FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          CR
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1996                           (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
   DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REACHES AGREMENT WITH AVIS TO ENSURE
                    COMPLIANCE WITH THE ADA
                                
     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Avis, Inc., the nation's second largest
rental car company, will increase efforts to live up to its
agreement to accommodate renters with disabilities under a new
agreement reached today with the Justice Department.
     The agreement follows complaints that Avis was not complying
with an earlier agreement reached in September 1994.  At the
time, Avis had been accused of violating the Americans with
Disabilities Act by discriminating against people with
disabilities.
     In September 1994, Avis agreed to provide vehicles equipped
with hand controls at no extra charge at all corporately-owned
locations and urge its licensees to do the same.  It also agreed
to permit those who do not drive -- such as persons with visual
impairments or seizure disorders -- to be financially responsible
under the rental agreement if they are accompanied by licensed
drivers.   
     In Novemeber 1994 Patrisha Wright, a leading disability-
rights activist who has a visual impairment, filed a complaint
with the Justice Department.  She claimed that an Avis
representative had refused to rent her a car unless she showed
documentation of her disability.  Wright was accompanied by Kelly
Lueshow, a licensed driver.
     "Avis has shown it wants to comply with the ADA," said
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval L. Patrick. 
"Today's agreement will make sure that every member of the
company understands what is required under the law."
     Title III of the ADA prohibits discrimination against
persons with disabilities by public accommodations, such as
rental car companies.  It requires businesses to make
reasonsonable policies regarding access for people with
disabilities.  
     Under today's agreement Avis will:

    Allow patrons with disabilities to be financially
     responsible for car rentals without documenting their
     disability, as long as they are accompanied by a licensed
     driver;

    affirm its previously agreed-upon policies and conduct
     extensive training for its employees; 

    design a system to track reservations made by people with
     disabilities at its headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma;

    appoint, within two weeks, a Disability Services Coordinator
     to help insure compliance; 

    provide hand controls for convertibles, as well as the types
     of cars included in the earlier agreement.  The hand control
     for convertibles will be stationed in centers in Boston,
     Phoenix, Miami, San Francisco, and Honolulu, and can be
     shipped to other sites where needed; and,

    pay Wright $7,000 and Lueshow $3,500 in damages.

     "We are pleased that Avis acknowledged the agreement could
not be effectively carried out unless it regularly trained its
thousands of employees," added Patrick.
     Avis has over three thousand Customer Service
Representatives and processes over 23 million rental car
reservations each year.  
     Patrick noted that the officials at Avis cooperated
throughout the entire investigation.
     Copies of the settlement may be obtained by calling the
Justice Department's toll-free ADA Information Line.  The hotline
was established by Attorney General Janet Reno as part of a
nationwide campaign to educate the public about the law.  The
number is 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD).  
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