The first Avis office, opened in summer 1946 at the Willow Run Airport near Detroit.

Avis is the very first organised car rental firm in the world. It was established by Mr. Warren E. Avis in Detroit in 1946. It reached a fleet size of 1200 in 1956.

In 1957 it has started expanding by opening the first licensee offices in San Francisco, Seattle and Denver. After this period Avis continued expanding both in America and Europe. In 1962, the famous "We try Harder" slogan was introduced where Avis has reached a fleet size of 7500 and a turnover of $25 million.

In 1965, Avis has expanded to Mexico, Italy, Nice and France and the turnover has jumped from to $74.5 million to $425 million. By the end of 1960' s Avis was active in nearly 100 countries.

In 1976, they have recorded a turnover of $433 million with 112.000 fleet size. Being the largest car rental firm.

Avis already had around 5100 offices throughout world. These offices were located in more than 160 countries and 1400 airports.