Bits: new Iberia wine deal for 500 Avios, decent Miles & More / Hertz promo

News in brief:

New Iberia Plus wine offer for 500 Avios

Iberia’s wine partner, Vinoseleccion, is running a new deal for UK residents.

For £50, you will receive six bottle of rioja plus free delivery plus 500 Avios in Iberia Plus.  These can be moved across to BAEC or avios.com using the ‘Combine My Avios’ functionality on any Avios website.

£50 is advertised as ‘half price’ but you should always treat these claims with caution where wine is concerned.  That said, Vinoseleccion seems to have a decent reputation overall.  Full details of the offer are here.

Miles & More launches new promo with Hertz

Miles & More, the Lufthansa Group frequent flyer scheme, has launched a new promotion with Hertz.

For bookings by 30th June, for rentals before 30th September, you will earn 1500 Miles & More miles per rental.  You will also be entered into a competition to win one of 20 prizes of 50,000 miles.

There is no minimum rental length so this could be good deal for one day hires.

Full details, including details of the codes which must be added to your booking (and which may or may not end up inflating the price of your rental) are here on hertz.com.

Don’t forget that Virgin Atlantic is also an excellent place to park miles from Hertz rentals – see here for details – earning 1000 miles every time.  That is where I sent the miles from the Hertz rental I did last weekend.

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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.