Car rental companies to form group

A proposal was made yesterday to form an association of car rental companies across Saudi Arabia. “Such an organization will help address some of the difficulties and problems faced by rent-a-car companies, whose contribution to the economy is significant,” Auto World Rent a Car President Imad Zein said at an event to honor the company’s major clients. “We call for establishing an association of car rental companies to provide a channel of communication between them and various government agencies including the traffic department to discuss the challenges facing this vital sector,” he said. The volume of rent a car business exceeded SR 2 billion in 2010 and is expected to increase by 20 percent by 2012-end, he added. Zein said his company had employed a number of Saudi youth and provided them training at the highest level, and established a special section for customer service that is operational around the clock. The Saudi market is very promising and has about 45 car rental companies, both large and small, Zein said, adding that his company will issue an initial public offering in 2014. He said the company opened a new branch at King Khaled International Airport that receives about 100,000 passengers on a daily basis. The company has 6,000 cars of various sizes at its branches across the Kingdom. By Arab News