Are you well travelled? Could you distinguish Madrid from Milan? Or Florence from Prague? Well here at Avis Rent a Car we like to think we know a fair bit about travel, so we decided to put this to the test with our new ‘Guess the City’ quiz on Facebook.

To play, you need to look at the picture clues and work out which famous city is being referred to. Its not as easy as it sounds! Some of the pictures are somewhat cryptic (one includes a plate of food). I thought I was pretty good at geography but I’m embarrassed to admit I only scored 52%! Can you do any better? Click here to play.

And if playing the games makes you feel inspired to visit one of these glorious cities, don’t forget to check out our Autumn sale, with great discounts on car hire across the world!

At Avis we not only try harder to provide you with a car hire service that offers you a great, reliable vehicle for your needs but we also aim to deliver that with a helpful and extremely friendly service.

Unfortunately on occasions, things can go wrong and you may need to contact our Customer Service department. This blog post aims to inform you on what you can expect if this situation arises.

If you have a question about your rental, you should first visit our FAQ section on www.avis.co.uk. Here you will find a large number of commonly asked questions that have been asked by other customers and their corresponding answers. Looking here first may answer some of your common questions without the need to phone Customer Service.

At Avis our Customer Service Department deals with all queries and complaints from UK residents, not matter where in the world they rented, and if we cannot resolve them immediately we aim to contact the customer within:

• 5 working days, for UK rentals
• 15 working days, for foreign rentals *
• 20 working days for issues with damage charges on foreign rentals *

* Where investigation with the foreign country is necessary.

If you feel you would like to talk to our Customer Service department please email: customer.service@avis.co.uk

At Avis Rent A Car, we try harder to keep your motoring eco-friendly and protect the environment we all enjoy. Not only is Avis a carbon neutral operation, you can choose to make your car hire carbon neutral too for just £1. And you can go even further to protect the planet by choosing your car from the Avis Eco Collection.

Avis has been a carbon neutral operation since 2000
Avis are genuinely committed to being green and have been for many years. The first car rental company to launch a Corporate Social Responsibility Policy in 1997, Avis has been carbon neutral since 2000. And that means some serious savings on CO2 – in fact, Avis has offset more than 156,848 tonnes of CO2 since 1997 – the same emissions a medium car would have produced driving 26,141 times around the world!

We’re always looking at ways of saving energy at our offices, including recycling, low energy lighting and motion sensors that turn lights off in empty rooms. Plus we invest in leading carbon-offset schemes worldwide, including Renewable Energy, Methane Capture and Forestry Projects.

“Avis Europe is one of our most valued partners and we have worked on some fantastic projects together during the last 12 years,” said Jonathan Shopley, Managing Director of The CarbonNeutral Company. “The Avis carbon offset scheme in the UK and the launch of the Avis Eco Collection only goes to further underline its commitment.”

The Avis Eco Collection
Avis has reduced its rental fleet CO2 emissions by 4% since 2005 and that’s just the start.
We have recently introduced the Avis Eco Collection, currently available from 21 locations across the UK, guarantees you a low emission car that produces less than 120g/Km of CO2 – compared to the UK average of 175g/Km. And if you want to go even lower, you can request a VW Golf BlueMotion, with carbon emissions as low as 99g/Km and a rewarding fuel economy of 74.3mpg.

Eco-friendly car hire
You can play your part in our commitment to the environment by paying our optional environmental levy when you hire any car from Avis. For just £1, we’ll invest in projects to offset some or all of the CO2 you produce during your rental period. Plus Avis also offer driving tips to help you cut down on the fuel you use and the emissions you produce. (Download our eco-driving tips). You’ll be amazed what a few simple changes in driving style can do for your fuel economy, helping the planet and your wallet.

The Avis Greener World website
For more information about the Avis commitment to the environment, visit our Greener World website. Here you’ll find lots or information about the projects we support across the world and the many other ways we’re working to create a better environment for everyone.

At Avis we’re excited to announce that we’ve opened a new car hire branch in Westfield shopping centre. It’s an ideal location for those who are looking to escape London for a weekend getaway via the M3 to the South Coast, the M4 to the West Country and Wales or the M40 for the Cotswolds and beyond. Plus, being situated in one of Europe’s biggest shopping centres it means you can pick up any last minutes bits that you may have forgotten before heading away.

Not only is this great for Londoners trying to get away for this weekend, we also feel it is a great location for you business men and women who work in London but have to go to meetings outside of town. We understand that getting to meetings outside of town can sometimes be difficult and sometimes expensive, so renting from Westfield is a perfect option as it is outside of the congestion charge and has easy access to the M3, M4 and M40, as well as Shepherd’s Bush, Wood Lane and White City tube stations, and Shepherd’s Bush train station.

We would love to hear from all of you renters that have visited our Westfield branch and it would be great to get any feedback on our new Avis car hire branch.

Recently at Avis we’ve made a number of advancements aimed at helping to reduce carbon emissions created while driving either an Avis rental car or your own car. In November 2009 we launched Avis Eco, our low emission car group, in the summer of 2009 we improved the group by adding the VW Golf blue motion.

In the summer of 2010 we launched our Avis greener world website with information about our commitment, our initiatives and projects we support.

In the UK we have allowed customers to offset there carbon emissions when at the rental branch when they pick up there car. Now we have extended this service to Switzerland, Austria and Czechoslovakia.

To help reduce your emissions why not read our blog post on Eco driving tips.

It’s that time of year again when proud parents are taking there children back to university, but are also trying to work out how to fit all of the essential and student comforts into one car. So why not let Avis help you gear up for the new term with ease by renting a large car from our fleet.

We have all seen those cars driving down the motorway that are full to the brim with the university essentials as well are unhappy, squashed passenger, that are about to drive across the country to take their children to University. So why not treat yourself to a little more room and happiness by renting a people carrier or estate car from Avis.

Plus as we have mentioned before in our ‘Head home from University with Avis Rent A Car’ blog post it isn’t worth thinking about the toll this will take on your car, with the extra weight, miles and fuel. So why not give yourselves and your car a break and call Avis to book a car from our wide range of fleet. Plus if this is your first trip to their university an Avis GPS unit would be a wise investment to ensure you take the quickest and most efficient route.

Whichever car you choose, renting a car from Avis means you’ll get it all done in one trip, with no wear and tear on your own car, or your nerves. And with Avis’s great value rentals and fuel-efficient late model vehicles, that could mean quite a saving.

Let us and our bloggers know if you have any other helpful hints and tips for getting your children to their University with ease.

Rev up your romance with a short break and the freedom of an Avis hire car.

A friend of mine wanted to hire an Avis car to impress his new girlfriend with the most romantic getaway she has ever known – it’s their first trip together, so a big deal breaker. He admits he’s not the most imaginative of people, and asked for help, so I turned to some of our other friends for a run-down of their most romantic drives.
At Avis we want to make your car rental experience more enjoyable by providing you with tips to make your driving and journey easier, more enjoyable and comfortable – from upgrading to a roomier car to opting for convenient home delivery.

First on the list was my friend Janet, a true romantic. She suggested coasting through the beautiful landscapes of North Cornwall, on the drive from the beaches of Bude, through pretty Boscastle and on to legendary Tintagel, birthplace of King Arthur. She pointed out that nowhere in England has anything comparable to the rugged, rocky terrain and heart-stopping views, which bring to mind smuggling pirates and Daphne du Maurier. Her boyfriend drove her to the sheer 250-foot-high cliffs by Hells Mouth and proposed on bended knee. She was dizzy with love – or vertigo.
Avis top tip: Take your romance up a gear by hiring a super-luxury car from the Avis Prestige range of luxury, sports and executive cars to really impress the apple of your eye.

Some pair the word Scotland with ‘rainy’ and others ‘magnificent’: a real division. Paul is one of the latter, pointing out that the majestic wide open spaces make you feel like there’s no one else there but the two of you. His most romantic drive was with his girlfriend along the A82 from Inverness, all the way along magnificent Loch Ness – taking in the gorgeous villages of Drumnadrochit, Invermoriston, Fort Augustus and Invergarry, a little stone village that looks frozen in time.
Avis top tip: For the perfect, hassle-free beginning to a romantic trip, have your rental car delivered straight to your door with Avis Home Delivery.

Catherine has two children and a full-time job, and took a moment to register romance on the Richter scale of her life. Then she remembered her most romantic journey by car – along the windswept, deserted Northumberland coast with an ex-boyfriend: 100 miles of pure pleasure… wide, unpopulated beaches overlooked by crumbling castles where you expect to see Colin Firth on a horse galloping towards you. They drove to the ancient sites of Holy Island, Bamburgh and Berwick-on-Tweed, perfect backdrops for a romantic getaway.
Avis top tip: Help save our countryside by opting for a low-carbon emission car with Avis Eco.

There’s nothing like the romance of the open road paired with the freedom of a car, and these are the locations we’d most like to be found nuzzling up. Tell us where your favourite romantic spots in the UK are.

Following up on our post from this morning, we are pleased to confirm that the issues we were experiencing with the Avis.co.uk website have been fixed, and the website is up and running again.

Thank you for your patience

Hi all,

Just to let you know that today we have been experiencing some issues with the Avis website. Our IT team is working around the clock to fix the problem, however in the meantime we had to revert back to a very basic version of our booking engine.

You will still be able to book your car online if you wish to, or alternatively you can contact our call centre on 08445 818181.

Also if you are booking for the UK you could try our Home Delivery Service.

We wish to apologise for any inconvenience.