Companies are able to settle and analyse their rental car expenses in 9 European countries. AirPlus, the international provider of business travel payment solutions, and Europcar, Europe`s car rental company, now offer their clients highly efficient international cost management of all their rental car bookings. Businesses are enabled to settle their Europcar bills in nine European countries using the AirPlus Company Account and analyse these expenses in full detail later on. Hence, AirPlus and Europcar customers now enjoy the benefits of a centralised payment solution for international car rentals, which essentially permits travel managers to take advantage of excellent spending transparency as well as exact cost allocation with regard to these and other types of travel spend.

The solution, which has been developed by both partners, is available for corporate clients in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Italy. As a direct result of an optimised and highly efficient data exchange between AirPlus and Europcar, companies receive valuable information along with their invoices, a service which was previously limited to flight and travel agency payments settled with the AirPlus Company Account. Such vital pieces of additional information are, to name a few, cost centres, employee IDs or even the individual project number of a travelling staff member, allowing for a better and quicker overview of the current travel budget.

We are delighted that we had the chance to get together with Europcar to support our clients in their international car rental bookings. Our payment solution delivers all data necessary for successful travel management. At the same time customers can manage their internal business travel processes much more efficiently, says Spencer Hanlon, Managing Director of AirPlus International Ltd.

The cooperation of AirPlus and Europcar enables both companies to support midsize enterprises and large international corporations with the optimisation of their travel management processes, including that of car rentals. With the introduction of the AirPlus Company Account in nine European countries, Europcar is setting the benchmark in the industry. Europcar, Europe`s leading car rental company, is underlining its innovative development strategy once again with the introduction of the AirPlus payment solution, and is thus making a further significant step in the enhancement of its customer service, says Rafael Girona, Chief Operating Officer of Europcar International, Paris.

The individual business traveller benefits from the payment solution involving Europcar as well, as all rental car related payments are processed by his/her company; this means that the traveller`s account will not be charged, which helps to simplify the process of business travel expense management considerably.

Paying for Europcar services with AirPlus works via all sorts of booking channels: for instance, if the corporate traveller makes a reservation on the Europcar internet site, all he requires is either a central company password or the ID number of his Privileged Card. In both cases, the AirPlus Company Account is automatically used as the preferred means of settlement. If the car is rented at the counter, the business traveller may conveniently present his Europcar Privileged Card for identification, thus avoiding unnecessary formalities.

Later, AirPlus will provide the company with a detailed invoice listing all Europcar bookings; businesses may even opt for an electronic invoice, thus eliminating the need to analyse the various items manually. In this document, all services provided within a certain time period are clearly arranged and may be sorted according to specific criteria as defined by the company.

To take things a step further, businesses may obtain an even more detailed picture of their rental car expenses by using the AirPlus Information Manager, a management information system for travel expense management, which serves as an ideal basis for businesses to keep the costs of business trips under control.