Fascinated by the American business model after graduating an MBA in the US, Marius Stefan returns to Romania and opens a car rental company along with his brother, Dan.
In the beginning, Autonom Rent-a-Car developed with a focus on individual clients, but its strategy was revised during the economic crisis and they made the switch to corporate clients.
While in 2006 the company had 100 cars, the two brothers rethought the entire business after the crisis came along. In 2009, they started to target large companies in Romania.
Development deal
Currently, Autonom is the leader of the Romanian auto rental market, following the development of the only national mobility network in Romania, which includes car rentals, operational leasing, driver transfers, fleet management.
Before the most recent transaction, the network comprised 45 agencies in 35 cities in Romania, Hungary and Serbia. Recently, the car rental company received a EUR 5 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The EBRD loan will allow the company to expand its fleet in order to respond to the growing needs of Romanian companies, especially SMEs.
In 2017, Autonom Group’s turnover reached EUR 27 million.
