How to earn miles and points with Enterprise Rent-A-Car

How can you earn frequent flyer miles or hotel points with Enterprise Rent-A-Car?

Compared to Hertz or Avis, Enterprise is definitely in the second tier when it comes to earning rewards in airline or hotel programmes. However, you can’t let the tail wag the dog, and you may find yourself somewhere where Enterprise is the most convenient or cheapest option regardless.

For a UK resident, you can see the partners available on this page of the Enterprise website.

What are the best Enterprise Rent-A-Car partners?

The problem is that none of the partners are very generous, frankly.

Our favourite car rental reward is the partnership between Hertz and Virgin Atlantic – see here. You will earn 1,000 Virgin Points per rental, which is potentially worth £10 if you spend the points wisely.

You can only dream of such a return from a short Enterprise rental.

Here are your options:

Virgin Flying Club

You earn 100 Virgin Points per day, with a cap of 1,200 points per rental. I would value this at £1 per day. Full details are on the Enterprise site here and the Virgin Atlantic site here.

Radisson Rewards

Radisson Rewards is the hotel loyalty scheme for Radisson Blu, Radisson RED, Park Plaza and Park Inn.

You earn 300 Radisson Rewards points per rental. This is incredibly poor, given that I value a Radisson point at 0.33p. You are looking at earning £1 of points, irrespective of the length of your trip. However, if you have a Radisson Rewards account and do not currently collect miles with Virgin Atlantic or Lufthansa, it might be your best chance to get a reward you would actually use.

You can find out more on the Enterprise site here. Oddly it is not promoted on the Radisson Rewards car rental partners page here.

Flying Blue

Flying Blue is the Air France and KLM airline loyalty scheme.

Interestingly, Flying Blue is a revenue based partnership. You earn 4 miles for every €1 or equivalent you spend with Enterprise.

There is no cap, which makes this a good option for longer higher-priced rentals. Take a careful look at the small print about which charges do and do not count when calculating your ‘qualifying’ spend.

Turkish Miles & Smiles

This option is less likely to be of use to a UK resident. You earn 100 Miles & Smiles miles per rental day, with a maximum of 1000 per rental.

Conclusion

As you can see, Enterprise has a thin range of partners if you book via the UK site.

As none are offering huge sums of miles, I would recommend taking points in a scheme where you are already collecting, irrespective of how good or bad the rate. It is better than having a few ‘orphan’ miles in another programme which end up expiring, unused.

If you have balances in any non-European frequent flyer programmes, it is worth looking at Enterprise websites in other countries. There may be other options available.

The Enterprise Rent-A-Car UK home page is here.

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How to get FREE car rental status and other benefits via UK credit cards (March 2023)

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:

Until 30th March 2023, the sign up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to 120,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. T&C apply, see the application forms for details.

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, and apply, in our review: