GREAT NECK, N.Y. (March 13, 2006) - Highway Toll
Administration, LLC (“HTA”), the pioneer in the seamless integration of electronic
toll payment services with the auto rental transaction, announces a partnership
with Cendant Car Rental Group, owners of the Avis and Budget Rent-A-Car brands.
Customers will soon zip straight through E-ZPass and SunPass toll plazas on their
travels. Commencing in the next few months, and continuing through the end of the
year, HTA will be installing electronic toll collection devices on Cendant’s fleet
of vehicles in the E-ZPass region which includes tolls, bridges, and tunnels from
Virginia to Maine, and Illinois, and then extended to the SunPass toll collection
system in Florida. The intention of the partnership is to eventually bring the program
to Avis and Budget locations in all parts of the country where electronic toll collection
systems are utilized. Generally speaking, individuals who pay tolls electronically
avoid the burden of fumbling for coins, waiting in cash lines at the toll plaza,
and saving receipts. Rental cars have long been problematic for equipping with toll
collection devices because each toll must be assigned to the driver of the vehicle
at the point in time when the toll was transacted. The new program will make electronic
toll collection available to customers for an additional fee of $1.50 per day plus
the value of all tolls incurred by the driver of the vehicle.
This announcement follows a recently completed test of electronic toll collection
devices in rental cars at the Newark, New Jersey, Budget Rent A Car location. During
the test period, Budget customers rented the transponder collection device more
than 20,000 times in the last 18 months. Once the customer returns their rental
vehicle, HTA consolidates the tolling history and charges accrued, and processes
a charge to the customer’s credit or debit card using what was presented at the
time of rental.
“We are delighted that Cendant shares our vision for equipping all Avis and Budget
rental vehicles with toll collection devices, and are excited about our new association
with this global leader in travel services,” said David J. Centner, president of
Highway Toll Administration. “Someday in the near future, all Avis and Budget customers
will enjoy the convenience and time savings of paying for tolls electronically.”
Referring to the new association between HTA and Cendant’s car rental brands,
Neil Abrams, president of Abrams Consulting Group, the leading provider of advisory
services to the rental car industry, said, “The HTA and Cendant collaboration has
created a unique and innovative value-added offering to the always-harried traveler
at an extremely affordable cost, and I predict it will truly be embraced by a large
segment of Avis and Budget customers – they are the real winners.”
HTA has a large and growing market opportunity: E-ZPass and SunPass are the two
largest electronic toll collection systems in the United States, processing millions
of tolls automatically each day in 12 states. However, approximately ten other electronic
toll collection systems are in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, and additional
systems are located in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland,
the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere. Furthermore, with
the recent advent of high-speed tolling (no toll plazas) and federal government
easing on state highway tolling restrictions, electronic tolling as an industry
is rapidly growing.
About Highway Toll Administration
Highway Toll Administration, LLC (HTA) provides electronic toll collection services,
primarily to rental car agencies. HTA, with its proprietary patent-pending systems
and procedures, is an industry pioneer and the only company currently providing
electronic toll payment services for rental vehicles in the United States, Canada,
and Puerto Rico. Founded in October 2002, HTA has been developing and refining its
technology to the point where today it is poised for widespread adoption. For more
information about HTA, visit www.htallc.com
or call Randi Luckman, 516-684-9584.
About the Cendant Car Rental Group
Cendant Car Rental Group, Inc., subsidiary of Cendant Corporation (NYSE: CD),
is the largest car rental company serving North America, the Caribbean, Australia
and New Zealand. Through its subsidiaries and franchisees, the company operates
the Avis Rent A Car system, the industry leader in customer service, and the Budget
Rent A Car system, the leading value-oriented rental car brand. For more information
about Avis and Budget, visit www.avis.com and www.budget.com.
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