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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.

  • roger says:
    30 Nov30 November 05:09

    When I tried booking this earlier this morning the system said “Booking system is offline”.
    Hopefully when day breaks it will be bookable.

    • Johnnycl says:
      30 Nov30 November 05:58

      +1

    • Andrew Tucker says:
      30 Nov30 November 07:58

      Call me thick, but can somebody clarify three days to me please? Does that mean two nights?

      • JK says:
        30 Nov30 November 08:00

        48-72 hrs

      • Scott says:
        30 Nov30 November 08:35

        Car rentals work on 24 hr periods, so anything over 48hrs will take you into a third day, e.g. Mon 09:00 to Wed 10:00

        • ComeFlyWithMe123 says:
          30 Nov30 November 11:10

          So does the example above of Mon 9am to Wed 10am qualify for the promo. Yes, it is priced at a 3 day rental but the T&C’s state renting for a minimum for 3 days???

          I may have to cancel and rebook if that is the case.

  • HDP says:
    30 Nov30 November 05:45

    Bookdd on http://www.avis.es – found a 3 day rental in Cardiff for 41 euros – the rental office is opposite my workplace, so it’s perfect. And we have a spare place on the drive at home to park the car for 3 days 🙂

  • James67 says:
    30 Nov30 November 05:51

    OT (sorry): a bunch of new amex offers this morning. Spend £10 get £5 at post office is back through 31/12. Offer is on every one of our family cards. An unusual one is 5 extra avios/£ up to a maximum 500 extra avios on spend at Boots (so £100 branded gift card could do the trick). This was on my dads standard BA amex. Varying argos offers across different cards which again could be exploited on branded gift cards.

    • roger says:
      30 Nov30 November 06:00

      For post office. Buying one4all GC would be a better option for many.

      • the real harry says:
        30 Nov30 November 06:49

        Post Office the no brainer! 🙂

        get in quick – half price stamps! or the giftcard as roger says

        • Gavin says:
          30 Nov30 November 06:53

          Saved them all. Nice to see some offers for places I’m likely to use. One4all gift card did the trick last year!

        • the real harry says:
          30 Nov30 November 06:55

          you should actually get in quick – it was posted on the big deals site already and will therefore get used by several thousand people today

        • James67 says:
          30 Nov30 November 06:55

          I’ve now checked the connect site but unfortunately no sign of it there so far.

          • Sam Wardill says:
            30 Nov30 November 09:05

            I got a £30 off £200 Apple spend on one of my AmEx issued cards but not available on any of my (or my wife’s) other 3 nor the AmEx connect. Shame. With 3 of them, I’d have treated myself to a new iPhone (provided Apple store allowed me to split over 3 cards).

    • Nate1309 says:
      30 Nov30 November 07:47

      I have the boots one on my BA card too.

    • Nick M says:
      30 Nov30 November 09:16

      Does anybody know how the Post Office offer would combine if the location is also participating in Shop Small?

      • the real harry says:
        30 Nov30 November 10:26

        Post Offices don’t actually participate in Shop Small – where you see ‘Post Office’ on the map it means the shop bit of shared premises.

        (From LY – happy to see this corrected next week but buyer beware)

        • Nick M says:
          30 Nov30 November 14:50

          Ok thanks for the info – there is one nearby that lists the Post Office and the shop it shares the premises with on the Shop Small Map… may test the waters and then a follow up trip if time permits/depending on how the credit shows.

          ….does anyone want to buy some stamps? 😉

  • Rob says:
    30 Nov30 November 06:11

    If you credit an Avis booking to an FFP do you still get credits towards elite Avis prefered (can’t remember what it’s called) I am one rentals away from getting elite so don’t want to miss that.

  • Fadi says:
    30 Nov30 November 06:16

    This offer is available to me locally for £75. But I am travelling within the three days. Is there a way to use the car and return it early, but still have it booked out to me for compliance?

  • JK says:
    30 Nov30 November 06:17

    Do they let you hire one, take it home and park on driveway like you say, then go back for more?

    • James67 says:
      30 Nov30 November 06:52

      I would like to know this too 🙂

    • the real harry says:
      30 Nov30 November 06:53

      good question – T&Cs should state if limited, I bet the didn’t think about this!

      • James67 says:
        30 Nov30 November 08:02

        My parents could park 3 each and my partner 3 at my place. That’s more than enough for a CW rtn to zone 7, the mind boggles, this could be the avios deal of 2016. Only downside is that my partner only drives an automatic so I’m looking at a €180 A-class for that in Edinburgh. And with nine cars parked the neighbours might call the boys in blue. But hang on, combine this with £600+ BA redemption tax and fees and my CW z7 return is still about £1000 on a small sear on a dirty aircraft, with a small bed, poor AVOD, insufficient food, rubbish chocolate and a T5 transit, No way, not worth the hassle, I think I will keep the neighbous sweet and hedge my bets on a decent miles÷earning flight with Finnair or another for under £1500. Still a great deal though for those just short of target redemptions, using 241s etc.

        • James67 says:
          30 Nov30 November 08:23

          Correction: £1000 for redemption should have been £1500 (£600+ tax/fees, 6x€86 rentals and 3x€180 rentals)

    • Sideysid says:
      30 Nov30 November 10:07

      I suspect that HFP readers neighbors will be wondering what the hell is going on when a fleet of Hyundais blockades their streets on the 8-10th of December.

  • TigerTanaka says:
    30 Nov30 November 06:43

    €74.35 for 3 days at Teesside Airport seems ok for 18,000 avios.

  • Alex W says:
    30 Nov30 November 06:55

    Any idea if you will still get the Avios if you “forget” to pick up the car?

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

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