Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

How does the Hertz and Amex Platinum ‘4 hour grace period’ work?

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

If you are a regular or occasional car renter, it is worth being familar with one of the lesser known benefits of The Platinum Card from American Express.

Most people know that Amex Platinum comes with comprehensive car hire insurance. You don’t need to agree to anything that the rental company tries to sell you. I have claimed on this a few times over the years and never had a problem. The car hire company charges you and you reclaim the bill from American Express.

American Express Platinum '4 hour Hertz grace period'

Platinum also comes with elite status at Hertz and Avis, although I don’t value this much. It is worth having if you regularly rent from busy depots as it usually allows you to ignore the queue and pick up your keys from a separate desk.

The Hertz ‘4 hour’ deal is something totally separate from the Hertz status you receive via Amex Platinum. The benefit allows you to make your final rental day a 28 hour one.

Let’s imagine that you pick up a car at 10am on Friday to return at 2pm on Monday.

Car rental companies treat this as a four day rental.

With Hertz, as long as you use the Amex Platinum CDP code of 633306, it prices as a three day rental. This is because you get a four hour grace period on your final day.

Where is the four hour grace period available?

According to Hertz:

“A 4-hour no charge grace period before an extra day charge is applied when returning the vehicle in Hertz Corporate Europe locations, the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Middle East (with exception of UAE and Bahrain who offer 2 hours grace period) and selected European Franchise countries (see participating countries). Asia, with the exception of China, offers a 2-hour no charge grace period, except on optional extras like portable phones.”

For clarity, you need to make your original booking with the four hour grace period included. You can’t return the car four hours late and claim you shouldn’t be charged.

American Express Platinum '4 hour Hertz grace period'

Here is an example.

Compare two bookings using the Amex Platinum code:

All of these quotes are taken from the UK Hertz website which is here.

This is a Hertz rental of exactly three days from Heathrow Airport using the Amex Platinum discount code, showing £168.30 as the price.

American Express Platinum '4 hour Hertz grace period'

This is a Hertz rental of three days and four hours, using the Amex Platinum discount code:

American Express Platinum '4 hour Hertz grace period'

As you can see, there is no price difference. It is still £168.30 due to the four hour American Express Platinum grace period.

Compare the same two bookings WITHOUT the Amex Platinum code:

To prove that the Amex code is making a difference, here is the same Hertz rental of exactly three days WITHOUT using the Amex Platinum discount code. You will see that the American Express Platinum code has saved us 10% (£18) which is OK but not a fortune.

American Express Platinum '4 hour Hertz grace period'

This is a Hertz rental of three days and four hours WITHOUT using the Amex Platinum discount code:

American Express Platinum '4 hour Hertz grace period'

You will see that the price has shot up because you are now paying for a fourth day, even though you are returning the car just four hours into the fourth day. The total discount for using the Amex Platinum discount code on this trip is now a chunky (£244 vs £168) 31%.

Conclusion

The American Express Platinum / Hertz ‘four hour waiver’ seems like a very niche benefit, and one that you can easily overlook.

If it fits around your schedule, however, it can lead to substantial savings.

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review


Want to earn more points from credit cards? – September 2023 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current 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

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: The sign-up bonus on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard is doubled to 30,000 Virgin Points if you apply by 2nd October. You receive 15,000 Virgin Points with your first purchase and a further 15,000 points if you spend £3,000 within 90 days. Apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

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

30,000 points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

30,000 bonus points (SPECIAL OFFER TO 2ND OCTOBER) and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points 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

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback credit card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review

Comments (32)

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

  • Travel Strong says:

    Just to add to the article, for absolute clarity:

    – You have to BOOK the reservation with the 4hrs baked in (e.g. 4pm start / 8pm finish) … You can’t just return up to 4hrs late (which is what I took to mean ‘grace’ period!)

    I know it sounds obvious in hindsight – but it wasn’t obvious to me the first time I used Hertz 😂

  • Mikeact says:

    Seems to me that this article needs to go into the new/upcoming car rental forum !

    • Rob says:

      It’s on our ‘to do’ list now that we’re all actually back in the office (I’ve effectively been out for six weeks, apart from the odd day, up to today.)

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

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.