(EXPIRED) Avis offering free rental day after two 2-day rentals

Step aside, National Rental Car: Avis Car Rental is offering a promotion that is reminiscent of a common National promo of old: Avis Preferred members can register and make two qualifying rentals (for a minimum of 2 paid days each) between September 6, 2023 and February 29, 2024 and get a certificate for a free rental day. That could be a very good rebate depending on how you use the free day certificates. However, note that the free rental day coupon is not valid for one-way rentals, which makes me less excited about this promo than I otherwise may have been.

The Deal

• Avis Preferred members can earn a free rental day when they register and make two qualifying rentals of an at least 2 paid days each in an intermediate car or higher between September 6, 2023 and February 29, 2024 (up to 5 free rental days earned per month).
• Direct link to this deal

Key Terms

• Eligible customers must be enrolled in Avis Preferred and register for the Free Days promotion online at avis.com/freedays with a valid Avis Preferred/Wizard number and the email address on profile to qualify.
• Customers must register between September 6, 2023 and December 31, 2023.
• Customers will receive confirmation of enrollment via email within two (2) days of registration.
• This promotion only applies to residents of the U.S. and Canada (including Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands).
• If registration takes place after the date the promotion begins, rentals accumulating towards Free Days will only be tracked from the first day of the month registration is completed (e.g. if the customer registers November 10th, rentals taking place from November 1 will qualify but any that took place in October will not be eligible for the promotion.)
• Customers can earn one (1) Free Day for completing two (2) Qualifying Rentals at Avis participating locations in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands between September 6, 2023 and February 29, 2024.
• A Qualifying Rental is defined as a paid rental consisting of a minimum of two paid consecutive days’ base charges. Customer must reserve an Intermediate car class or above.
• Customer can only qualify for one rental if multiple rentals occur during the same timeframe. Reservations must be made with the enrolled Preferred Member/Wizard Number.
• Qualifying customers will receive, via email, a monthly statement containing a coupon code valued at the number of days earned the previous month. A maximum of five (5) Free Days can be earned each month. These rewards can be redeemed online at www.avis.com or www.avis.ca.
• The number of Free Days associated with each coupon issued must be used on a single rental and cannot be combined or used with other coupons.
• Unused Free Days will not carry over to future rentals. (For example, if a customer redeems a 5-day coupon on a 3-day rental, he or she cannot to apply the 2 unused days to a future rental.) Blackout dates and other restrictions apply.
• By enrolling in the Free Days promotion, customer accepts that reward day coupons will be sent to the email address provided at time of registration.
• Rentals made with any of the following discount codes or profile types will not qualify for the promotion: corporate accounts that do not allow employees to participate in reward programs, Avis WEB/GEB accounts, employee rates for Avis or any affiliated company or licensee, government, travel industry, tour, wholesale or convention rates; rentals booked on Priceline or Hotwire, rentals that receive mileage/credits/points for a frequent traveler program (i.e. airline frequent flyer, hotel points program, etc.), rentals using a Free Day(s) coupon.
• The rental day reward coupon is redeemable on an Economy (Group A) through a Full Size (Group E) for rentals that begin October 15, 2023 and are completed by May 24, 2024.
• You must use a valid Wizard/Avis Preferred number when making a reservation using a Avis Free Days coupon and all free days associated with the coupon must be used at one time.
• Coupon is redeemable at participating locations in the U.S., Canada, PR and US VI excluding New York, NY Metro area.
• Taxes, concession recovery fee, customer facility charges ($10/contract in CA) and fuel charges are extra.
• Optional items such as LDW and other surcharges may apply and are extra. If the rental period exceeds the value of the coupon, the renter is responsible for any additional time and mileage charges.
• Coupon cannot be used for one-way rentals.
• One coupon per rental and coupons can be used only once.
• See promotion page for full terms

Quick Thoughts

Given the cost of rental cars right now, a free day can be a valuable perk. In some markets, a free day could save you $100 (though in others the savings may be far less).

In the intro paragraph, I compared this deal to the old National One Two Free promotion that we used to see every year (I haven’t yet seen it this year unfortunately), but in truth there are some key differences. To my recollection, the National promo was valid even with one-day paid rentals, whereas Avis is requiring two rentals of two days each (four total rental days) to earn a free day. More importantly, my favorite thing about National’s promotion is that the free day rentals could be used on one-way rentals, which could make for a huge savings given that one-way rentals are often more expensive than an average rental. Avis explicitly says that the free day certificates can not use used on one-way rentals.

In fact, Avis makes the redemption of the free days as onerous as possible. The terms indicate that the free days will be awarded as a coupon code at the bottom of your monthly account statement the month after the month in which you make qualifying rentals for the number of free days earned in the previous month. For instance, if you registered and completed Four qualifying rentals of 2-days each before the end of this month, you would receive an account statement (I think in early Oct) with a coupon code at the bottom for two free rental days.

The first inconvenience is needing to find that coupon code / avoid deleting the email. The second inconvenience is that you can not split the coupon into separate rentals — if you earn a coupon for 2 free rental days, you must use both days on the same rental, you can’t use one day in November and another day in February. Avis provides an example where you have a coupon for 5 free rental days and you use it on a 3-day rental — you’ll just lose the other 2 free days in that case.

All of that seems far more difficult than it should be. When National has run a similar promotion, the free days have existed within your online account and I believe it has always been possible to decide how many to apply to a given rental. The Avis promotion just isn’t as good as what we’ve seen from National in the past (yet it is better than the no-promotion currently on offer from National).

I could certainly envision the scenario where this promotion could be useful. It probably won’t be worth a “mattress run” in the sense that it probably won’t be worth renting just to earn free days, but free days earned could be a significant rebate if you’ll be renting from Avis anyway.

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