Puneet Varma (Editor)

Auto Europe

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Area served
  
Worldwide

Founded
  
1954

Key people
  
Imad Khalidi (CEO)

Type
  
Limited liability company

Headquarters
  
Portland, Maine, United States

CEO
  
Imad Khalidi (28 Jul 1997–)

Profiles

Auto europe rental cars car rentals in europe


Auto Europe is a large car rental wholesale company, working with approximately 20,000 car rental locations in 180 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, as well as North and South America. Auto Europe has been accredited with the Better Business Bureau since April 2, 1993 with an A+ rating.

Contents

Auto Europe was founded in Germany in 1954 by Alex Cecil. The company got its start purchasing cars to rent to U.S. travelers in Europe. Cecil later moved to New York and eventually relocated the company to Maine. In 1997, Alex Cecil retired, passing the reins to Imad Khalidi, President and CEO of Auto Europe.

In 1995, Auto Europe began offering airfare and hotels under the name Destination Europe. In 2010, they re-branded this division as Fly International.

Auto europe car rental award winning customer service


Travel services

International car rental is the main service sold by Auto Europe. In addition to traditional self-driven rental cars, Auto Europe books luxury and sport vehicles, motorhome and campervan rentals, motorcycle rentals, long term rentals of factory new Peugeots (through the Peugeot Open Europe program), as well as chauffeur and airport transfer services.

Travel industry awards

Auto Europe has been nominated for numerous World Travel Awards, including Europe's Leading Car Rental Company (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), Europe's Leading Business Car Rental Company (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), and Europe's Leading Chauffeur Company (2013, 2014). In 2014 Auto Europe received its 5th Magellan Award as a silver winner in the Car Rental - Overall Luxury Car Collection category.

Car rental suppliers

Auto Europe sells car rentals through a number of companies including Hertz, Sixt, Europcar, Avis, Dollar, Enterprise, Easirent, Thrifty, Budget, National, Alamo, Peugeot, Buchbinder, Fox and more.

Leadership

Imad Khalidi is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Auto Europe, LLC. He joined Auto Europe as Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales in 1990 and has served as President since 1992. Prior to 1990, Mr. Khalidi was with Europcar International S.A. from 1983-1990, serving as an International Travel Trade Manager and an International Licensee Manager. He is a member of the Association of Retail Travel Agencies, ASTA and CLIA.

Charities

In 2014 Auto Europe partnered with Toys for Tots, donating a portion of profit from every car rental booked during the weeks leading up to Christmas to the US Marine Corps Charity.

Auto Europe is a corporate sponsor for the "Art All Around" project through the Maine Center for Creativity.

References

Auto Europe Wikipedia