Join Hertz 24/7 for free and get £20 of driving credit

If you live in London or another large metropolitan area, you are probably familiar with Zipcar or City Car Club. These schemes allow you to rent a car for £6-£7 per hour, from on-street car parking bays.

If you live in Central London, as we do, you probably have 10 Zipcar bays within a 10-15 minute walk of where you live.

Zipcar was bought by Avis earlier in the year. Hertz has responded with its own, more limited version, called Hertz 24/7.

Hertz 24/7 has just launched in the UK. Unlike Zipcar, which has deals with local authorities to use converted on-street parking bays, Hertz 24/7 is generally restricted to basing cars at its own depots. It has also teamed up with B&Q and NCP to base a number of cars in their car parks.

(You can see the snag here, of course. If you can’t walk to your nearest Hertz depot or participating B&Q store or NCP car park, then this is hardly likely to be convenient for you. I would be faced with walking down to the Hertz at Victoria Station, passing about 10 Zipcar locations on the way.)

The good news is that Hertz is offering £20 of driving credit if you decide to give Hertz 24/7 a try before 31st July. Unlike Zipcar, membership of Hertz 24/7 is free, so you only pay for the driving time you need.

To claim your £20 of driving credit, you need to follow two steps:

Join Hertz Gold Plus Rewards for free, here

then

Join Hertz 24/7 here. Use Hertz 24/7 promotional code 1265 to ensure your £20 of free credit is applied. (You can also look at the map at this link to see if there is a suitable location near you.)

Intriguingly, you can also earn Hertz Gold Rewards points with Hertz 24/7. The rate is only 1 point per US$1 equivalent spent, but that would add up with regular usage. Points can be redeemed for standard Hertz rentals or converted into a number of airline (not BA, sadly) or hotel programmes.

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How to get FREE car rental status and other benefits via UK credit cards (September 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

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.