New benefits from Hertz Gold Plus Rewards …. including a useful one!

I published a long piece on Hertz Gold Plus Rewards back in January as part of a longer look at how to earn miles and points from Hertz.  I also wrote this post in October about Hertz Five Star, the ‘premium’ level which is given free to American Express Platinum cardholders.

Hertz has just announced some improvements to Hertz Gold Plus Rewards which are worth knowing about.

The bulk of the new benefits are not desperately exciting, although I admit that they may prove useful in practice:

• More Points: Earn points in more countries.
• Quick Rewards: Claim rewards when you book and see your points balance in real time.
• Locate and Go: Carfirmation tells you where your vehicle is parked.
• Speedy Returns: Experience our fastest car rental drop-off with Instant Return.
• Faster Status: Achieve Five Star status after 7 rentals (or get it free with Amex Platinum!)

This one, though, IS worth having:

• Extra Driver: Pay no additional driver fees for a spouse or domestic partner.

One of the oddest things about car rental is the way that you are penalised, often quite dramatically, by having a second named driver.  Logically, especially on a long trip, it should be safer if two people share the driving and therefore beneficial to Hertz, which is presumably keen to get its cars and customers back in one piece.

Avis already offers a free additional driver to British Airways Executive Club members who book via the special Avis / BA website.  This new move puts Hertz on a similar footing – unless your passenger is a friend and not your partner, in which case Avis remains the better deal.

As Hertz Gold Plus Rewards is free to join, Hertz is effectively abolishing additional driver fees for most people.  There is now no excuse for being caught out signing up to pay an extra £12 or so per day for your partner.

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How to get FREE car rental status and other benefits via UK credit cards (April 2024)

If you hire a car in the UK, you can get special benefits (discounts, upgrades, free additional drivers etc) if you have elite status with a car rental programme. You can get elite status for free via certain American Express cards.

The Platinum Card and American Express Business Platinum

The Platinum Card from American Express and American Express Business Platinum come with two free car hire status cards. Your supplementary Platinum cardholder can also receive status in their own right.

From Avis, you receive President’s Club status in Avis Preferred. This gets you up to 25% off standard rates, a free additional driver and a guaranteed one class upgrade. For weekend rentals you will receive a two class upgrade, subject to availability.

From Hertz, you receive ‘Five Star’ status in Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. This gets you up to 15% off standard rates, a free additional driver and a one class upgrade, subject to availability.

Hertz also offers Platinum cardholders a 4 hour grace period on rentals. Your final day is treated as 28 hours, so a 1pm pick up with a 5pm return the following day is only charged as one day, not two days. We wrote about the Hertz / Platinum 4 hour grace period here.

The Platinum Card also comes with full car hire insurance with no obligation to pay for the rental via American Express. You can refuse any attempts to sell you additional insurance at pick up. This benefit has substantial value if you rent on a regular basis.

You can find more details on the two Platinum cards, and apply, in our full reviews linked below. You can apply here for the personal card and here for the business card.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is an excellent card in its own right. You receive 20,000 Membership Rewards points for signing up (convert to 20,000 Avios amongst other things), four airport lounge passes and £120 of Deliveroo credit. Even better, your first year is free.

There are two car rental benefits:

• you receive Preferred Plus status in Avis Preferred

• you receive a special package with Hertz – 10% off best available rates at participating locations, a one class upgrade for rentals of 5 days or more, subject to availability, and no additional driver fees

Find out more about the benefits of American Express Preferred Rewards Gold in our review. You can apply here.