Avis response to Silver, Pheffer press conference.

GARDEN CITY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 10, 1997--"Speaker Silver and Chairwoman Pheffer appear to have relied on information that is either incomplete or mistaken," said Stephen P. Holmes, Acting CEO of Avis.

In a press release and remarks today, Speaker Silver and Chairwoman Pheffer referred to allegations of discrimation by Avis against blacks and Jews made previously in a pending lawsuit brought by Washington class action attorneys.

"Avis has an unequivocal policy against illegal discrimination of any kind and does not deny or limit car rentals based on race, religion, national origin or other group affiliation," Holmes said. "The allegations that Avis had policies of discriminating against blacks or Jews are completely false. There is no place in the Avis family for anyone who violates these policies, and one case of discrimination is one too many.

"We take these allegations very seriously and we would have welcomed an opportunity to discuss the facts of these matters with Speaker Silver and Chairwoman Pheffer before they had caused damage to Avis' reputation and the 17,000 men and women of Avis," said Mr. Holmes.

Over the years, Avis' commitment as an equal opportunity employer has earned the company, among other things, high customer satisfaction and loyalty ratings, the "Minority Enterprise Development Week 1994 Corporate Award" from the U.S. Department of Commerce, a Certificate of Appreciation from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for Avis' moral and financial support of the Conference's national civil rights and humanitarian endeavors, and national recognition as one of the United States' top 100 minority employers.

The allegations repeated by Speaker Silver and Chairwoman Pheffer of discrimation against Jews apprarently related to past instances where cars were deceptively rented under corporate accounts, used by underage drivers for improper purposes and returned with a higher than normal rate of collision or damage. To reduce incidents where customers were attempting over the telephone to establish corporate sales accounts by deceptive means for car use by underaged drivers, Avis' Telesales Department in Tulsa was alerted to this problem. Specifically, callers frequently claimed to be employed by Yeshivas when, in fact, they were not. Once questions arose about the way in which the problem was being solved, Avis immediately clarified its underage renter policy in order to avoid even the appearance of discrimination.

CONTACT: Jim Fingeroth

Josh Pekarsky

Kekst and Company

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