As a World War II bomber pilot, Warren Avis could see the future of commercial aviation. But although it was faster than rail travel, he found the time savings were squandered in long waits for airport taxis. Avis had the idea to open a car rental operation at the airport itself, meeting a previously undefined need. “Nobody thought it would work,” he told The New York Times in 1985. “There was incredible trouble. You had to get all the airlines to cooperate. Where did you put the cars?”
The answer: In drivers’ hands. Avis already had an interest in Frost-Avis Ford (now Avis Ford in Southfield). In 1946, he used $10,000 of his savings and borrowed another $75,000 to open Avis Airlines Rent-A-Car at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti Township. No longer would it be necessary to take a taxi to the train station or a grimy garage in the city to pick up a rental.
The idea, Avis said, was to “give the customer an option I never had.” Avis offered new cars for rent and restocked its fleets yearly. This alone was a big departure from the industry’s pioneering days.
The Saunders Drive-It-Yourself System started in Omaha, Neb., in 1915, and within 12 years had branches in 85 cities. Meanwhile, in Chicago, Walter Jacobs fielded an initial fleet of 12 Ford Model T cars and, by 1923, had grossed $1 million. Jacobs later sold out to another Chicagoan, John Hertz, who ran Yellow Taxi Cab Manufacturing Co., a business that purchased components and assembled them on a chassis of its own making, to offer sturdy cabs.
In 1925, Yellow merged with the truck division of General Motors, soon moved to Pontiac, and Hertz pursued his motoring-for-hire scheme.
After Avis found success at Willow Run, he opened a second location at Miami International Airport. Some of his breakthrough practices included national franchise licensing, accepting corporate credit cards, and providing enhanced customer service. By 1950 there were 75 franchises, and many of the locations were Ford dealers. Only Hertz was bigger, even after Avis bought the Saunders System in 1955. By then, Avis had sold his namesake company the year before to Massachusetts businessman Richard S. Robie for $8 million.
Avis graduated from Bay City Central High School in 1933, and his early career included stints in pharmaceutical sales and checking up on car dealers for the State of Michigan. Wartime service brought official decorations to go with his gain of insights about the future, and he rose to the rank of major.
With fresh capital in hand from the sale of his company, Avis went on to buy and sell factories, hotels, and a bank. He had interests in a bakery, auto parts, self-help seminars, and the global delivery of flowers. Avis Enterprises invested in tech companies, purchased sporting goods distributors, and developed office buildings on a 300-acre farm south of Ann Arbor.
Avis Enterprises President Patricia Kalmbach said of her boss that “his hobby was business, making the deal.” He stayed active in his other interests, equestrian and aquatic activities, nearly until his death in 2007, and he enjoyed friendships with celebrities. He bragged that at Casa La Barranca, his Acapulco vacation home, he could “entertain 150 guests at the drop of a hat.” Indeed, in 1981, he married the French actress and chanteuse Yanna Elbim there — his second marriage — and political fixer Roy Cohn was the best man.
Quite the philosopher, Avis published seven books, starting with “Corporate Darwinism” in 1966. Twenty years later, his autobiography, “Take a Chance to Be First: The Secrets of Entrepreneurial Success,” drew praise from Publishers Weekly. Yes, money, power, and status could motivate the entrepreneur, as the book review explained, but “filling a public need is a corollary satisfaction.” Besides boldness, one should have “a product or service consumers are waiting for” — just like rental cars at the airport.
