Europcar

Europcar has more than 60 years of experience in car rental. The Europcar group is made up of two brands, Europcar and Inter Rent. The Europcar group’s main goal is to make short-term or medium-term rental vehicles available to the customer. Europcar aims to meet the customer's needs by providing a wide range of quality vehicles. Europcar has close connections to big car manufacturers and with regular fleet renewals, the company gets the best new models regularly so that on average company vehicles are never more than six months old. It currently owns over 1.2 million vehicles and has operations in 160 countries.

It was founded by Raoul-Louis Matlei in 1949 and is now the most significant international car rental company across the globe. In 1951 the Europcar brand became established and in 1973 subsidiaries were founded in Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland. By 1979, it was claiming success, with 212 branches in France and 743 across Europe. In 1996, the subsidiaries in Switzerland and The Netherlands were taken over by franchises. Franchising has since been a part of the company’s growth. Europcar is now owned by Eurazeo, the sole shareholder since 2006.

Franchise System

With over 3,000 agencies around the world, Europcar has successfully internationalised. Its system of franchising has proven to work with great success and on top of that, due to partnerships with airline companies and hotel companies to create further advantages for the customer, the company has been able to generate more publicity.

Being a franchisee of Europcar will mean you will benefit from the brand name and image as well as from the high-end international partnerships. Experience and skills will be developed from the support given from Europcar when setting up the new car rental.

Franchising is key considering that although the company operates in over 160 countries, there are only nine countries in which Europcar owns the operations.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Sustainable development is important to Europcar and its environmental policy conveys where it places importance in terms of its respect for the environment. Their commitment to the environment began in 1977 at the launch of their Environment line.

This meant that they began providing rental solutions with environmentally friendly vehicles.

They reduced their pollution emissions and began recycling much of their waste. Finally, strictly complying to government environmental regulations as well as other guidelines to ensure their activities are not damaging has been a priority. The fleet of Europcar pollutes less than 24% of the French average pollution levels.

The company also partnered with WeForest, an organisation that aims to plant new trees in the desert to try and help nature and wildlife. Every time a car is rented, the customer has the option of giving a fifty cent donation so that a tree can be planted.

Its commitment continues to its customers as it offers a wide range of vehicles that benefit from the newest green technologies to help the environment.

News

In 2017, Europcar were named Australasia's leading rental company for the eighth year in a row. They were rewarded for their continued delivery of a high quality service.

Europcar has also made a deal to acquire Goldcar, another successful low-cost car rental company. Europcar aims to expand in the Mediterranean region where Goldcar is dominant.

Sources
http://www.europcar-group.com
https://www.europcar.fr/avis/meilleures-ventes
https://www.ft.com/content/c9096b2a-c085-11e6-81c2-f57d90f6741a
http://www.autorentalnews.com/channel/rental-operations/news/story/2017/06/europcar-named-australasia-s-leading-rental-company.aspx
https://www.tnooz.com/article/europcar-adds-goldcar-to-its-low-cost-leisure-line-up/