New Avis Partnership Takes Pain Out Of Parking By Putting It In App

PARSIPPANY, NJ – Whether through a conventional rental company or a car-sharing service, booking a vehicle for business and leisure travel has become easier since the advent of smartphones. With just a few clicks and a credit card, travelers can be in a vehicle and on their way in no time.

But they may spend more time looking for parking in a new city than renting a car for their trip. To help take some of the pain out of parking, Avis recently announced a partnership with Arrive, which operates the ParkWhiz and BestParking brands and supplies connected parking solutions to a variety of entities, including parking vendors, cities and OEMs such as Ford and Hyundai.

After renting a car from Avis, drivers can use the company’s smartphone app to find, reserve and prepay for parking from providers on the Arrive platform within the U.S. “The Arrive app integration removes the stress and hassle of finding parking for both road warriors and leisure travelers, while also making the lives of travel managers easier,” Arthur Orduna, chief innovation officer at Avis Budget Group, says in a statement.

Charges for parking purchased through the Avis app are applied to the credit card used for the rental, giving renters and employers “greater control, transparency and personalization of the overall experience,” the company says. It adds that when employees rent a vehicle and pay for parking within the Avis app, the Arrive partnership also helps businesses better manage parking expenses and provides “valuable financial data to participating companies.”

“Parking can be difficult, especially in unfamiliar cities.” says Dan Roarty, president and COO of Arrive. “And it can often come with a huge cost that has historically been hard to predict.”

As car-sharing and ride-hailing lures away traditional rental car companies’ customers, Avis and others are looking for ways to differentiate their services and make them more appealing to businesses and business travelers.

“This partnership cuts across all three of Avis Budget Group’s innovation initiatives: reinventing rental, digitizing the business and developing new models,” says Orduna.