Stressfreecarrental.com Expanding Into Europe 

Stressfreecarrental.com, expansion, Europe

Online car rental company Stressfreecarrental.com is expanding into Europe after a 534,000 pound ($717,234) funding round led by investment firm DSW Ventures. Also included in the round was angel investor Harry Dixon, former technical director at Rentalcars.com, according to Travel Weekly Tuesday (Nov. 16). 

Stressfreecarrental.com, which created a price comparison and booking platform for car hire and airport transfers, has operations in the U.K., South Africa, Australia and the U.S. The new money will give the company enough to hire 13 new employees in the next year and expand into Europe. 

Travel industry veteran James Jennings is joining Stressfreecarrental.com as chairman and Tom Knopek, who boasts a 30-year career in the car rental space, is the company’s non-executive director. 

“We’ve seen significant growth in our revenues despite the ongoing pandemic,” said founder and chief executive John Charnock. “This investment will enable us to take the business to the next level by extending our reach into foreign language domestic markets, offering clear and transparent car rental in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany and Greece. 

“Part of our strategy following the investment is to grow our B2B channel, offering travel agents, tour operators and airlines an easy way to earn commission on sales of self-drive car rental and airport transfers,” he said. “We have our first B2B partners scheduled to go live in December, and we believe that this channel represents a significant growth opportunity for us.” 

Related: Carvana Says Partnerships Provide New Horizontal, Vertical Opportunities 

Meanwhile, used car retailer Carvana recently partnered with vehicle rental company Hertz to boost its online sales channel and will work with InsurTech carrier Root on integrated auto insurance solutions for Carvana’s online car buying platform. 

Carvana and Hertz piloted their partnership in September and are now rolling it out nationally to allow Hertz to use Carvana’s online transaction technology and logistics network as another channel to sell the used vehicles from its rental fleet. 

Carvana’s work with Root will integrate auto insurance with the existing car purchasing and financing experience offered to customers on the online car buying platform to deepen and extend its customer relationships between transactions.