How it all started:

It was 1946 when ex-military pilot Warren Avis founded the first car rental company. The first rental office was located at Willow Run Airport near the city of Detroit, and already in 1953 the first representative office on the old continent was opened. 1963 marked the debut of one of the most famous advertising campaigns of all time, "We Try Harder". Real-time rentals arrive in 1972, AVIS is the first car rental company to use the Wizard reservation and software system. 20 years after the opening of the first European representative office, AVIS has become a rental leader in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, while today it operates in 172 countries around the world and offers more than 500,000 vehicles

Slovak story:

The story of AVIS in Slovakia is very similar to the American one. In the beginning, there was a lot of courage, an effort to assert oneself and a constant zeal to build a rental company with world-class services for the masses.

Our story begins in 1995. We had 45 older vehicles in a small local car rental company.

At that time, only two international companies were doing business in Slovakia.

After obtaining representation of the AVIS brand in the international tender, we started working on our inclusion under the largest car rental company. However, it was not easy, the first years were very difficult. We gradually changed the fleet of vehicles and it was particularly difficult to explain to customers what the AVIS brand is and what it represents. The truth is that until then it meant nothing in Slovakia.

In 1998, we became the largest car rental company in the country, and in 2000, our fleet exceeded 100 cars.

During the year 2000, we started to build the first representative offices in the territory of the Slovak Republic based on the principle of franchise agreements. At that time, there was very little legal awareness in Slovakia and also the subsequent understanding of our partners, how to work within the franchise.

We were forced to close some of the branches, but already around 2003 we were one of the first to start operational leasing under the AVIS Lease brand.

We started the year 2005 by significantly enriching our fleet with the rental of vans and commercial vehicles. Our businesses began to flourish with the first low-cost airlines that started flying to Slovakia. In 2006, we already exceeded 5,000 rentals per year and ranked among the best. The number of vehicles in the car rental company exceeded 300, and we were among the largest buyers of cars in the country.

At the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, we completed the second series of opening new branches throughout Slovakia. In total, there were 8 of them at that time, and we were a pioneer that had branches all over the republic.

The demand for rentals was wide-ranging: private individuals, companies, short-term and long-term rentals, new factories sent employees abroad on business trips, people even went to rent cars just for fun. Frequent renters were people who, before buying their own car, came to us to rent the vehicle in order to test drive it.

Our basic rule from the beginning has been to rent the latest automotive news.

We have become a car rental company for everyone, available to all categories of people without distinction.

We have always paid attention to the high quality of services, mainly of European car brands.

AVIS Slovakia history in chronology

1996  - Rent a car company established AVIS Slovensko with a fleet of 25 cars

1997  - recruitment of the first employees, purchase of new cars, introduction of up to 12 categories, the widest offer in the country

1998  - Leasing establishment of operative leasing as No. 2 subdivision (in 2003 it became independent into a separate legal structure) AVIS became the largest car rental company in the country (by number of cars, leases, and branches)

2000  - the number of rentals per month exceeded 100

2001  - Rent a Car sublicense: signing of the first 4 sublicense contracts, opening of branches in the cities of Nitra, Banská Bystrica, Poprad, and Košice

2002  - Van Rental establishment of the No. 3 subdivision of AVIS in the country, rental of commercial vehicles

2004  - Slovakia became a member of the EU, implementation of the international car rental system AVIS Wizard

2005  - AVIS is the only company on the market offering up to 16 categories

2006  - Opening of 15 Car Rental offices throughout the Slovak Republic

2007 - the total fleet exceeded 725 cars

2010  - changing the company's structure to a new model of a complex integrated vertical structure under the unified name United Group operating car rental services

2013  - the total number of representatives reached 22. AVIS Slovakia achieved the Superbrands award for the first time (The first year when Superbrands started operating in Slovakia)

2014  - AVIS won the Superbrands award for the 2nd year in a row

2015  - The total number of categories reached 22 types of cars and up to 35 models, it is the largest offer in the country. The average age of the cars reached 9 months. Establishment of subdivision No. 5 under the name Avis Maxirent. AVIS received the Superbrands award for the 3rd year in a row. In the commercial car division, the number of leases increased by 550%

2016  - Opening of a call center , AVIS is the first car rental company with a call center in the country. AVIS won the award for the 4th year in a row. The fleet has crossed the magical threshold of 1000 cars in the fleet. In the utility vehicle division, we are offering refrigerated vehicles for the first time in history. Opening of 11 commercial car rental offices. For the first time in history, we established a loyal marketing plan called AVIS Ambassador Maxirent. The total share of the purchase of AVIS vs. the market exceeded 1.6%. The total number of rentals for the year exceeded 12,000

2017  - Intelligent Customer Questionnaire - AVIS was the first car rental company to launch a customer questionnaire in order to improve the quality of the services provided. AVIS Maxirent subdivision supplemented with a new service for high-end customers called AVIS Super Maxirent. The group's total fleet exceeded 1,300 cars

2017 - founded company  AVIS Prestige  with a fleet of 80 cars

2018 - inclusion of more than 100 MB Sprinters in the fleet with automatic transmission intended for long routes

2019 - the number of leases of the AVIS company group exceeded 15,000 and the fleet reached the size of 1,500 cars, we have already won the Superbrands award 7 times in a row. Deployment of the Camasys fleet management system.

2020  - the Covid-19 pandemic, the world has changed and AVIS along with it, at the end of 1Q 2022 the fleet has been significantly reduced by up to 30%

2021 - The first car rental company in the Slovak Republic that rents "paperless" vehicles, all processes digitized, including the electronic document and signature in the Camasys 3.8 system. Development of the digitization of the Avis Maxirent Standard and Premium programs

2022 - Expansion of digitized procedures to all subdivisions of the Avis brand. Deployment of Mercedes Benz V 250 4matic minibuses for 8 people in the fleet. The first X in the history of AVIS SR outside of other brands, the purchase of 200 Citroen vehicles in the C3 and C4 models. Introduction of a new brand from Citroen to the offer of the DS brand with the DS4 model

2023  - for 1Q/2023, achieving 100% customer satisfaction according to the internal CS report. The number of vehicles exceeded pre-covid volumes from 2019. Digitization of all customer-side processes reached 92% completion. Complementing the offer for customers to purchase a vehicle in the form of the Rent & Buy program. As part of the digitization and compliance with CO2 emissions, from June 1, all customers will have the vehicle's complex emissions added to their bill in full for the period it was rented and the km it drove. Avis' parent company has gained a dominant position in the global short-term rental market. The planned purchase of cars in 2023 will exceed 2000 vehicles