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We have booked Avis rentals a couple of times now and thanks to Platinum card we’ve gotten the extra driver free as part of Presidents Club status, one in Europe, one in Uk and all fine. We booked direct as through the BA link/referral the discount was tiny.
Just about to book a hire for Florida and noticed that booking through BA exec club portal saves about £60 … I added the Avis Preferred member number so I figure we will still get the extra driver free (and the exec club portal Avios of course). Weirdly it’s saying it will be with Budget through the BA referral? I assume it’s all the same.
Any one know if you have to book through the Avis site direct to get the extra driver or does adding it to the BA referral page carry through?
Hope this makes sense.
@simonbarker – I’m not sure that you get the free additional driver with Budget, even if booked via BA Avis. However, in Florida if the additional driver is your spouse or domestic partner, they should be included at no extra charge. Don’t take my word for it though; please check!
You do not get a free additional driver if you book a Budget rental instead of Avis, even if they appear on the same search.
If you are a BA Exec club member and book an Avis rental via the BA portal, then you get a free additional driver anyway (though is usually more expensive than booking direct with Avis, especially if logged in and the members discount applies).
The President’s Club benefit also only applies to Avis rentals, not Budget, and technically only applies in certain countries (though is always a bit random).
The BA portals, either via ba.com or carhire-ba.com offer both Avis and Budget cars. The latter now seems to redirect to avisworld.com, which may be the source of the confusion.
The additional driver is Avis only, not if you book a Budget car, regardless of the route taken.
It’s Avis only, unless you are in one of the USA states where it is compulsory for car rental companies to give a free second driver to spouses. It was true in California a few years ago, I don’t remember it being true in Florida, but rules may have changed.
Interesting, thanks all.
The avisworld.com one is only offering me Budget … and not Avis. Sounds like I should book direct with Avis as we are also banking on the free upgrade at airports as well as the extra driver (who would be my wife).
Urgh, car rentals is a mine field. I also just have zero trust is US companies honouring things like this as well so my hackles are already up.
Florida, along with many US states includes spouse/life partner(same address)/carer as no-charge driver. They must still show drivers license at pick up.
The fact that many companies ‘allow’ you to select this as an additional fee is ‘interesting’, like many US customs…
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