent in 2006, verified and certified to the Voluntary Carbon Standard.

Damao Wind Power Project – China
This project generates clean energy from 40 new wind turbines in China. The total emissions reductions are estimated to be 100,000 tCO2 equivalent, verified to the Gold Standard (GS).

Vehicles for Change
In the Vehicles for Change portfolio, the verifiable emission reductions are generated by a coalmine methane capture project in Germany, which is combined with an initiative in Bosnia and Herzegovina producing bio-diesel from waste cooking oil to be used as cleaner fuel for public buses. If successful, the Bosnian project will demonstrate the financial and practical viability of bio-diesel as a cleaner fuel source, paving the way to sustainable development in a nation adversely affected by war.

Have your vote now!

You might have heard by now that British Airways has announced a 12 day strike between the 22nd December and the 2nd January. This is expected to affect around a million people.

If you were planning to fly on an internal flight with British Airways within the UK over this period you may want to consider renting a car to get to your final destination. We strongly advise you to book as soon as possible to avoid disappointment, since the car rental industry tends to sell out of cars over the Christmas and New Year period. Avis still has availability at most key airports at the time of writing, but we expect to sell out over the next few days.

If you were flying on BA and had car hire booked with Avis please let us know in advance if your plans have changed as a result of the strike. We will do our best to accommodate your new plans. If you need to cancel or change your booking, telling us in advance will ensure you are not charged a no show fee.

If you would like to book a car or find out about our availability over this period please visit our website www.avis.co.uk or call us on 08445 818181.

We hope that your plans are not disrupted by this strike and that you enjoy a very happy Christmas whenever, and however, you reach your destination.

We know that many drivers are unsure of how to cope with conditions on the roads during the winter months. And it’s not just ice and snow which cause problems. You also need to take extra special care when there is fog, wind, rain, wet leaves and glare from the sun!

We have teamed up with Interactive Driving Systems, to help you become more aware of the risks and keep you safe when you are driving this winter.

Our top 10 tips for driving in the winter
1) Check the weather conditions before you set out.
2) Keep your distance from the car in front – it can take 10 times longer to stop in icy conditions and twice as long in wet conditions.
3) Drive carefully in a low gear .
4) Do not brake suddenly – as this can cause you to skid. If you do skid, steer in the direction of it
5) Leave plenty of time for your journey.
6) Use dipped headlights in fog and in thick fog use fog lights, but don’t forget to turn them off once conditions improve.
7) Don’t drive through flood water .
8 ) Make sure you have plenty of fuel and keep an emergency kit in the car (warm clothing, boots, flashlight, food and drink, blankets and a high-visibility jacket).
9) Tell someone about your journey and let them know when you have arrived .
10) Keep your mobile phone with you and the number of a breakdown company.

If you have any other tips to stay safe this winter let us know.

Apparently it’s all relative, time, space…and even which side of the road is right and which one is wrong.

I’ve recently passed my driving test in the UK and having originally learnt to drive in Italy, and have to admit that the first impact with driving on the left, was well, interesting. As my driving instructor eloquently put it, in the UK: “left is right and right is wrong…”, and that little mantra will probably stick with me forever.

But that got me thinking about all the British drivers who every day cross the Channel and face the slight disconcerting feeling of looking at the world suddenly flowing in the wrong direction.

Unfortunately I don’t have a catchy phrase for that, but I’ve tried to collect a short list of tips which I hope you could find useful:

1) Keep right: obvious as it sounds, that’s the golden rule when driving in Europe the USA and most other countries outside the UK. Right lane is your regular navigation lane whereas the left one is for overtaking.

Bear in mind that the side of the road is not the only thing you have to consider when driving abroad. Of course most road signs and general rules are the same but others vary by country. In Italy for example you normally give way to vehicles coming from the right, but if you are driving roundabout you have to give way to traffic coming from the left.

2) Watch your speed: when you drive the “wrong side of the road” you will have to fight rather than rely upon some of your basic instincts, and if total concentration is paramount, driving at a moderate speed will give your brain that extra time needed to assess the situation and make the right decision in an unfamiliar situation.

3) Follow the crowd: I know this could sound obvious but paying attention to what other road users are doing is usually the best way to get, and stay, on the right side of the road when pulling out off a parking space or exiting a junction.
This is especially important when coming out of a junctions or…negotiating your way across a roundabout.
Of course if you are coming out an airport car park, chances as your fellow drivers might be as clueless as you are…. so be careful!

4) Take your time: Make sure you take few moments to familiarise with your car before you set off. No matter where you drive, pedals will be in the same, but when you drive in Europe for example, the steering wheel and the stick gear will be on your right so you will have to learn to change gear with your right hand. Doesn’t take long to get use to it, but if you feel this could be an issue for you, you might want to consider going for an automatic car.

5) Mind the curb: gauging distances when you suddenly have the bulk of your car on your right instead of your left might be tricky especially when you are trying to find your way around those picturesque, narrow passages that are so popular in Italy, Spain and France. So once again be careful and allow plenty of space when overtaking.

I hope these tips help, but if you have any others of your own please let us know.

It was BA’s annual charity Fun Run on Wednesday and some of the Avis team had the pleasure of taking part. The 5km run took place at the pretty nature reserve that borders BA’s Waterside corporate headquarters.

While I was happy to “pace” myself with Charlotte Lowry and Ali Wadsworth, the machine that is Chris Keogh ran the circuit in under 18 minutes. Meanwhile Jack MacAree, perhaps feeling that the course on it’s own wasn’t hard enough, decided to help a struggling child by carrying him halfway the way round the track. Jamie Gibson, Steve Liberda and Luke Trueman completed the Avis team.

Over 600 people took part in the event that was presided over by Willie Walsh himself. And it was for a great cause, raising money for Cancer Research UK. Well done all!