The car rental business seems like it’s right there up with the used car industry as far as negative customer opinion. I’ve written before on why renting a car seems like such a scam, and it seems like everyone I talk to about renting a car feels the same way.
I’m not sure what’s the worst part of renting a car:
- The seemingly random prices that fluctuate all the time (SEE ALSO: Avis changing the car rental price when I add my Wizard number)
- The way that they always try to pressure you into getting their insurance or other over-priced addons
- The fact that you can’t really count on the car you book to ACTUALLY be there (one of my favorite Seinfeld clips, see below)
Getting top rental car status (for free)
I don’t rent a car frequently enough to care about free days. Upgrades are also usually out, since if I’m by myself, I generally will prefer the smallest car they have (because I’m maximizing gas mileage for a county trip), and if I’m with my family I’d want a minivan or SUV, which they won’t give as an upgrade. But the one thing that car rental company status gives that I find SUPER useful is skipping the lines.
Getting Avis Preferred status for free
Starting out with Avis, you can get Avis Preferred status if you are a World Elite Mastercard holder, which many of us in the credit card business are. This includes the Barclay Arrival card, Citi Executive card, Citi Prestige, Citi Dividend, Citi ThankYou Premier or Preferred or Barclay Hawaiian Miles card, among others.
The link to apply is at Avis Preferred status.
It actually doesn’t say anything about putting in your World Elite Mastercard status, so YMMV. According to the Mastercard World Elite benefits page, you can also call 855-802-1387 to sign up for Avis First. Personally the online Avis Preferred would be good enough for me.
Getting Hertz Gold Plus status for free
Again, if you have a World Elite Mastercard, you can call call 855-802-1387 to get complimentary Hertz Gold Plus status. Hertz is good about status matching as well – see this Frequent Miler post, so once you have your Avis or National top status, you can status match into Hertz Five Star status by emailing hertzstatusmatch@hertz.com with a copy of your top status at the other program.
(SEE ALSO: Hotel status match – how to match at each chain)
Personally, as I look at the benefits of the various Hertz levels, there’s not a lot in Five Star that interests me that isn’t already included in the Gold Plus status, but check for yourself
Getting National Emerald Club status for free
National rental car used to also have an online link where you could get free status automatically, but that link no longer seems to work. Still, if you have a World Elite Mastercard, you can call call 855-802-1387 to get complimentary National Emerald Club status.
I have not found any other car rental chains that give free elite status, but these 3 have generally speaking been good for me. Even when I booked a Priceline stay (that ended up being Avis), I was able to still use my Avis First status by calling into the local Avis branch office (NOT the 1-800 Customer Service number)
(SEE ALSO: Update! I finally get Avis to stop its dirty trick on me!)
How has rental car status worked for you?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Thanks for this post! I was able to get the status with all except Hertz. When I called the 1-855 number she said that Hertz wasn’t included. But she did let me know that you can now get status with Sixt.
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http://singleflyer.com
AVIS Preferred and Hertz Gold Plus are NOT top tier statuses.
You’re of course right that Hertz has another status after Gold Plus. As far as Avis goes, I was able to get Avis First (which is their top tier status IIRC) through these links.
AVIS First is not a top tier either. In fact, it is the lowest elite status with two statuses above that
I was under the impression that Avis First was above Avis Preferred. I couldn’t find a link to any status higher than Avis First, but I certainly could be wrong
There is President’s Club and Chairman’s Club. Both are invite only, if you have the right credit card / membership to certain clubs or through corporate accounts. You are right in that they cannot be earned through # of rentals alone.
I’m not sure if you realized that all three statuses you mentioned are actually base level you can sign up through the respective website without the need for a World Elite Master Card.
Also at least with National, you can often get upgraded to a SUV or Minivan depending on the location and season. Heck SUVs can often even be found on the Executive Aisle which essentially anyone who signed up to the program can pick a car from with a mid-sized reservation.
The statuses I was able to get were NOT the base level:
-Emerald Club EXECUTIVE – usually need 12 rentals in a year
-Avis FIRST – usually need 12 rentals in a year
-Sixt PLATINUM – usually need 10 rentals in a year
I was not able to get anything through Hertz.
I explain it more in my post here: http://singleflyer.com/2015/03/26/free-rental-car-status-through-mastercard/
I don’t really see the point of this post. All three statuses that you mentioned can be signed up on their respective websites for free without a WEMC. As far as upgrade goes, the basic level membership won’t give you too much upgrades, but i do enjoy the freedom of choosing my own car instead of being assigned a random one in the same class.
National’s Executive status lets you pick your vehicle and for many places, that includes minivans and SUVs.
Right! Avis First (and I think Avis Preferred) lets you pick (some) vehicles, but National Executive is definitely the winner. I just wish that they had 8 passenger minivans 🙁
Yeah this is pointless. These “status” levels are entry level that ANYONE can get just by signing up.
No, they are not. This post names the status incorrectly.
Here is what you actually get:
http://singleflyer.com/2015/03/26/free-rental-car-status-through-mastercard/
Do we know if this still works?