Florida started a new five-year contract for state car rentals with Enterprise Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental this month after their recent contract with Avis Car Rental.
The state is expected to save over $1 million over the next five years by switching the rental carriers.
“Avis Car Rental is a vendor in good standing with the State of Florida; however, because the contract with Avis was expiring, DMS conducted a competitive solicitation. The parent company for Enterprise Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental offered the best value to the state,” Natalee Singleton, communication director for the Florida Department of Management Services said.
The contract notes more locations and more vehicles with over 300 sites between Enterprise and National.
Adonai Victoria, been working at Enterprise for almost a year, says since the new contract a lot of state employees have been renting cars.
“Since my station is at Tallahassee’s Airport, we tend to get a lot of state employees renting cars, especially when they’re just getting off a flight. Since the contract begin I can say that we’ve been a little busy,” Victoria said.
To rent a car a state employee must complete enrollment with the new vendor as a user of state’s rental vehicles contract. Then the employee may reserve a rental car using the state’s online reservation portal or the state-dedicated customer service number. Contract users must verify customer eligibility.
Lisa Williams, a state employee from Wakulla, has been working for the state for over a year, uses the state rental car service often to get to back in forth to meetings.
“I use the service often, but that’s only to get to and from meetings. That’s the main function for majority of car rentals. A lot of state employees have state and local meetings to attend to that aren’t in close proximity," Williams said.
The state will be served by several Enterprise locations in the local area on Mahan Drive, West Tharpe Street and Blountstown Highway.