mathisfun I totaly agree!
Once a few years back we had a flight canceled to MIA, i called Avis and told them about a 24H delay and it was no problem, just picked up a day later.
Last Year we had a flight from LHR to MIA 20H delayed. Again We had a 2 week rental for A SUV (Ford Escape). I called Avis Sweden from London and had the same answer You did new rate and $200 more for keeping the car in the garage for 20 H!
Called Avis US, same answer, got connected to someone higher (who I could hardly make out what he was saying, very low and blurry voice) after arguing a while he said it might work out but no promise!
I told him to cancel the reservation and i rented from Sixt instead and got a good rate plus a fantastic upgrade to a Tahoe :-)
So is Avis doing good business here and keeping their "Preffered" customers happy? I donīt think so....