A franchise is like a how-to business where you harness the power of a great brand

Car rental company AVIS Slovakia opens the doors to its franchise concept to entrepreneurs. It offers the experience of a strong player on the market, sophisticated know-how and organizational and technical support, with which the new car rental will be up and running in just half a year.

A good idea is not enough

Entrepreneurship is not only about a good idea, its popularization and monetization. Usually, only with years of experience comes the realization that a good business is a stable and prosperous one, and it can calmly pursue something that is already established. Franchises are built on the concept that almost anyone who meets the criteria can use the strength of a large globally operating and internationally recognized brand as a starting line for their business.

Avis is an example of a successful 11,000-strong network of franchise outlets operating in more than 180 countries. It can be considered a giant in this context thanks to last year's revenues of 12.01 billion and a market capitalisation of 3.78 billion US dollars. The change in consumer behaviour was particularly evident in 2021 and 2022, in which the company managed to grow by a staggering 28.79 and 72.40 per cent year-on-year respectively - thanks to the franchise model.

Avis has been the segment leader in Slovakia for years and now intends to expand its network further. Car rental is the future because it brings benefits, financial savings and peace of mind to the customer.

Just six months

Not only the pandemic and the European regulations of the car industry, but also the natural change in consumer behaviour required Avis to transform itself into a mobility services company in its own right. Automotive companies are also yearning for such a transformation, so far with curious failure - even acquisitions of promising start-ups have not helped. Know-how cannot be acquired except through experience. Slovakia's Avis has become synonymous with car rental thanks to its 27 years on our market, and globally the brand has 76 years of experience.

"Digitalization of services is now a strategic part of our business, which gives us a tremendous competitive advantage."

A new player in the rental market will face numerous hurdles in the form of operational activities, vehicle registration, dealing with claims and damage, setting up IT systems, managing pricing, contracting brokers or taking care of contracted clients. For many businesses, just implementing ESG can be insurmountable, as there are no one-size-fits-all guides to it.

Setting up a business, buying a car and putting it on the market are effectively the simplest steps. "We see new local car rental companies springing up and disappearing over the years. The reason for the failure is not so much lack of interest in the service as lack of know-how and willingness to break out of small ambitions or limiting growth opportunities through insufficient personnel or financial resources," explains Juraj Šulhaň, CEO of AVIS Slovakia, which is now opening an opportunity to do business in the form of a franchise operation. He claims that although starting a car rental company is not easy, with their support the new company will be able to do it in just six months.

This claim is backed up by the size of the fleet, with more than 1,500 vehicles on the road and 15 thousand customers served annually, as well as the prospect of growing public interest in alternative vehicle acquisition - interest in new cars has been declining previously, and with the rising prices of new models, the effect will be even more pronounced.

Ace up your sleeve: digitalisation

A factor playing in favour of car rental companies are discounted vehicle purchases, which the company sees as unique wholesale terms and a powerful tool in communicating with banks and insurance companies. Other advantages include digitalisation, which involves more than just creating an online form.

It accompanies the customer through the entire process, from comparing offers to the final signature on the rental contract. Avis' solution outperforms all competitors on the market with its compactness, scalability and intuitiveness. "We also started out essentially greenfield, albeit under a well-known brand. More than thirty years ago, everything was different and car rental almost ran itself. The digitalisation of services has changed a huge amount. We have built this up over the last ten years and today it is a strategic part of our business, giving us a huge competitive advantage," reveals the CEO.