Belron, the largest auto glass company in the world, has signed an agreement with Pneutrade Service Kft, based in Hungary, to make that country its ninth franchise market and the 27th country in which it operates.

Pneutrade serves the Hungarian tire replacement market as well as other automotive services such as exhaust, brake and oil changes, across a network of 12 branches and 100 employees. It covers all the main cities in Hungary, and has three branches in Romania.

The agreement with Pneutrade is to run a separate business under the CARGLASS® Belron brand. The first CARGLASS® Belron branch will open in Budapest in April close to the airport. A second branch is also planned during 2005 and the plan is to gradually grow the network in all the main cities in Hungary. The business will be run by Andras Czegledi.

Gary Lubner, CEO of the UK headquartered company, points out that the Hungarian glass market is an interesting one in that all the major European insurers including Allianz, Axa and Generali are present there and glass insurance is becoming increasingly popular.