September 2015 Car Rental Update

At TRVLVIP we focus on maximizing your car rental reward program earning and redemption opportunities to save you time and money. The more you know, the bigger your advantage and the greater the travel Luxury you’ll enjoy for your Loyalty! We have some great car rental updates for you this month!

Avis Preferred

The big news this summer is that Avis introduced a NEW loyalty reward program. Avis First has faded into the sunset and the new Avis Preferred loyalty program has risen in its place.

The new program rewards points based on the amount you spend on your rentals with Avis. This new program is open to individuals who are at least 25 years old and reside in the US, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands or Canada.

On July 1, 2015, all Avis First members were automatically converted to Avis Preferred Plus elite status. For those who were not Avis First, you can opt-in now to receive 250 Avis Preferred Points when you rent once within the three months following opt-in.

To learn more about the new program, see TRVLVIP’s Tip about the New Avis Preferred and Preferred Plus Programs.

If you haven’t already, enroll in Avis Preferred! It’s free to join and membership allows you to skip the counter at most locations in addition to other great conveniences!

With each Avis rental, you may choose to earn either Avis Preferred points or a hotel, airline or other discount and bonus offer with one of Avis’s partners when available.

If Avis is your preferred car rental company and you rent from Avis often, we suggest you choose Avis Preferred as your earning preference and forgo the bonus offers from the partners of Avis. It is almost always the more lucrative choice! But, if you shop around for car rentals based on price versus loyalty, plenty of partner discounts and bonus offers are available.

Before any car rental, take a look through the Avis partner offers on TRVLVIP and review the Avis Tips, which contain special credit card and other discounts (i.e. American Express, AARP and USAA) and suggestions to save you money. And always perform a quick comparison between the partner deals and Avis’s ongoing specials and discounts (since you can only apply one discount and bonus at a time) to find the best deal for you!

Hertz Gold Plus

TRVLVIP really enjoys the Hertz Gold Plus program! It’s free to join and membership allows you to skip the counter at most locations in addition to other great conveniences!

Hertz also provides Gold Plus discounts for all members and additional elite benefits with their Five Star and President’s Circle status.

Members must choose to earn Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points or hotel, airline or other partner discounts and bonuses when offered. Regardless of your earning choice, you will still receive rental credit toward Hertz Five Star and President’s Circle elite status.

If Hertz is your preferred car rental company and you rent from Hertz often, we suggest you choose Hertz Gold Plus Rewards as your earning preference and forgo the bonus offers from the partners of Hertz. It is almost always the more lucrative choice! But, if you shop around for car rentals based on price versus loyalty, plenty of partner discounts and bonus offers are available.

Pay special attention to United’s exclusive partnership with Hertz, which includes lucrative bonuses and very special benefits for Elite members of MileagePlus!

So before any car rental, take a look through all of the Hertz hotel or airline partner offers on TRVLVIP and review the Hertz Tips, which contain special credit card and other discounts (i.e. American Express Platinum, USAA and AAA) and suggestions to save you money. And always perform a quick comparison between the partner deals and the Hertz ongoing specials (since you can only apply one discount and bonus at a time) to find the best deal for you!

Bonus TRVLVIP parking Tip: If you’ve ever had to find and then pay for parking in any major city, particularly an unfamiliar city, you know the pain and expense involved. What if you rented a car from Hertz and could park for free? Well you can, almost anywhere. Check it out!

And now we will leave you with some real Luxury for Loyalty news: Hertz recently introduced the Porsche Macan Turbo to its Dream Cars Collection, a line of ultra-high-end performance vehicles, which also includes several other other Porsche models (911, Panamera, Cayenne, Boxster and Cayman), as well as luxury models from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Land Rover, Jaguar and more. If you love luxury and are really ambitious, give it a try and let us know how it goes!

National Emerald Club

In August, National launched its wonderful One Two Free promotion, which is one of our favorites and we consider it to be National’s best promotion of the entire year! You must register first to earn either a Free Rental Day with every two qualifying National rentals of two or more consecutive days or 600 points through January 31, 2016. So jump on it!

TRVLVIP really enjoys the Emerald Club because you can bypass the counter and choose any rental car you’d like from the Aisle as long as you reserve a Midsize car. And eReceipts allow you to just drop your car off and be on your way – plus it’s free to join!

Ever wonder while on the rental car bus whether it makes more sense to choose National credits toward free rental days or participate in a partner bonus? Well, see our great Tip on the topic! It is almost always more lucrative to earn credits with National if you rent from National often. But, if you shop around for car rentals based on price versus loyalty, you have plenty of partner discounts and bonus offers to choose from.

So, before any car rental, take a look through the National hotel or airline partner offers on TRVLVIP and review the National Car Rental Tips, which contain special American Express Platinum credit card perks and other suggestions to save you money. And always perform a quick comparison between the partner discounts and bonus deals and the National last minute and other specials (since you can only apply one discount and bonus code at a time) to find the best deal for you!

Special Note – In order to participate in One Two Free, you must forgo any of the partner bonuses and elect to earn National credits toward free rental days. We believe no partner bonus offer exists that is more valuable than choosing to earn with National during the One Two Free promotion, so register today!

We hope you enjoyed our monthly car rental update! We’d love to have you follow us on Facebook and Twitter and to share TRVLVIP with friends and family who enjoy travel and desire more Luxury for their Loyalty! 

And if you haven’t already, sign-up for complimentary alerts so you never miss another important TRVLVIP update! Dreaming is fun, but make that next trip happen!

Happy Loyalty, Happy Travels!

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