Article: Car Rental Loyalty Programs Compared

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/car-rental-loyalty-programs-compared/

Status on the Road: Car Rental Loyalty Programs Compared is an article written by Stephen from the AFF editorial team:

Status on the Road: Car Rental Loyalty Programs Compared

We compare car hire programs in Australia, including Hertz, Europcar Privilege and Avis Preferred to help you make the most of their benefits.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[SYD]

AVIS has President’s Club level.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Yeh I have President’s Club with Avis from QF P1.
It’s a bit hit and miss, have been able to get a car at a couple of sold out locations. Double upgrades are hit and miss, the UK seems to give me whatever car I have booked and ignores PC.

 

[SYD]

Yeh I have President’s Club with Avis from QF P1.
It’s a bit hit and miss, have been able to get a car at a couple of sold out locations. Double upgrades are hit and miss, the UK seems to give me whatever car I have booked and ignores PC.

I’ve had plenty of unwanted double upgrades!

Last year at the Downtown AKL office, initially allocated an armoured personnel carrier but managed to haggle back to a sensible sedan.

Smaller offices, you might get best available +/- a category.

In the US, you can see in app what’s been allocated before you arrived. Sometimes quite comical - like a pickup truck…

 

[Berlin]

One important aspect missing here is what this means overseas. I’ve had several cases where the “second driver for free” wasn’t honoured anywhere outside of Australia which makes it utterly useless to me as my Domestic travel is mostly work travel by myself while my overseas trips are the ones with my partner, usually. Likewise, the quicker car pick up works a treat at major US airports but try this in Europe, haha, they will laugh at you (and most likely give you a tiny Fiat, just in spite).

Finally- and that’s a general observation- whether “priority” or not, compared to most hotel and even airline chains, the car rental business is simply e##ed. The inconsistencies between different countries or just locations, the nightmarish experiences with customer service that is inexistent, pick up or drop off locations in tiny back alleys with zero space for getting used to your new car (Europe is just AMAZING with this) and of course the countless dodgy attempts to blame you for scratches that you didn’t cause (SIXT Duesseldorf, I am looking at you!)- it all makes for less than pleasant experiences. Oh- and one of my recent favourites, mostly in the US, is app this and app that where you need to use said app in triple concrete parking structures which, you guessed it, provide zero chance for an internet connection