1.������������ THE
FRANCHISOR, AND ANY PARENTS, PREDECESSOR. AND AFFILIATES
CAUTION: You must not take any actions to establish or
begin operation of your franchise until your duly authorized representative and
an ADVANTAGE LICENSING LLC officer properly sign an Advantage Rent-A-Car
franchise agreement.
* * *
The franchisor is Advantage
Licensing LLC, a Delaware limited liability company formed in April 2007.
Advantage Licensing LLC does not do business under another corporate name. Our
principal business address is 6660 First Park Ten Blvd. #116, San Antonio, Texas 78213-4211. The agents and addresses for service of process for Advantage Licensing
LLC are listed in Exhibit I.
To simplify the language in the
disclosure document, "we" "us" "Advantage" or
"Advantage Licensing LLC" means Advantage Licensing LLC, the
Franchisor. "You" means the person who buys the franchise (the
"Franchisee"). If you are a corporation, partnership, or other
entity, "you" includes your owners and may include your personal or
corporate guarantors. When we refer in this disclosure document to a
"local market" franchise, we mean a Business serving a trade area
that does not include a commercial airport or a major rail or other
transportation terminal.
Advantage Licensing LLC was incorporated and founded in
2007. Advantage offers franchises for the operation of one Advantage Rent-A-Car
business ("Business") at a specified location (the "Authorized
Location") providing passenger car and light truck rentals, without
drivers, to the general public. We have been offering franchises since 2007. We
have never offered franchises in any other line of business. Advantage is not
engaged in any other car rental activity. Advantage is wholly owned by its
parent company, ARC Venture Holding, Inc.
Advantage licenses all of its
trademarks from a subsidiary of its affiliate, Southwest-Tex Leasing Company,
Inc., d/b/a Advantage Rent-A-Car. The owner of the marks is Advantage
Rent-A-Car, Inc. See Item 13. Advantage Rent-A-Car, Inc.''s main offices are
located at 6660 First Park Ten Boulevard, San Antonio, Texas 78213. Advantage
Rent-A-Car, Inc. does not operate any businesses. Advantage Rent-A-Car, Inc.
also licenses the Advantage marks to Southwest-Tex Leasing Company, Inc.
Southwest-Tex Leasing Company,
Inc.''s primary business address is 6660 First Park Ten Boulevard, San Antonio, Texas 78213. Southwest-Tex Leasing Company, Inc. was formed in 1972.
Southwest-Tex Leasing Company, Inc. and its subsidiaries have been renting
motor vehicles without drivers to the general public since 1972. It currently
has locations in nine states and it has a fleet of approximately 15,000 motor
vehicles. Southwest-Tex Leasing Company, Inc. previously used other trade
names, such as: Econo Car, Airways, Americar, American International and
Thrifty. In 1984 Southwest-Tex Leasing Company, Inc., through a subsidiary,
Advantage Rent-A-Car, Inc., created the Advantage trademarks and discontinued
use of all prior trade names. Southwest-Tex Leasing Company, Inc. and its
subsidiaries other than Advantage Rent-A-Car, Inc. continue to operate car
rental businesses under the Advantage name throughout the United States.
Southwest-Tex Leasing Company, Inc. and its subsidiaries other than Advantage
Rent-A-Car, Inc. have operated a car rental business for 35 years, but have
never franchised.
ARC Venture Holding, Inc., a Delaware corporation ("ARC") is the parent company of Advantage. ARC was
organized on January 12, 2006, by Dennis E. Hecker. In February, 2006, ARC Venture
Holding, Inc. acquired all of the capital stock of Southwest-Tex Leasing
Company, Inc. and its subsidiaries from Walker Resources, Inc. including but
not limited to Advantage Rent-A-Car, Inc. Southwest-Tex Leasing Company, Inc.,
through its subsidiary, Advantage Rent-A-Car, Inc. licenses to Advantage all of
its trademarks for the purpose of selling franchises. Southwest-Tex Leasing
Company, Inc. and Advantage are both wholly owned by ARC. If you purchase a
franchise from us, you may be competing with stores operated and owned by
Southwest-Tex Leasing Company, Inc. Dennis Hecker, the owner of ARC, also owns
various other companies that may be involved in car rental, leasing, sales,
financing and other related businesses that may or may not compete with you. In
2008, Denny Hecker acquired five percent of Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group,
Inc. ARC''s primary business address is 500 Ford Road, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55426-1062.
Advantage is also affiliated with Advantage Auxiliary
Services, LLC ("Advantage Services"). Advantage Services administers
an on-line reservation system that you will be required to use and for which
you will be required to pay a fee. See Item 6 and Exhibit D. Advantage
Services'' primary business address is 6660 First Park Ten Boulevard, Suite 116,
San Antonio, Texas 78213.
Advantage reserves the right to offer, market,
distribute and sell our products and services, under any trademark, through
other channels of distribution, including the Internet and by direct sale, mail
order, and telemarketing, at, from, or to any location. We also may establish
one or more corporate or national account customer relationships, which you
will agree to service. See Item 12.
You may have to compete with other businesses including
franchised operations, national chains, and independently owned companies
offering similar car rental services to customers. Your competitors are
national and regional companies who franchise similar businesses and their
franchisees, and individuals, companies and partnerships of varying sizes and
age, which offer car rental services. Several competitors are much larger,
older, and more heavily capitalized than Advantage. The market for car rental
services is highly developed and competitive. You will also face other normal
business risks that could have an adverse effect on your Business. These may
include industry developments, such as pricing policies of competitors, and
supply and demand. The daily car rental business is highly vulnerable to
patterns of commercial air travel, fuel supplies and prices, broad trends in
the U.S. economy, availability of motor vehicles, financing, and other factors.
We own a proprietary system of know-how, procedures,
and standards for operating the Advantage franchised car rental business (the
"System"). The Franchise Agreement and confidential Policy and
Procedures Manual (the "System Manual") describe the System. This
disclosure document contains a sample franchise agreement. Even though we
describe the Advantage Rent-A-Car franchise in simplified terms, remember the
Advantage Rent-A-Car Franchise Agreement is the legal and binding contract that
sets out the rights and obligations of Advantage Licensing LLC and you.
ADVANTAGE LICENSING LLC DOES
NOT AUTHORIZE ANY OTHER INFORMATION, PROMISE OR REPRESENTATION TO BE
COMMUNICATED TO YOU THAT IS NOT CONTAINED IN THIS FRANCHISE DISCLOSURE DOCUMENT
OR THE ATTACHED FRANCHISE AGREEMENT, OR IN PRINTED FRANCHISE SALES LITERATURE
PREPARED BY ADVANTAGE LICENSING LLC AND YOU SHOULD NOT RELY UPON ANY OTHER
INFORMATION IN DECIDING WHETHER OR NOT TO PURCHASE AN ADVANTAGE RENT-A-CAR
FRANCHISE.
There may be specific laws or
regulations in your state or municipality governing operation of the Business
including motor vehicle dealer, motor vehicle leasing, or reseller licensing
requirements. You should also familiarize yourself with federal, state, and
local laws of a more general nature, which may affect the operation of your
Business. You must comply with employment, health and safety, workers''
compensation, insurance, licensing, and similar laws and regulations. You
should examine these laws before purchasing a franchise from us. You are solely
responsible for complying with all applicable laws and regulations.
