Road warriors: Test-driving rental car club benefits

No line: The Hertz #1 Club Gold check-in counter.

By Mark Chesnut

Nearly every major rental car company offers some sort of membership club to lure frequent travelers with special benefits. But while most companies offer the same basic amenities — most often, the ability to bypass the main rental car counter, and the chance to receive special discount and sale offers — the programs are not all the same. Shopping around may help you to find the best choice for your specific travel needs.

Basic options
Among the free programs with basic amenities such as members-only discounts and fast-checkin are the Alamo Insiders club, Dollar Express, Enterprise Plus and Budget Rent A Car’s Fastbreak, which keeps member preferences on file and allows for fast check-in via monitor at the airport.

Avis, meanwhile, offers a Preferred Service program that provides line-skipping abilities as well as a Corporate Awards Program designed for small and mid-sized companies.

Tiered service
Very frequent travelers may do better with a program that has membership levels based on the amount of rentals a customer makes throughout the year. The Hertz #1 Club Gold, for example, offers three levels of membership in its #1 Club Gold. The annual membership fee of $60 (waived through September 30, 2011) gets you basic Gold membership, while 10 or more rentals per year — or $5,000 to $6,999 spent — will get you into the Five Star level, which has benefits including free one-car-class upgrades subject to availability, a deposit of 600 Gold Plus Rewards points after every 15 qualifying rentals and a 10 percent bonus on Gold Plus Rewards on all qualified rentals. Truly hard-core road warriors may find themselves in the President’s Circle, which comes after 40 or more annual rentals or $7,000 or more spent per year.

National Car Rental’s Emerald Club also has a tiered membership structure. After 12 paid rentals or paid rental days in a one-year period, members achieve Executive status, which provides guaranteed upgrades and one free rental day with six rental credits. After 25 paid rentals or 85 paid rental days, members are upgraded to Executive Elite status, which features vehicle delivery to most airport terminals at U.S. locations and one free rental day with no blackout dates with five rental credits.

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Mark Chesnut is a travel writer, editor and publisher of LatinFlyer.com, which focuses on business and leisure travel to Latin America.

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