Back in 1946, a man from Michigan, in the United States had an idea: ‘What if you were able to get off a plane and take up a rent-a-car right there at the airport?’ We take that for granted now, but back then, it was a novel idea.
And it was the brain child of Warren Avis, the founder of Avis Rent-A-Car. Warren Avis got this idea from his experiences in World War 11. Avis was a decorated bomber pilot with the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II.
He flew bombers over Europe and South East Asia during the war and as a socially young man who loved life, whenever he landed in a different country he would go to local town to see what there was to do. Avis was also in the habit of putting motorcycles in the bombers so that whenever he finds himself in the local town of another country, he would have transportation. Airport transportation was an empty niche on the market at this time.