Owings Mills, Md - 28 July, 2005 -

Rent-A-Wreck of America is pleased to announce that Iceland has joined the growing list of international locations for the 32-year-old company. Located in the capitol city of Reykjav k, the new Rent-A-Wreck marks location number 33 currently operating outside of the United States in four countries: Norway, Sweden Denmark and now Iceland. The new Rent-A-Wreck of Iceland is owned by franchisee Bjorn Kristjansson, a life-long native of the island country. Kristjansson said “I first learned about Rent-A-Wreck when I rented from them in Oslo, Norway. I loved the name, it made me laugh and I was duly impressed by the service I received. With the large US military presence in Reykjav k we have a customer base that is already familiar with the brand. Plus many Icelanders have come to know Rent-A-Wreck through its branches in nearby Scandinavia.” After attending the week long Rent-A-Wreck training class at the company’s headquarters in Owings Mills, MD, Kristjansson also paid a visit to the Scandinavian headquarters of the company in Oslo, Norway. There, Kristjansson met with Tom Weum, Rent-A-Wreck master franchisee, who runs the company’s operations in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Weum opened Rent-A-Wreck in Oslo, Norway in 1993, and has since grown the company to be the third largest car rental firm in Norway. In 1997, Weum’s Oslo airport location was the largest single car rental location in Norway with over 300 vehicles. While much of the Scandinavian expansion of the car rental company with the funny name can be attributed to Weum’s hard work and the work of his 30 franchisees, other factors have also played an important role. For instance, the average car in Norway is kept for about ten years, due largely to the over 50% tax placed on new car purchases. With much of the population accustomed to driving older vehicles, the Rent-A-Wreck fleet of gently used and almost new cars is a natural fit. Another natural attraction is the Rent-A-Wreck brand, which translates roughly the same in Norwegian as in English, playing on the same mixture of humor and economic sensibility that customers in the states have long appreciated. 33 years ago Rent-A-Wreck pioneered the concept of renting used cars for less than the competition. Today, Rent-A-Wreck franchise owners worldwide like Bjorn Kristjansson and Tom Weum rent gently used and like-new cars, trucks, sport utilities and vans.

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