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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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

Category

Avis and Avis Preferred, Iberia and Iberia Plus

Comments (297)

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

  • Nick says:
    30 Nov30 November 10:35

    Ignore my last post! It isn’t a good deal!

  • Jamesyu says:
    30 Nov30 November 10:35

    OT: 50% buy avios bonus through 5 December for anybody needing them in a hurry

  • Imran says:
    30 Nov30 November 10:38

    Booked for 54 euros for Central Birmingham between the 9th and the 12th – hopefully I get the Avios; don’t need the car for those dates!

  • Ben Smithso says:
    30 Nov30 November 10:38

    Provided you abided by the terms of the offer (paid for a 3 day rental, collected before 11th, returned 11th or after I assume you wouldn’t actually have to keep the car the full 3 days? Ie if you pay for 3, pick up 10th and return 11th it would still qualify. I cant imagine you would be penalised for returning a car early if you had paid for extra days?
    The only problem would be where to store the car the night of the 10th in London.

    • Rob says:
      30 Nov30 November 11:02

      You’re not penalised – you are ‘helped’ because they reduce your bill to the cost of a one day rental. This has happened to me, returning a car earlier than expected and finding that I paid less than expected.

      Even if you pre-pay, it will be logged in their system as a one-day rental which probably disqualifies you from the bonus.

  • Chris says:
    30 Nov30 November 10:50

    Rob, and perhaps Ben – I cannot imagine there is anything to stop you from collecting the keys and paperwork and leaving the car in the Avis car park for the three days – or wherever it is they store them if in London?

    • Rob says:
      30 Nov30 November 11:01

      Depends. If it is an Avis based in a multi-storey car park you are probably OK. The airport ones tends to have a check out guy at the gate who signs off your paperwork – if he never sees you leave and doesn’t collect the carbon copy of the check-out form etc you may have trouble.

  • Rambler007 says:
    30 Nov30 November 10:55

    I apologise for being a bit thick, I’m fairly new to this (just started with AMEX for 20k avios). What does it mean ‘You will not get the bonus if you credit to avios.com or British Airways Executive Club’ ?

    • Rob says:
      30 Nov30 November 11:00

      This is an Iberia Plus promotion and you must give an Iberia Plus Avios account number, not a BAEC or avios.com Avios account number, to participate.

      When the Avios appear in your Iberia Plus account, you can use the ‘Combine My Avios’ tool on the Iberia, BA and avios.com websites to move them out of Iberia Plus and into BAEC or avios.com.

  • Matt Price says:
    30 Nov30 November 11:01

    Hi. Can anyone clarify for me. I’ve booked from 9th at 4pm to 11th 4pm so exactly 48 hours. Will get the points? Should I collect earlier to get myself over the threshold?

    Thanks

    • Dave H says:
      30 Nov30 November 11:20

      Pretty sure that will be classed as 2 days not the three required, what does it say on your booking?

    • Jono says:
      30 Nov30 November 11:24

      Promotion says 3 days, so it looks like you’re going to need to add another day.

    • Cate says:
      30 Nov30 November 11:38

      If you look at the bottom the screen on the next page after filling in your details it tells you how long you’ve potentially booked in days and hours. If you haven’t met the requirement then you can go back and change your booking times until you meet the required 3 days.

  • Jonathan says:
    30 Nov30 November 11:19

    Hi all,
    Is there any clarity in terms of having to book as spain mainland as country of residence? There seems nothing on the website that suggests this is a requirement. I have an AMEX target and can’t figure if i’m best to go charged to euros or pounds for a UK rental?

    • roberto says:
      30 Nov30 November 11:50

      For the 3% amex will charge you for the (presumably) sub €100 cost to hire paying in euros its probably not worth the agro either way. You’re talking about the cost difference of a starbucks.

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

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