Instant Car Rental Elite Status (2019)
Car Rental Strategies, Credit Card Reference
One of the benefits of Mastercard World Elite, Amex Platinum and Visa Infinite credit cards is elite status with one or more car rental companies.
Being an elite member of a car rental loyalty program is nice, but not exceedingly valuable. You get a decent chance of a one-class rental car upgrade and somewhat faster reward earning rate on your rentals. As a result, we would never recommend getting a credit card, just to get elite rental car status. However, there is a reasonable chance that you already have, or will wind up getting, at least one of the cards that has this benefit. And you might as well take advantage of their elite car rental status benefit.
Just having the credit card is not enough. You’ll need to go online, or call the rental car company to request your elite status.
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What's available from each credit card
| Program | Visa Infinite | World Elite Mastercard | Amex Platinum |
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| Webpage | Webpage | ||
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Executive status | Executive status | |
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Preferred Plus status | Special rates | |
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2 hour grace period with CDP 2150933 | 4 hour grace period with CDP 211762 | |
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Special rates |
The United Club card provides automatic Hertz President's Circle status. You also get some level of Hertz premium status with any level of United status (including the fre Silver status you can get from Marriott elite status). Sign up with this link.
Delta Gold or better members also get free Hertz status. Use this link.
Some notes
- The extra 2 or 4 hour grace periods from Hertz can be extremely valuable. Depending on how long you need your rental car, it could save you an entire day's rental. For example, if you pick up your rental at 1pm and need to be back to the airport the next day at 5pm, you only need to pay for one days rental, rather than two. This benefit is only available at locations in the United States.
- The Avis Preferred Plus benefit is not listed on the Mastercard website, but it is still available through Avis this webpage.
Every World Elite Mastercard provides discounts with several car rental programs, and elite status with Avis and Sixt. Weirdly, the Avis benefits aren't included on the World Elite Master Card Rental Car Benefits Webpage.
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Sixt "Platinum" status. Entitles you to a 15% discount and free upgrade. |
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Avis Preferred Plus status. One-class upgrade with availability, and a 35% percent discount. The elite status benefit is not listed on the World Elite benefits page, but is still available through this Avis webpage. |
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No elite status, but a 25% percent discount. The Citibank website still lists Executive status as a card benefit, but the enrollment link just redirects back to Citibank. |
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No elite status, but a 25% percent discount. |
Several of the cards you might be interested in are World Elite Mastercards. So, there is a good chance that you’ll eventually wind up getting at least one of these cards.
- Citi Prestige Card and Citi Premier Card.
- American Airlines Platinum Card and American Airlines Executive Card.
- Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card.
- Virgin Atlantic Credit Card.
- Air France KLM Credit Card.
- Sak's Fifth Avenue Card
- Capital One Buy Power Card
- Priority Destinations World Elite
In addition, the {{Card|Doublecash|only} doesn’t come standard as a World Elite card, but you can call in and convert it to the better World Elite version, for no extra charge.
Visa Infinite cards
Visa Infinite cardholders get a set of car rental benefits.
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Emerald "Executive" status Choose from Emerald Aisle, getting full-size and above cars, for the mid-size rate Guaranteed upgrade to full-size or better, from mid-size car Free rental day after every 6 rentals, rather than 7 |
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You don't get elite status, but you do get a 30% discount, using AWD S107100. |
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You don't get elite status, but you do get a 30% discount, using code vinfinite. |
The only Visa Infinite cards are the Sapphire Reserve Card, CNB Crystal Infinite Card, UBS Infinite Card, and the no longer available for new signups Ritz Carlton Credit Card.
American Express Platinum cards
Every version of the American Express Platinum card comes with
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Emerald "Executive" status Choose from Emerald Aisle, getting full-size and above cars, for the mid-size rate Guaranteed upgrade to full-size or better, from mid-size car Free rental day after every 6 rentals, rather than 7 (To add status to your account, you can call in or go to the National sign up page.) |
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No elite status, but you'll earn a free weekend car rental (good for two days), if you complete two qualifying car rentals during the first half or second half of the year. To qualify, your paid rentals need to be at least two days long, booked with AWD A756900, and paid for with your Platinum card. You can earn one certificate every six months. You'll also get a copy of the Wall Street Journal in your car at a bunch of major US Airports. |
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No elite status, but, you can use a special rate code (211762) to get a discounted rate, that comes with a four hour no-charge grace period for returning your car (which can sometimes shave an entire day’s rental charges off your bill). |
Other paths to automatic Hertz status
| United Club Credit Card |
The premium United Club Credit Card gives you automatic Hertz President's club access (not just their lower Five Star status). |
| United and Delta elite members |
Delta Medallion and United Premier elite members automatically get elite status in the Hertz Gold Plus program. That benefit is also available for people with the high-annual-fee United Club card. |
| Marriott Titanium and Ambassador elites |
Titanium members receive Five Star status, Ambassador members receive President's Circle status, by registering online. Previously, they needed to link their Marriott and United accounts to get United Silver status, and then use their United status to get elite status from Hertz. |
