How to earn Avios points from Budget car rentals

We have run various article on how to earn Avios from Avis car rentals.  The Avis / BA partnership is fairly well publicised and has good benefits, in particular the free additional driver when booking using the British Airways Executive Club discount codes.

The Avis parent company is Avis Budget Group and, unsurprisingly, it is also possible to earn Avios with Budget.  I thought it was worth looking at again today.

The main Budget website is here.

Budget wasn’t originally part of the Avis / BA deal but it is now a fully fledged part of the joint venture and has equal billing on the combined Avis / Budget / Avios website – you can find it here.

How many Avios do I earn from Budget?

It’s very simple.

You earn 2 Avios per £1 spent. All Budget locations worldwide are included. You do not need to use any special British Airways booking codes.

There is minimal small print – you are capped at 10,000 Avios per rental (!), corporate rates do not qualify, chauffeur and van hires do not qualify, rates booked via third parties do not qualify. Apart from that, you’re good to go.

Note that you do NOT get a free additional driver when renting with Budget as a British Airways Executitve Club member.  This benefit is only available with Avis rentals.

The earning rate with Budget is clearly poorer than the Avis earning rate (5 Avios per £1 with Avis vs 2 Avios per £1 with Budget) but if Budget is more convenient or a better deal then you can at least pick up some Avios.

You can find out more on the Avis Budget / BA site here.  For more general information on Budget, visit their website here.

---

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 26th September 2024, sign up for FREE Barclaycard Avios Mastercard and you will receive a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Avios. This is double the usual bonus! You only need to spend £1,000 within 90 days. Our full review is here. Click here to apply.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.