Back in April I blogged about the launch of our Avis Home Delivery service. At the time we were still testing the product with some elements of the proposition still yet to be defined. I am now in a position to give a little further details on what you can expect.
Firstly, the price. The cost of delivering the car (or collecting it) is £10 for vehicles being delivered to locations outside of London and £25 for vehicles being delivered inside London (locations that have a London postcode i.e. starting with SE, S, SW, W, NW, N or E). Deliveries beyond 20 miles are subject to an additional charge of £1 per mile.
This service will be available within normal station opening hours which is usually 8am to 6pm between Monday and Friday and 8am to 1pm on a Saturday. Our aim is to deliver the car at the time specified at time of booking but we request that the driver is available an hour before and after the target deliver time. The driver must be there to accept and check the car and have both parts of the driving licence and a valid credit card.
Initially the service was available only by booking directly with the rental office. From tomorrow (18th of June) it will be possible to book this service through our call centre and we are currently aiming to have it available to book on the avis.co.uk website by the 1st of July. That’s it from me. As always let me know if you have any feedback or questions!
June 19th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
can you prepay on web site for this service,,and does it automaticaly charge delivery,and can you add added drivers????
June 20th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Hi Jen, at launch this will only be available on our ‘pay later’ prices. The quoted price on the website will not automatically include the delivery charge but we will make it clear on the booking how much this charge will be so you are prepared for it. You cane add additional drivers toy your rental in the standard way.
We recognise that the ideal solution would be to provide a pre-paid totalled price but we promise to be completely clear on our pricing and this is, in the short-term, the best way to make this service available to book online.
As always, let me know if you have any further feedback.
Rob
June 20th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Why is the service more then double the price if delivering in London?
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Congratulations on an innovative product offering.
I presume – though I could not deduce from your posts – that there is a mileage limit on how far away from your depot you will deliver/collect?
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Very good point! For deliveries beyond 20 miles, an additional mileage charge of £1 per mile applies. I’ve added this information on to Xave’s post.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
Rob
June 26th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Hi Robert, the price difference of offering this service in Central London versus outside of London reflects the increased labour cost of offering this service both in basic salary (which is London weighted) and in time spent on deliveries (predominantly due to increased levels of congestion). However, we will continue to monitor the price of this service and, as always, we are open to any further feedback.
Rob
July 8th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Good day Robert et al,
On the subject of Home Delivery, I was recently quoted 10 GBP, but invoiced 40 GBP (Rental Agreement Number E404333333). Despite one letter sent 2 June, Two follow up emails, & one phone call to customer services I have no resolution or apparent action, on this and a number of other issues.
July 8th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Why charge extra for something that has been available to corporate customers (free)for years?
July 9th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Hi Nigel,
I have located your rental agreement and am chasing this matter directly with our customer service and reservations departments. I will contact you directly in due course.
Stephen
July 9th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Great to hear from you again gkennedy. Yes we have been offering this service to Corporate customers for years but in most cases there has always been a charge for this, certainly in the UK anyway.There is cost involved as it requires us to invest in drivers to deliver this service and logistically it is a challenge hence the price for offering this convenience. We believe the price is fair and offers great value but I appreciate any further feedback on this!
Rob
July 31st, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Hi Rob
When is this service going to be offered to visitors staying in hotels. I visit UK for non-business reasons twice a year and use an Avis car each time. I will be red-eyeing into Gatwick in a couple of months and would ideally like my car delivered to my hotel in Brighton the following day.
John
August 1st, 2008 at 8:21 am
Hi John,
Interesting question!
Currently, for security purposes, we’re only able to deliver to a UK resident’s home address as shown on their driving licence.
However, we are looking to expand the product to address the needs of travellers like yourself and we’ll let you know of any further developments through the blog.
Any further ideas are most welcome!
Stephen
August 11th, 2008 at 9:22 am
I would like to say a public thank you to Stephen for resolving a number of issues on a recent hire.
My advice to anybody who has a problem is to calmly present the facts, make plain what your issue is and how you would like to see it resolved. You may need to be persistent in repeating this information as your complaint goes through various people.