The year 2002 has come to an end and Europcar UK
is able to look back at
what has been a challenging time for the car rental industry and assess the
extent of their success.

Despite the slowing economy, Europcar UK is clearly winning market share
with a 6% improvement in revenue and a stunning £4million increase in
profit.

Such an achievement does not come without clear strategy and firm actions.
Car rental customers are changing and Europcar is changing too.

The company opened a new dedicated Sales and Reservation Centre in January
2002, achieving an outstanding 40% call conversion rate. This committed
service runs alongside Europcars bespoke internet site which returned a
terrific 74% increase in revenue from 2001 to 2002.
The company has also
refocused its effort on delivering extraordinary customer service. Amongst
various initiatives, Europcars customer service department has been
reorganised and specified demanding targets. This departments activity is
monitored daily and provides feedback to Operations on improvement
initiatives which derive from customer queries and surveys. Such initiative
is ground breaking in an industry where post-sales service is often lacking.

In addition to providing customers with a hassle-free tailored service,
Europcar has re-evaluated the efficiency of their operations. Significant
cost savings were achieved through reduced holding costs and increased fleet
utilisation by 3.5 percentage points from 2001.

Europcar`s success and attention to customer service has been demonstrated
by its ability to secure the largest world-wide rental contract with the TUI
group, announced last year.

Marie Barry, Europcar UK Managing Director, says “We have invested massively
in our people. Extensive training has been delivered throughout the network
to provide a seamless and focused service. The results we are delivering
today testify to our success.”

Talking about 2003 she explains, “This year we will achieve another
£3million improvement in profit. This will be delivered by building on what
we do best; managing fleet and offering a quality customer service that is
second to none.” She adds, “In the past, Europcar has been referred to as “a
sleeping giant”... Beware, the giant is now waking!”
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