I’ve only rented a car three times in my adult life, but I have distinct memories from my childhood about car rentals. We would arrive in Florida during spring break to visit my grandfather. Upon arriving we were 1) exhausted, 2) hungry, and 3) hot because we were wearing our Minnesota winter clothes in 85 degree heat. The only thing I wanted to do was leave the airport. Instead, we would wait in line for what seemed like hours, only to get some paperwork, take a bus to a car rental terminal where we’d wait in another line to get the keys to the car, and finally would leave. The whole process was excruciating for me as a crabby, tired, hungry child (and probably more so for my parents.)
Note the coupon codes at the bottom of the page.
It turns out there is a completely free and easy way to skip these lines — with Avis Preferred Service.
As an adult the first time I rented a car was a very similar experience to my childhood. I had done some online searches to find the cheapest car rental, booked the car with Avis because my USAA insurance gave me the best discount, and upon arriving at the destination waited and waited and waited and waited. I hate waiting in lines.
During my first car rental experience with Avis I saws a billboard for “Avis Preferred Service” on the shuttle advertising a way to bypass the lines. It sounded too good to be true. But I checked it out anyway.
About a year ago I signed up for Avis Preferred Service. I have only rented one car once since then, but booked with Avis (again getting my USAA member discount). The Avis Preferred Service worked wonders. I didn’t have to wait in any lines. And I was immediately taken to my car — first — ahead of all the “regular” customers.
I was absolutely astounded. Where else have you heard of a person just being able to SKIP THE LINES without having any sort of special reason for their status (e.g. frequent flier, pay more, etc)?
I waited to write about it until now because I wanted to see how it played out over the year. I got some coupons in the mail for free upgrades and car rentals. But no spam or any other annoying aspects. There doesn’t seem to be any catch to Avis Preferred Service.
There are no minimums for number of times you have to rent in order to qualify. All you do is sign up.
So, if you ever are planning on renting a car, I couldn’t recommend Avis Preferred Service more. It’s free. And Avis Preferred Service makes renting a car that much easier. I don’t know why more people don’t sign up for the Preferred Service; but I thought I’d give our readers a little insight into this car renting hack.
Of course, please don’t rent a car if you don’t have to — but I wrote this knowing that there are sometimes instances where renting a car is environmentally friendlier than taking cabs around a city that lacks solid public transportation.
Also note that Avis rents Toyota Hybrid Prius and subcompact cars. So remember to rent the smallest car available.
To Sign Up for Avis Preferred Service
Go to Avis.com and search “Preferred Service”. There are a few pages to fill out and viola, you’re in.
Avis Coupon Codes
Save up to 20% on your next AVIS off-airport locations!
Save up to 15% with Avis! When coming to the US and Canada for rentals Oct.21-Dec.15!
Do you know of other “preferred service” hacks with other rental car companies?
Please note that this page contains affiliate links. (If you sign up for the preferred service I don’t get any money, only if you rent a car from them do I get a very small commission. — It’s what helps pay the bills).
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I think Hertz has something similar. #1 club. It’s definitely free too.
I’d like to thank you for publishing this site from a Green perspective.
Now, back to Avis. I’ve used Avis almost exclusively for the last 14 years and have always had excellent service. I love going directly to the car, no waiting and just sign out at the security gate.
The only minor problem I’ve had was trying to find a particular location in Paris, close to the St. Germain. Even the taxi driver couldn’t find it. Fortunately a local resident knew where it was – underground with no logo-sign. We drove by it 4-5 times!
I’ve always used Enterprise, but for this summer, I’m going to use Avis for the first time. I’m glad I ran across this post. Thank you.
Great post – I always reccommend Avis. I actually did a brief stint of work with them too, I was their official Car Washer, lol, glamorous job (i know) – But it helped pay off some debt while backpacking in Australia.
Another great cheat I always reccommend people try is to get away from the airport when you rent a car. Budget Car Rentals, and Avis (both of which I worked at) charge you more for renting from the airport. Anywhere from $100 to $200!! (Depending how long you rent it for) If this is the case, its a LOT cheaper to take a $30 dollar cab ride to the Avis Car Rental head office or just one near some residential area or business area. Save yourself a good amount doing this.
Most workers at the store won’t tell you about this, they get good commission for every car they rent out. Have fun – drive safe.
Oh, and ps: check the Tire Treads, a lot of car rental agencies get away with renting out vehicles with poor tread. If its not up to par, complain. Safety first, then teamwork.
Thanks…I did sign-up just now, after reading your post.
–crao
Great tip, thanks. But under the new FTC regulations, aren’t you supposed to divulge that the links above are affiliate links?
@ Susie – Thanks for noticing that. I thought I had gone through and updated all of our pages with affiliate links but I obviously missed this page. Am updating now.
Does anyone know if the rental fee, being a preferred member, is actually twice as much as if you are not a member? Yes, you get the service, but are you paying twice as much for the privilege?
Interesting question, Herman. I’ve actually always been able to use discount codes and other rates and I know I got a better rate with those codes than I could find on Kayak. I can combine these with my preferred membership.
Have you run into a problem with the rate?
I love hiring a car. I don’t know what it is, I think it is the not knowing exaclty what you will have.
“I don’t know why more people don’t sign up for the Preferred Service;..”
If everybody signs up for this service, then you are back to the pavilion. There will be line up for preferred members. (Well, probably, the non preferred ones still will need to wait.)