Cendant Car Rental Group, LLC, the parent company of Avis Rent A Car and Budget Rent A Car, today announced two new programs to enable their customers to bypass cash toll lanes. Starting this April, customers can rent a vehicle allowing them to drive through electronic toll collection booths on highways in the Northeast United States and the Houston, Texas metropolitan area. The new programs will be available to customers of Avis and Budget for an additional fee of $1.50 per day for rentals at New York metropolitan locations, including Northern New Jersey and Southern Connecticut and for $2.00 per day at locations in Houston, Texas, plus toll charges. There are plans to roll out the systems to additional areas in the Northeast, Texas, Florida and Illinois by year end.

This announcement follows a recently completed test of electronic toll collection devices in rental cars at the Newark, N.J. Budget Rent A Car location. During the 18-month test period, Budget customers rented vehicles equipped with transponder collection devices more than 25,000 times.

In the New York metropolitan area, Cendant Car Rental Group partnered with Highway Toll Administration, LLC (HTA) to offer vehicles equipped with E-Z Pass, the electronic toll technology service used throughout the Northeast United States. Customers will be able to use the service on toll roads, tunnels and bridges from Maine to Virginia. HTA will equip both Avis and Budget vehicles with E-Z Pass transponders. In Houston, Cendant Car Rental Group is utilizing PlatePass(TM), the service offered by American Traffic Solutions. PlatePass will allow Avis and Budget customers to utilize high- speed toll lanes throughout Texas without the need for a vehicle transponder. In both programs, toll charges accrued will be processed as a separate charge to the credit or debit card that was presented by the customer at the time of rental.

Customers who wish to rent a vehicle with the new service in the Northeast should request a vehicle equipped with electronic toll collection at the time of reservation or at the rental counter. The service will be available at New York Metropolitan airports, Manhattan, Northern New Jersey and Southern Connecticut locations. Vehicles in Houston are "pre-enrolled" and are ready to use the toll system without any special request. To make a reservation or to learn more about renting a vehicle with electronic toll collection visit www.avis.com and www.budget.com.