Avis skirts safety issues

Avis (aka "we try harder") is now offering an option of providing a chauffeur along with its rental cars. This sounds like a great idea, until you dig a little deeper. First of all, their rental cars are not licensed as either taxis or limos. Consequently, the vehicles are not subject to the same safety inspection rules, nor are they permitted on airport properties.

Second, the chauffeurs are being furnished by a third party contractor, and are not subject to the rigours background checks and random drug testing that our industries chauffeurs go through.

In one recent incident documented by the owner of another limo company, a car rented from Avis and with a chauffeur provided by a company called "We Drive U" was stopped on three separate occasions and was cited twice for different violations.

As the old saying goes, "Let the Buyer Beware" especially when the seller appears to be trying a little to hard to be something they are not.