PARSIPPANY, NJ and MENLO PARK, CA - Avis Budget Group and OPENLANE, Inc., recently reported that the companies' joint wholesale used vehicle online auction initiative has generated exponential sales growth since being launched more than a year ago, with increasingly rapid growth in the past six months alone.

In fact, Avis Budget Group has already sold more vehicles online during the first quarter of 2008 than it sold online in all of 2007.

Avis Budget Group is the first car rental company to work in conjunction with OPENLANE, a provider in the online automotive industry in North America enabling automobile dealers to buy and sell wholesale used vehicles prior to removal from the company's rental fleet.

Through OPENLANE, Avis Budget Group rental vehicles remain in service until the sale is near completion, significantly reducing the time typically required to remarket inventory.

"By working with OPENLANE over the past year, Avis Budget Group has gained incredible access to a much larger network of dealers nationwide," said Edward Gitlitz, senior vice president of fleet services for Avis Budget Group. "Furthermore, using the online channel has been invaluable for us in creating a more efficient method of remarketing inventory as vehicles become ready for sale. As a result, Avis Budget Group has realized significant efficiencies in the selling cycle, as well as reduced logistics and administration costs."

"The success that Avis Budget Group has experienced using OPENLANE's "Order in Fleet" program highlights just how momentous the shift toward online rental vehicle remarketing is becoming in the automobile industry," said Clive Kinross, executive vice president of OPENLANE, Inc.

"Avis Budget Group has shown great forethought as a pioneer in this space, and we've been fortunate to form an alliance with them to help establish our leadership position as the foremost online wholesale automotive auction company."