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Budget Rent Car history
Budget Rent Car company history timeline
Budget was founded by Morris Mirkin in 1958 in Los Angeles, California, USA as a rental car company for the "budget-minded" personal renter.
1959 Mirkin's distant relative, Jules Lederer becomes enamored with the Budget concept and creates a leasing company to help Mirkin increase his fleet and grow the business.
1960 Budget Rent-a-Car is established.
1960 Lederer and Mirkin form Budget Rent A Car Corporation in Chicago, and the company grows rapidly, both nationally and internationally.
In 1960, the headquarters moved to Chicago, Illinois and the rental fleet expanded with franchised and wholly owned rental outlets.
1962 - Investment banking firm, Lazard Freres & Company, buys Avis.
1965 - ITT Corporation buys Avis for $51 million.
1966 First UK operations open in Croydon and Ilford.
1972 - ITT spins off Avis as a public company.
1973 - Avis is recognized as the market leader in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
1973 Over 120 UK locations begin renting vans.
1977 - Norton Simon, Inc. buys Avis for $174 million.
1979 - Avis enters a worldwide advertising and marketing agreement with General Motors and begins featuring GM cars in its fleet worldwide.
1979 Budget becomes the third largest car rental company in the world.
With the initiation in 1983 of a program to convert from a franchising to an operating company, however, the company began to fidget with their winning formula.
1983 - Esmark, Inc. acquires Norton Simon in a $1 billion purchase; Avis is part of the deal.
1984 - Beatrice buys Esmark for $2.5 billion, with Avis included again.
1985 - Wizard is implemented in Europe, directly linking over 2,000 Avis locations with the ability to interface with all major reservation systems.
The company underwent a complete change in ownership in 1986 when the New York-based investment firm Gibbons, Green, Van Amerongen purchased Budget for over $200 million in a leveraged buyout.
1987 Budget announces its initial public offering of 3.2 million shares.
The company made its first public stock offering in 1987.
In early 1989, Beech Holdings Corp.--a holding company comprised of Budget management, Ford Motor Co., and Gibbons, Green, Van Amerongen--purchased 100 percent of Budget stock for $333 million.
Consistent with nationwide trends in the United States car rental industry, Budget entered into purchasing agreements with a major United States automaker, in this case Ford, which had gained non-voting stock in Budget in the 1989 sale to Beech Holdings Corp.
Following the restructuring of Budget's management in 1989, the company began a concerted drive toward gaining more corporate and Fortune 500 accounts with the goal of further penetrating that business market.
1989 - Avis Cares®, a multifaceted program designed to increase renter/employee-owner safety, is introduced.
These changes culminated in late 1990 when Budget gained corporate control over its largest licensee, Diversified Services of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
In 1990, Budget introduced Remote Transaction Booths (RTB's) into several major North American cities.
By 1991, Budget was the primary or secondary provider of rental vehicles to 210 of the Fortune 500.
In 1991, Budget introduced Point to Point Directions to twenty-seven of its airport locations.
1991 - Avis earns site visit by Malcolm Baldrige National Quality examiners in competition for prestigious award.
Budget announced its decision to drop out of the system's development in July of 1992 because of the project's uncertain future.
1992 - Avis earns second on-site visit by Baldrige examiners.
In 1993, Plamondon became Budget's president and chief executive officer.
1996 - Avis is acquired by HFS Incorporated, the world's largest franchiser of hotels and residential real estate brokerage offices.
1997 - Avis becomes a public company with a successful initial public offering.
1997 Budget is bought by Team Rental Group, Budget’s largest United States franchisee, and changes its name to Budget Group, Inc.
Team Rental Group purchased the public company in 1997 and took the name Budget Group.
1998 - Avis purchases Hayes Leasing Company, Inc., a franchisee in Texas, and also makes six other smaller acquisitions.
1998 Budget introduces “Fastbreak,” its paperless-transaction express service.
1999 - Avis continues to purchase franchisees and acquires the fleet management and fuel card businesses of PHH and Wright Express to form Avis Group Holdings, Inc.
2000 - Avis InterActive is introduced, the industry's first Internet-based reporting system.
2001 - Avis ties for number one in the J.D. Power ranking of business traveler satisfaction with rental car companies.
2002 Budget Group is de-listed from the NYSE and sells its Budget Rent A Car assets in the United States, Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand to Cendant Corporation.
Beginning in 2002 car-rental companies moved increasingly large amounts of money into Internet advertising.
In 2002, it sold the company's assets to Cendant Corporation, which also owned Avis.
2004 - Avis launches Avis Access - the first car rental offerings for travelers with disabilities.
With 30 percent of the market at the top 180 airports in the world, the Hertz Corporation was the leading car-rental company by a wide margin as of 2004.
The centerpiece of "Up Your Budget" was a series of treasure hunts held in 16 American cities—4 cities per week over the course of four weeks—between mid-October and mid-November 2005.
Beirne, Mike. "Budget Rent A Car Takes Detour into Blogosphere." Brandweek, November 28, 2005.
2005 - Avis is ranked number one car rental company in customer loyalty by Brand Keys.
2005 - Cendant announces it will split into four separate companies.
With a collective readership estimated at more than 30 million in 2005 and with extremely low advertising rates compared to TV, print, and traditional online placements, blogs represented an exciting, if relatively untested, opportunity for marketers.
The technology-focused Boing Boing, for instance, averaged 1.7 million readers monthly as of early 2006 and charged $8,000 a week for premium ad space.
2007 - Avis launches Avis First, a new customer loyalty program for frequent renters
2008 - Avis introduces next generation of where2 GPS
2008 Budget celebrates its 50th birthday.
2009 Avis Budget Group responds to customer feedback and institutes a smoke-free policy in its vehicles.
2010 - Avis is named the leading car rental company in customer loyalty by the Brand Keys® Customer Loyalty Engagement Index for the 11th consecutive year.
2011 Avis Budget Group acquires Avis Europe plc.
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"Budget Rent A Car System, Inc. ." Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns. . Retrieved April 16, 2021 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/marketing/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/budget-rent-car-system-inc
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Budget Rent Car competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avis Budget Group | 1946 | $5.4B | 30,000 | 1,192 |
| Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group | 1989 | $1.5B | 7,500 | - |
| Yellow | 1924 | $5.2B | 19,000 | 2 |
| Enterprise Holdings | 1957 | $22.5B | 80,000 | 2,039 |
| Ryder System | 1933 | $12.6B | 39,900 | 5,627 |
| U-Haul | 1945 | $5.6B | 19,500 | 2,688 |
| Fox Rent A Car | 1989 | $290.0M | 1,215 | - |
| Sixt | 1912 | - | 6,921 | 193 |
| Midwest Airlines | - | - | 3,001 | - |
| ACE Rent A Car | 1966 | $100.0M | 116 | - |
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Budget Rent Car may also be known as or be related to Budget Rent A Car, Budget Rent A Car System, Budget Rent A Car System Inc, Budget Rent A Car System, Inc., Budget Rent Car and Budget Rent Car, Inc.