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How to Save Money on Car Rentals [Points, Upgrades, Cash Savings, and More] – Upgraded Points

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When you’re traveling, the 2 biggest pieces of your travel budget are usually transit and accommodation. Normally, people think of transit as airplane tickets, both international and domestic. However, many of us know that car rentals can make up a large portion of your travel spending.
Since it constitutes a significant piece of the pie, it’s in your best interest to optimize that as much as reasonably possible. Car rentals can run you anywhere between $20-$200 per day, and that doesn’t include gas!
In this guide, we’ll walk you through how you can save money on car rentals. There are a number of ways, including using points for the car rental outright, utilizing elite status, as well as some more straightforward ways to find better prices. We’ll also talk about the benefits of using the right credit card for your car rental.
The easiest way to save money when booking car rentals is to use points. However, you might not have enough points, or you might be saving your points for a first class flight, for example. Nonetheless, you may still rather save money on car rentals, especially if you’ve got extra points lying around.
When we’re talking about the different banks and points you can book car rentals with using points, you’ll notice one notable bank absent: American Express. You can’t currently use Amex Membership Rewards points to redeem for car rentals.
Let’s get into some of the cost-effective ways to use points for car rentals.
Chase Ultimate Rewards is incredibly useful both for redeeming for some amazing flights and for general travel via the Chase Travel Portal.
Depending on which cards you have, you’ll earn 1-1.5 cents per point in value when booking travel through the Chase Travel Portal:
Chase Ultimate Rewards Card
Chase Travel Portal Points Value
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
1.5 cents per point
Chase Sapphire Preferred® card
1.25 cents per point
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
1.25 cents per point
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
1 cent per point
Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
1 cent per point
Chase Freedom Unlimited®
1 cent per point
Chase Freedom Flex℠
1 cent per point
Keep in mind that you can freely move points between your Chase credit cards, which you can then transfer to the Chase transfer partners.
For example, if you hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve but put most of your spending on the Ink Business Preferred card, you can move points from your Ink Business Preferred card to your Chase Sapphire Reserve card to get the better redemption value for car rentals via the Chase Travel Portal.
When you do this, you’ll redeem fewer points to get better value. For example, a $100 car rental will cost 6,667 Ultimate Rewards points when you move your points to the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, as opposed to the inferior 8,000 points from the Ink Business Preferred card. This represents a ~17% savings!
Bottom Line: The Chase Travel Portal empowers cardholders to redeem Ultimate Rewards points at a maximum rate of 1.5 cents per point, which is one of the best, if not the best way to book car rentals using points.
A fantastic travel card with a great welcome offer, good benefits, and perks for a moderate annual fee.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® card is one of the best travel rewards cards on the market. Its bonus categories include travel, dining, online grocery purchases, and streaming services, which gives you the opportunity to earn lots of bonus points on these purchases.
Additionally, it offers flexible point redemption options, no foreign transaction fees, and excellent travel insurance coverage including primary car rental insurance. With benefits like these, it’s easy to see why this card is an excellent choice for any traveler.
Chase Ultimate Rewards
A top player in the high-end premium travel credit card space that earns 3x points on travel and dining while offering top luxury perks.
If you’re looking for an all-around excellent travel rewards card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is one of the best options out there.
The card combines elite travel benefits and perks like airport lounge access, with excellent point earning and redemption options.  Plus it offers top-notch travel insurance protections to keep you covered whether you’re at home or on the road.
Don’t forget the $300 annual travel credit which really helps to reduce the annual fee!
Chase Ultimate Rewards
Business owner? See our list of the best Chase business credit cards.
Hot Tip: Did you know that some Chase cards come with car rental benefits? Explore the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and Chase Sapphire Preferred card’s car rental benefits.
Citi’s rewards program is called ThankYou Rewards, and its travel portal is called the Citi Travel Center. You’ll redeem your ThankYou points at a flat rate of 1 cent per point on car rentals, along with cruises and all other non-flight and hotel bookings.
Generally, this isn’t a recommended practice, as there are so many other ways to redeem Citi ThankYou Points for maximum value.
For example, you can book Singapore Airlines First Class Suites for 86,000 ThankYou Points transferred to Singapore Airlines. That ticket in cash would be $7,000+.
Still, if you’ve got more Citi points than you know what to do with, perhaps from the 10x points on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com from the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card, then you have the option of redeeming your points at a 1 cent per point value for car rentals.
Capital One is one of the newer players in the credit card rewards scene. Still, it has fantastic cards to put your spending on, especially if you want a simple rewards structure that earns transferable points.
Once you’ve earned lots of Capital One miles, you’ll find that redeeming miles is pretty easy. When you use Capital One Travel, you’ll redeem Capital One miles at a flat rate of 1 cent per point, which includes hotels and flights as well.
The Capital One Venture X card is an excellent option for travelers looking for an all-in-one premium credit card.
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is the premium Capital One travel rewards card on the block.
Points and miles fans will be surprised to see that the Capital One Venture X card packs quite the punch when it comes to bookings made through Capital One, all while offering the lowest annual fee among premium credit cards.
Depending on your travel goals and preferences, the Capital One Venture X card could very well end up being your go-to card in your wallet.
 
Capital One Miles
 
Get 2x miles plus some of the most flexible redemptions offered by a travel credit card!
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is one of the most popular rewards cards on the market. It’s perfect for anyone in search of a great welcome offer, high rewards rates, and flexible redemption options.
Frequent travelers with excellent credit may benefit from this credit card that offers a lot of bells and whistles. And it offers easy-to-understand rewards earning and redemption.
Capital One Miles
The card offers unlimited miles at 1.25x per $1 and no annual fee. When you consider the flexible rewards, frequent travelers come out on top.
Interested in a travel rewards credit card without one of those pesky annual fees? Then say hello to the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card.
In addition to no annual fee, the Capital One VentureOne card offers no foreign transaction fees.
But is this card worth its salt, or is it merely a shell of the more popular Capital One Venture card?
Capital One Miles
The Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Credit Card is another great way to earn rewards, including on car rentals.
The Bank of America Premium Rewards card is a great travel rewards card for those looking for a simple approach to earning and redeeming rewards.
The Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card is a great option for anyone looking for a travel rewards card with a simple approach to how you earn and redeem your rewards.
From travel and purchase protections to airline incidental and Global Entry credits, there is plenty to love about the Bank of America Premium Rewards card.
Plus, those that hold status in the Bank of America Preferred Rewards program can get even more value from the card by boosting their rewards by 25% to 75%!
With the Bank of America Premium Rewards card, you’ll earn 2x points on travel and dining purchases, noting that car rentals are considered “travel” as thusly earn 2x points. With all this earning, you can redeem for cash back as a statement credit, gift cards or purchases at the Bank of America Travel Center, and more.
Wells Fargo’s reward system is known as “Go Far Rewards,” and these points are earned on the following cards:
Although the value of points spent on airfare is up to 1.75 cents per point, the value drops to a flat 1 cent per point for car rentals booked on the Wells Fargo portal.
You can also redeem points for cash-back at a flat 1 cent per point with a minimum of 2,000 points per transaction. You can also elect to get statement credits applied to your account instead.
Believe it or not, U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest bank in the U.S., has a bunch of rewards-bearing credit cards. These include the Korean Air and Radisson Rewards Americas credit cards. However, it also has an ultra-premium credit card.
This credit card, known as the U.S. Bank Altitude™ Reserve Visa Infinite® Card, is one of the most useful cards out there. It comes fully loaded with these perks:
The last bullet point is the most important: you can redeem U.S. Bank Altitude points for 1.5 cents per point on car rentals! This effectively matches the Chase Sapphire Reserve card’s redemption value, which is awesome.
Bottom Line: When you put all of this information together, you’ll see that using either the Chase Travel Portal coupled with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card or the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve enables you to redeem points at top-notch value: 1.5 cents per point. 
Now that we’ve covered using points from major banks to cover your car rental charges, let’s talk about points from the major car rental rewards programs. The only practical way for most of us to earn these points is through previous rentals with a particular company.
For example, if you travel frequently for work and rent using Avis (either through corporate contracts or your own preference), you’ll earn Avis points. Let’s discuss the points structure of each major car rental company.
National Car Rental, Alamo, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car all fall under the Enterprise Holdings, Inc. umbrella. However, you’ll find that the loyalty programs are actually different in many ways.
For example, National Car Rental’s Emerald Club will provide you with 1 rental credit for every qualified car rental. You’ll get a free rental day (up to a midsize) after earning 7 credits. What this essentially means is that after as little as 7 rental days (1 day per rental), you can get a free rental day.
Enterprise Plus, on the other hand, rewards you depending on how much you spend with them. You earn 1 point per $1 spent on the base rental rate. Free rentals start at 400 points with no blackout dates. This means you’ll need to spend a minimum of $400 on base rental rates in order to get a free rental day.
Alamo doesn’t have a rewards structure where you earn and redeem points for free rentals. Instead, it offers periodic deals for discounts off of car rentals (Alamo Insiders save 5% off of retail rates) or occasional promotions to earn a free rental day after 2 rentals, for example.
Similar to Enterprise Holdings, Inc., the Hertz Corporation owns several brands. The largest ones are Hertz, Thrifty, and Dollar. Hertz offers an award chart for daily rentals as well as weekly rentals. These are further broken down by the car class. Here’s the daily rental award chart:
Hertz Daily Rentals Award Chart
Standard U.S. Reward Chart
Point Values Are per Day (Up to 4 Days)

Standard Rewards
Blackout Dates Apply

AnyDay Rewards
No Blackout Dates Apply

1 Free Rental Day
750 Points
1,500 Points
2 Free Rental Days
1,500 Points
3,000 Points
3 Free Rental Days
2,250 Points
4,500 Points
4 Free Rental Days
3,000 Points
6,000 Points
Specialty Vehicles
1 Free Rental Day

1,500 Points
3,000 Points
Specialty Vehicles
2 Free Rental Days

3,000 Points
6,000 Points
Specialty Vehicles
3 Free Rental Days

4,500 Points
9,000 Points
Specialty Vehicles
4 Free Rental Days

6,000 Points
12,000 Points
Hertz Adrenaline Collection
1 Free Standard Day

2,200 Points
4,400 Points
Hertz Adrenaline Collection
2 Free Standard Days

4,400 Points
8,800 Points
Hertz Adrenaline Collection
3 Free Standard Days

6,600 Points
13,200 Points
Hertz Adrenaline Collection
4 Free Standard Days

8,800 Points
17,600 Points
Hertz Prestige Collection
1 Free Standard Day

2,500 Points
5,000 Points
Hertz Prestige Collection
2 Free Standard Days

5,000 Points
10,000 Points
Hertz Prestige Collection
3 Free Standard Days

7,500 Points
15,000 Points
Hertz Prestige Collection
4 Free Standard Days

10,000 Points
20,000 Points
As you can see, the daily rate is applied for rental periods between 1-4 days, while the weekly rentals are applied if longer.
Here’s the weekly rentals award chart:
Hertz Weekly Rentals Award Chart
Standard U.S. Reward Chart
Point Values Are per Week (Up to 2 Weeks)

Standard Rewards
Blackout Dates Apply

AnyDay Rewards
No Blackout Dates Apply

1 Free Weekly Rental
3,750 Points
7,500 Points
2 Free Weeks of 8-14 days
7,500 Points
15,000 Points
Specialty Vehicles
Free Weekly Rental

7,500 Points
15,000 Points
Specialty Vehicles
2 Free Weeks of 8-14 Days

15,000 Points
30,000 Points
Hertz Prestige Collection
1 Free Weekly Rental

12,500 Points
25,000 Points
Hertz Prestige Collection
2 Free Weekly Rentals of 8-14 days

25,000 Points
50,000 Points
Hertz Adrenaline Collection
1 Free Weekly Rental

11,000 Points
22,000 Points
Hertz Adrenaline Collection
2 Free Weekly Rentals of 8-14 days

22,000 Points
44,000 Points
Lastly, you might find that you need to return your car to a place that is different from your original pick-up location. This is known as a one-way rental, and Hertz prices these as follows:
One-Way Rental Award Chart (Compact Through Premium Only)
Standard U.S. Reward Chart
Standard Rewards
Blackout Dates Apply

AnyDay Rewards
No Blackout Dates Apply

1 Free Rental Day
1,500 Points
3,000 Points
2 Free Rental Days
3,000 Points
6,000 Points
3 Free Rental Days
4,500 Points
9,000 Points
4 Free Rental Days
6,000 Points
12,000 Points
1 Week
7,500 Points
15,000 Points
As far as earning goes, Hertz has adopted a spending-based rewards system where you earn 1 point per dollar on the base rate, in addition to things like insurance options, car seat charges, SiriusXM, gas, and more.
When you rent with Dollar, you’ll earn 1 point per $1 spent, and the free rentals start at 500 points for a weekend or 625 points for a weekday. Additionally, points can only be redeemed on compact, mid-size, standard, full-size, or SUV vehicles. Blackout dates also apply. Additionally, you can only redeem points within the U.S. and Canada.
Thrifty’s rewards program, known as Blue Chip Rewards, enables you to earn 1 point per qualifying $1 spent on rentals and redeem as little as 500 points for a free weekend rental day and 625 points for a free weekday rental day.
Here’s the full award chart for weekend, weekday, and weekly rentals on Thrifty:
Thrifty Blue Chip Free Rentals Award Chart 
(redeemable for compact, mid-size, standard, or full-size vehicles only)
Weekend Rentals
Required Points
1 Free Weekend Rental Day
500 points
2 Free Weekend Rental Days
1,000 points
3 Free Weekend Rental Days
1,500 points
4 Free Weekend Rental Days
2,000 points
Weekday Rentals
Required Points
1 Free Weekday Rental Day
625
2 Free Weekday Rental Days
1,250
3 Free Weekday Rental Days
1,875
4 Free Weekday Rental Days
2,500
Weekly Rentals
Required Points
1 Free Week Rental
2,550
2 Free Weeks Rental
5,000
Bottom Line: Redemptions are typically more expensive at Hertz, but that’s simply because the cars tend to be nicer compared to Dollar or Thrifty. 
Avis’s loyalty program is called Avis Preferred. As a refresher, we’ll be describing how you can earn and redeem points.
There are 2 tiers of Avis:
Avis is unique in that it categorizes rewards into levels, which correspond directly with the standard daily rate. Reward dates start at 700 points per day, and you’ll pay this price for rentals that are priced up to $50 per day. Here’s the full award chart:
Reward Level
Points per Day Cost
Standard Daily Rate Range
Maximum Value per Point
Level 1
700
$0 – $50
7.14 cents per point
Level 2
1,400
$50.01 – $85
6.07 cents per point
Level 3
2,100
$85.01 – $125
5.95 cents per point
Level 4
3,500
$125.01 – $225
6.43 cents per point
The sweet spot lies in the Level 1 tier, as you can get as high as 7.14 cents per point in value. Also, the lower tier is going to be the redemption of choice for most people (looking for the cheapest available car).
If you’ve already decided on saving your points and paying with cash instead, you’ll still want to save as much money as possible, right? You’re probably saving your points for some incredible first class or business class redemptions — there’s definitely nothing wrong with that!
Here are some great ways to save on your rental car expenditures when you’re paying with cash.
Airline and hotel elite status, especially top-tier status, is ordinarily worth thousands of dollars — this doesn’t mean that we should be ignoring rental car elite status, however.
The Platinum Card® by American Express and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express both offer a range of car rental perks and discounts.
Here are the Amex Platinum card’s benefits for car rentals:
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card offers these benefits for car rentals:
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card comes with some of the best rental car insurance and benefits in the business.
The United Club℠ Infinite Card provides Avis elite status as follows:
The last credit card we’ll mention is the Citi Prestige® Card, which has benefits at Avis, National, and Sixt.
Bottom Line: There are tons of different credit cards that offer car rental elite status. Be sure to examine your exact situation, pick a car rental company that fits your needs, and then find a card that offers the most utility for that particular rental company. 
This might seem obvious, but this strategy is somewhat nuanced. You’ll definitely save money by paying for the cheapest rate, however, you’ll often get upgraded for free because the car rental company has limited cars in each class available.
Similar to booking a basic economy ticket, not being able to make a seat assignment, and often finding yourself assigned to an economy plus seat, these upgrade procedures are subject to available inventory.
There are some situations in which you’ll pay for the lowest rate but end up upgraded, even without car rental elite status.
AutoSlash has been around for a long time. In fact, it made our list of best websites for finding cheap car rentals, which is a testament to its merit.
Here’s what the site does:
Here’s how to get a car rental quote from AutoSlash. You’ll first want to visit AutoSlash’s homepage. Choose whether you’d like to pick up your car at the airport or not, along with the airport city/code. Click Continue.
Then, you need to decide whether or not you’re going to have the same pick-up and drop-off location:
Then, enter your pick-up and drop-off dates and times:
After that, decide what class of car you’d like to rent:
You’ll then need to inform them of the various memberships or credit cards you have. AutoSlash asks for memberships and credit card holdings in order to search for the best car rental quotes, which will vary depending on which exact groups or organizations you’re a part of.
Finally, enter your name and email. In a few minutes, AutoSlash will send you an email with the best discounts.
The main difference between AutoSlash and other car rental portals is that AutoSlash is not instant. Quotes take around 2-10 minutes to show up in your inbox.
Bottom Line: AutoSlash is a fantastic way to find the cheapest car rental rates. It helps especially if you’ve got memberships such as AAA, USAA, AARP, and more
Because airport car rentals are scarce and typically more convenient, they command a higher premium over off-airport car rentals. If you’re budget-conscious and don’t mind heading to an alternate location to pick up your car, you’ll often discover significant savings.
This isn’t necessarily because the rental company is hiking prices; rather, it’s often due to the ancillary government-mandated taxes and fees that the rental company gets hit with. These taxes and fees are then passed onto the consumer (you).
You might find massive savings anywhere from 40-60% off compared to airport pick-ups! This even makes taking an Uber or Lyft to the rental location an economically advantageous decision.
When you rent a car, you’ll be pitched a number of optional accessories, such as GPS, child safety seats, ski racks, snow tires, and even gas. Car rental companies make a ton of money on these add-ons, and none of them are required.
So, bring your own child safety seats and GPS and refill on gas before returning the car.
Dealing with rental car disputes is one of the worst headaches you can ever imagine. In order to prevent getting hit with charges for damages that you didn’t cause, you need to document everything from beginning to end of your rental.
As a rule of thumb, you’ll want to follow this checklist:
In general, following these steps will minimize your probability of getting scammed or getting hit with fictitious damage claims.
As you shop around for rental cars, you might find a number of discounts, coupons, promotions, and more from various websites. Sometimes, these are stackable, which means that instead of saving 20%, you might be able to save 40%.
Google is your best friend here because different websites might have different coupons available for redemption. Starting your online booking at Rakuten can also earn cash-back on your reservation!
Hot Tip: Not sure where to find the best car rental prices? Check out these websites to find the cheapest price on your next rental car quickly and easily! 
The cards you use for car rentals will invariably depend on the end goal you’re looking to achieve. Car rental insurance is a big deal (as it should be) for many people. Often, the incremental points you get from paying for your car rental with a rewards-earning credit card are outweighed by the rental car coverage.
As you’ll see, there is significant overlap between rewards earning credit cards and the cards with the best rental car coverage. Let’s see how the rankings round out.
We’ve put together the definitive guide on the best credit cards for car rental insurance coverage, which details the cards with the best policies for car rental insurance.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card and United Club card will provide primary collision damage waiver (CDW) coverage, which is industry-leading. Exclusions (like vehicle type, applicable countries, and liability coverage) may apply.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card offers an identical benefit, except there’s a maximum of $75,000 per claim. In this sense, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is actually better than the Chase Sapphire Reserve card because it doesn’t have a maximum covered amount.
Hot Tip: Renting a car for business? Both the Ink Business Preferred card and the Ink Business Cash card offer primary CDW in addition to so many other perks! 
Generally, car rental expenditures will fall under the “general travel” category put forth by credit card companies. You’ll do well to put your spending on the Ink Business Preferred card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve card for 2 reasons:
You’ll also get 10x points on car rentals booked through CitiTravel.com with the Citi Strata Premier card, but you won’t get primary car rental insurance coverage, which is probably more important than earning a few points.
Whew! Who knew that figuring out how to rent a car was so complicated? Car rental companies are in the business of maximizing profitability, so there are so many different tricks that they try to get away with.
Now you have a pretty comprehensive picture of how to use points from major credit cards as well as the car rental companies themselves to save money on rental days. Also, you’re equipped with some solid tips you can follow to save a pretty penny on your car rental spending.
Lastly, don’t forget to put your car rental expenses on a card that will provide solid car rental insurance and rewards.
The information regarding the Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa® Card, Wells Fargo Platinum Card, Wells Fargo Visa Signature, and Wells Fargo Rewards® Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. 
The information regarding the Chase Freedom Flex℠ was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information for the Citi Prestige® Card has been collected independently by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the United Club℠ Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
Many times, they do. If you wanted to track a specific car rental profile to see if similar ones that are cheaper pop-up, we’d recommend using the AutoSlash website.
AutoSlash can track car rentals for price drops.
There’s no way to provide a definitive answer on this, as it depends on car rental demand, supply, special events in town, and more.
In general, planning far out in advance means you can get cars for around $20 per day, plus any applicable taxes and fees.
No. Airport authorities levy numerous taxes and fees on car rental companies to provide cars to travelers. In addition, there are a scarce number of cars that can be rented at an airport.
If you combine these 2 factors, you’ll find a recipe for massive price hikes. Consider renting off-airport to save 30-60% off of your rental rate.
AutoSlash has always been and continues to be the leading provider of cheapest deals for rental cars. We’d recommend taking your searches to AutoSlash.
It finds the best coupons and discount codes to lower your rates. It’ll also use your memberships (AAA, AARP, etc.) to find the lowest possible rates. It can also notify you if your price drops even after you booked your car rental.
It depends. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card, Chase Sapphire Reserve card, United Club card, Ink Business Preferred card, and Ink Business Cash card all offer primary car rental insurance.
The Amex Platinum card offers secondary car rental insurance.
In general, Chase credit cards have the best rental car insurance. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card, Chase Sapphire Reserve card, United Club card, Ink Business Preferred card, and Ink Business Cash card all offer primary car rental insurance. The Chase Sapphire Reserve card, however, is limited to a maximum of $75,000 per claim.
You can book the lowest available car class, use AutoSlash, find discounts/promotions, decline optional add-ons, use elite status, and rent away from the airport to save money on car rentals.
Refer to the contents in this guide for more information.
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Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used by hundreds of clients.
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