Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Huge 18,700 Avios for ONE UK Avis rental – but does it make sense?

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Iberia Plus and Avis have launched a very low key promotion which a HfP reader flagged up last night. If you can make this work for you, you could do very nicely.

Take a look here.

Avis is offering 18,000 Avios if you book a Group C car, or above, for 3 days or more, starting on 8th, 9th or 10th December.

Avis 350

You will also earn at least 700 base Avios for the rental.

If you can get a good rate from your local depot this could be a real winner.

The devil is in the detail with offers like this.  If you are thinking of taking part, read the rules carefully as well as my summary below.

You will earn these Avios in Iberia Plus.  You will need a free Iberia Plus account to take part.  You will not get the bonus if you credit to avios.com or British Airways Executive Club.

You must book on avisiberia.es, iberia.com or avis.es.   Bookings on avis.com or avis.co.uk do not qualify.

Your rental must be in the UK, mainland Spain, Balearics and Canaries, Italy, France, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium or Holland.

The deal is NOT valid on Prestige rentals, Chauffeur Drive or van rentals.

You cannot use any other coupon, promotion or frequent flyer points offer.  This implies to me that you must book at the standard Avis rate.  It even implies that using the Iberia discount code would disqualify you.  This may be taking the rule too literally but you don’t want to risk 18,000 Avios.

It is worth pricing up a 3-day rental from your local Avis depot.  Try out rentals starting on the 8th, 9th and 10th for three days for a Group C or above.  If the price works then it could be worth renting a car and sticking it on your drive for the weekend.

I tried a random booking in Bolton and got a price of €51 – a bargain for 18,700 Avios.

Unfortunately, because I can’t park anywhere near my own house without a parking permit, it isn’t one for me.  If you can make it work for you it could go nicely.  Just make sure you follow the rules to the letter.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (297)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Concerto says:

    Going to be tricky getting this to work in expensive Switzerland. Plus, parking it up would be a logistical nightmare here. I go everywhere by train, so maybe I could nip across the border to Germany near Basel….

  • Chris says:

    I don’t have an Iberia account – does the 90 day restriction rule me out of this offer?

    • Rob says:

      No – you just can’t move the Avios out of Iberia for 90 days.

      • James ardron says:

        Iberia doesn’t want to seem to register, keeps giving an error in document field (which is correct) and apparently need to call the service centre!

  • rcarpe2 says:

    “Sorry, our system is not able to locate your Wizard profile with the information you have entered. Please check your information. (GB-GB-EW024)”

    Any idea what I’m doing wrong?

    • Breeze says:

      I too am getting the same issue:
      An error has occurred Sorry, our system is not able to locate your Wizard profile with the information you have entered. Please check your information. (GB-GB-EW024) .

    • w says:

      I got this when entering my avis preferred number. ignore those fields, it will ask for the IB account number later in the booking process.

  • Craig says:

    €54 for 18700 Avios is a bargain. Hopefully the hotel I’m staying in in Leeds will let me leave my car for the 3 days and I’ll have to drive back on the 11th to drop the car off. Even factoring in 180 miles of fuel it’s still a good deal.

  • Ian says:

    Lots of comments saying the car must be returned on the 10th.
    Is this really true, on the website I thought it has to be collected by the 10th and be returned on or after the 11th. I actually need a car for the 10th to the 18th and can get one for €125, the 18000 avios would be a nice extra Christmas present!

    What do you think Rob et al?

    • lee says:

      this is not true as terms say a minimum of 3 days and to be returned on or after the 11th december

  • Sandgrounder says:

    If you are willing to hurt your margin a little bit, you could always hire the car at an airport and then park it straight away in the cheapest off airport car park you can find until it’s time to return.

  • @mkcol says:

    Trying to figure the point at which a rental becomes too dear.
    Any ideas?

    • @mkcol says:

      Well irrespective I’ve managed to get a Group E in Milton Keynes for E49.15 for 3 days.

    • Rob says:

      Depends how much trouble it is to pick up the car I think. £95 would be 0.5p per Avios which I would still see as a decent deal but not if I was incurring heavy financial or time costs in getting or returning the car.

  • BigDave says:

    Managed to snag one for €64 – from the 8th – Iets hope those points post in the end!

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