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 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!

On Monday 21st September I had the pleasure of attending the Business Traveller Awards 2009. The awards were held at the London Hilton Park Lane and presented by explorer and adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes BT OBE.

The event was attended by 450 of the travel industries leading figures including Willie Walsh and the cabin crew from the now famous Virgin TV advert.

Avis did not have to wait long before we won our award, in fact the first award of the ceremony; Avis maintained the award for Best Car Rental Company in Europe 2009.

Not only was I pleased that we had been recognised as the leading Car Rental Company in Europe, but to hear the adventures of Sir Ranulph Fiennes BT OBE and how he has overcome so many personal issues was a true inspiration.

You may have seen me post a few comments on here so I thought I’d take 5 minutes to properly introduce myself and perhaps show you a little insight into life here at the Barcelona call centre. My name is Chris Cox and I am the Trainer for the UK and Dutch markets. But first, to explain my job properly, a little background of the call centre is required.

Here in the call centre (based in the World Trade Centre just overlooking the beautiful Mediterranean Sea!), we receive calls from all across Europe. These calls are from customers wishing to get a quote, book or ask questions about booking car hire with Avis. We have teams that represent 12 European markets and we offer native speakers in the following 8 languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Dutch & Czechoslovakian. There are 5 Trainers, such as myself, and we each look after 2–3 markets depending upon the languages spoken there (although I do admit, however, that I only know about 5 words in Dutch!).

“Induction groups” for new starters are the main bulk of our jobs. In the centre we all communicate in either Spanish or English but most induction groups are done in the agent’s native language. These inductions involve a 2-week training course that aims to give new starters the tools to successfully handle customer calls. Not only do they learn the computer booking system that lets them create the reservations but also the terms and conditions of rentals, the huge and varied fleet, the various markets (a rental in Dehli or Peking is quite different than in Manchester!) and also the basic soft skills (e.g. active listening, identifying the customer’s needs, explaining the often complicated jargon of car rental in simplistic terms, the type of language to use, how to handle angry or upset customers etc) that will aid them whilst on the phone.

This isn’t always the typical day for us trainers however. Depending upon the time of year we might be busy recruiting for the peak season. Or we could be training existing agents to take “overflow” calls (e.g. we train multi-lingual agents about products in other markets so that they are able to take calls for that country when it has a high call volume). We’ve also just introduced a new reservation system which has meant months of testing and a huge amount of work for an awful lot of people (us included!) but the benefits now seem to be coming to fruition.

But sometimes we need to “muck in” ourselves. When it’s really busy we might be up on the 5th floor with all the agents trying to help with any problems, taking calls ourselves or assisting the Team Leaders who never seem to have enough hours in the day either! Avis is also very committed to personal development and another part of our responsibility is delivering the sessions for our internal program of personal development called ARTE. Successful candidates attend workshops on topics like: Time Management, Coaching Skills, Leadership, Change Management, Empowerment, Presentation Skills etc. This generates a “pool” of expert agents who are always first in line when we have internal vacancies. Or we might simply be sat at our desks answering emails (or Blog questions!) working as the main point of contact for our countries, updating internal “help” material with any changes to our products or with new promotions that are launched and generally trying to keep on top of everything.

I hope this helps give you some insight into life in the call centre. And please let me know if you have any feedback about your experience on the phones with one of our agents. We’re absolutely committed to providing the best service we can so any feedback you provide to help us do better is always welcome!

Last weekend, the crew at Avis took on it’s second gruelling test of endurance within a month, this time competing in the Ride24 challenge. The challenge takes place in the form of a Le Mans style race with teams of 4 taking it in turns to cycle round the Dunsfold Park Track in Surrey (aka the Top Gear test track) over a period of 24 hours. Effectively, whoever completes the most laps over that period wins. Of course people like me don’t just enter things like this for the fun of it and it was all for a good cause, raising money for Action Medical Research.

We weren’t exactly the most prepared outfit competing, most evident when team member Gavin Ross declared that he was not going to the practice run last Tuesday night because “he hadn’t done any practice so far so why start now?”. But we managed to overcome our lack of preparation by putting in some respectable scores. Of the 3 teams we entered Avis Team 3 (the team I was in) finished 19th despite Steve Liberda and Duncan Hall riding the slower hybrids and myself and my colleague, Simon Wickson, sharing a bike. Avis Nightriders (who should have been Avis Team 1 but refused to stick to the naming convention) finished 15th while Avis Team 2 finished in 2nd place, which was an unbelievable achievement.

I have to say that Action Medical Research did a great job of hosting the event. But we’ve still got a little way to go to reach our fundraising target so if you are interested in sponsoring us, please click here.

Below is a full list of the team who competed on the day:

Avis Nightriders
Gavin Ross, Jack Macaree, Chris Keogh, Tim Maw

Avis Team 2
Jim Cox, Simon Carter, Gavin Spires, Thomas Sugden

Avis Team 3
Steve Liberda, Duncan Hall, Simon Wickson, Rob White