Previously, I’ve highlighted car rentals as a useful way of boosting your points balances. Many rental companies have their own loyalty programs such as Hertz Gold Plus Rewards or Avis Preferred, which offer status perks as well as rewards that can be used towards future rentals.
However, many people, myself included, don’t rent cars regularly enough to accumulate significant rewards in those programs. If you fall into that category, you are best off utilising one of the rental company’s airline or hotel partners and earning a chunk of miles or points you know you’ll be able to use. This is also a good way to reset the expiry of your points or top up an account that you otherwise rarely use.
There isn’t generally a single standout offer when it comes to deciding where to credit your rentals. Your best bet is to do a check for the best offers available at the time of booking/rental.
If there’s a chance you’ll be renting a car in the next few months, there are currently two offers you should be aware of, including one particularly good deal.
Earn 6,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles
This is a terrific offer.
Generally speaking, crediting your Avis rentals to Virgin Atlantic earns:
1-6 day rentals – 500 miles
7+ day rentals – 1000 miles
Currently, Virgin Atlantic and Avis are offering a bonus 5,500 Flying Club miles, on top of the standard base miles on any rental of two days or more.
Here are the key details of this offer that you need to be aware of:
Participating locations: North America, Canada, the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Car type: Offer valid on rentals of Group C cars and above.
Reserve by: 28th February 2018
Complete rental by: 30th June 2018
There is no mention in the T&C’s of any requirement to book using a particular code – only that you have to present your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club membership number at the time of rental. In theory, that means that you can utilise other discount/AWD codes you may have (via Amex Platinum or similar).
There’s also no limit on how many times you can earn this bonus – anyone fancy earning 1.2 million miles like this guy, or matching this guy’s 37 rentals in 2 days?!
For more details, visit the dedicated Virgin/Avis page here.
At least 1,500 Avios with Avis and British Airways or Avios.com
Ordinarily, crediting your Avis rentals to British Airways (or Avios.com) earns:
- 3 Avios per £1 spent
- 1 or 2-day rentals – minimum of 500 miles
- 3-day rentals or more – minimum of 700 miles
You can also earn:
- 250 bonus Avios when you pay with a British Airways American Express Credit Card (including the free BA Credit Card and the Premium Plus Card)
- 750 bonus Avios when you complete four rentals in a calendar year
Here are the key details of this offer that you need to be aware of:
Participating locations: Global offer
Car type: Offer valid on rentals of Group C cars and above.
Reserve and complete rental by: 23rd March 2018
Code required: Eligible Rentals must be made using a British Airways/Avis Worldwide Discount (AWD) number:
- Gold members N744400
- Silver members N744300
- Bronze members N284300
- Blue members N744100
Reservations made on ba.com (post-login) and avisba.com (with British Airways Executive Club passenger type selected) or with the British Airways Call Centre will automatically have the correct AWD embedded in the rental.
Bonus Avios may take up to 8 weeks to be added from date of rental.
For more details and to book, visit the dedicated British Airways/Avis page here or the Avios.com/Avis page here.
Verdict
If you prefer Avios to Virgin miles, the current offer is a solid improvement over the usual earnings rate.
However, for me, the Virgin offer is the one I really like. The lowish two-day minimum rental is particularly good, given that many offers – like the BA one mentioned today – usually require a three-day minimum rental.
Bearing in mind that a one-way off-peak ticket to Dubai, New York or Delhi costs just 10,000 Virgin miles – this promotion represents excellent value indeed!