The company was an operating division of Avis Rent a Car until 1986, when it was spun out and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The firm was then acquired by a consortium of Avis Group, General Motors and D'Ieteren in 1989[2] before being listed on the LSE once more in 1997.

[4] The group's Avis-branded operations comprise over 2,900 offices in 112 countries across EMEA and Asia.

Of these, franchisees operate by licence in 99 nations, while Avis Europe has directly owned and operated subsidiaries in the remaining thirteen (mostly in Western Europe).

All of these are franchised except for those in Austria, Switzerland, France and the United Kingdom.