It occurred to me the other day that I’ve haven’t written any location posts recently. With the summer approaching, there are many places to choose from, far and wide. However, for the first post this year, I’ve decided to stay closer to home and write about Luton Airport.
Luton Airport is located 30 miles north of London and is just off junction 10a of the M1 motorway. It is also serviced by direct trains from St Pancras in London and the North. The airport has grown in size over the last few years, mainly due to the partnership of low cost carriers such as EasyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air and Monarch. The expansion of these airlines opened up international travel to a lot of people and made it affordable to go further afield. This means that Luton is now the fifth busiest airport in the UK.
In addition to the above airlines, Luton now offers a luxury experience with Silverjet, one of Avis’ partners. Silverjet fly to New York and Dubai and as they say on their website, “We’re bringing back the values that have been lost in today’s world of mass travel by offering you a private jet experience for an exceptional low fare.”
Avis Luton Airport is located at the Car Rental centre, which can be reached by catching a bus from the terminal. When you arrive, you can catch the bus, marked “Car Hire Centre” from Bus Stop 1A outside the terminal and it will drop you right outside the Avis desk. These buses run every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day.
If you’re returning your car, follow the road signs for “Car Rental Return”. If you’re arriving for an early flight, park the car in an Avis bay and leave the keys in the key safe. The staff will check the car in when they open up in the morning. If you’re arriving during opening hours, our rapid return agents will inspect the car and issue you a receipt and the bus will take you back to the terminal building.
Avis Luton airport are also taking part in the Avis Preferred 3 minute promise, which was introduced there last week. However, be warned, the 3 minutes start when you get off the bus, not when you get on!! 
It would be great to hear about your experience of Luton, good or bad, to pass on to our staff. Or if you’ve got any ideas on how Avis at Luton airport could improve their service, please let us know.
May 19th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
The last couple of times I’ve hired a car at Luton airport, there’s been considerable amounts of damage to check before departing. So, although I had my keys quickly, it was still some significant amount of time before I was on my way. How many bumps, scrapes, scratches and dents are acceptable before cars are withdrawn?
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I appreciate the feedback Gordon. We do have a policy that states that a car will be taken off the road for repair if the car is “unsafe”, “un-rentable”(i.e. major damage) or “unsightly” (i.e. is likely to lead to a customer complaint). Your comments, Gordon, suggest that perhaps our policy on the third point should have meant the car was brought in for repair. However, due to high demand, we have been very tight on our fleet at the moment so it likely that Luton Airport took exception to this rule in the short-term to ensure we had enough cars to service their customers (obviously if a car is taken off the road for repairs it limits the number we have available to service the customer). That being said, I will feedback to Luton Airport as I am sure they will be keen to ensure that our cars go out in as good nick possible!
Rob
June 4th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Hi have been regular user of Luton since September (have been on overseas assignment, and when co-car came to end of lease was left bit in lurch) done about 20 hires in 8 months all have been excellent condition the only one that i would say was substandard was a Freebie Fiat Bravo (but that did come from Luton town centre!) Just like to say thanks to staff for all their help. One question with the four hire companies all lined up in a row how would you differentiate the Avis product?
Regards Steve
June 26th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Hi Steve, for some reason it just occurred to me that I have not replied to your comment so apologies for the late reply. Firstly thank you for the kind words about Luton.
Your question about differentiation is a great one! I believe we have a number of unique selling points which differentiate us. Firstly, we are committed to giving you in the keys and getting you in the car in no time. Our Avis Preferred service is free to everyone and is the only service to offer a “speed of service” guarantee (known as our 3 minute promise). We have also invested significantly in providing clearer documentation and fairer policies that ensure that renting a car with Avis is as transparent as possible and that you know you are renting with a brand you can trust (car hire can be quite complicated sometimes!). We are also the only car hire company to offer a product that allows you to guarantee a make/model with Select Series and we recently launched our Avis Home Delivery service which we believe is the most convenient and widely available car hire service of it’s kind in the industry. But personally, what I believe most differentiates Avis is still our commitment to We Try Harder, where we continue to deliver on some good old fashion service, delivered by a highly dedicated team on the front-line. This doesn’t just mean ensuring our cars are nice and clean. Nor does is it just about providing a pleasant service with a smile. It is about going the extra mile. It is about unwaivering dedication to our customers that ensures that, when things don’t quite go to plan, things still go smoothly for our customers. The customer always comes first in our minds.
Of course that is my own (highly biased) opinion of what makes Avis special. I welcome any other views from our customers on what they think differentiates Avis. Or if you don’t think we do anything to differentiate ourselves but have some ideas on what we should be doing then I welcome that too!