In my experience, you can't check-out the car in the app unless you are near the pickup site (or you can override your phone's GPS location to be nearby...). Avis won't let you swap or confirm a vehicle in the app until you are very close. I've done it from nearby hotels, but nothing more than ~5 miles away without getting an error on the app.
Originally Posted by
AutoSlash
a. We don't think you can check out via the app and not actually leave with the vehicle. It's not really "checked out" until you physically leave the lot and an actual gate/lot attendant marks it as such. Our take is that this is a non-viable approach as your reservation will eventually be canceled.
Actually, Avis is different than National and others in this regard. I've 'confirmed' a vehicle in the app, sat and made calls/waited for colleagues/etc and the time out is always the time I confirm/swap the vehicle in the app. If I'm early (and it will make a difference of going over the 24-hour window), I never confirm a vehicle in the app and use the QR code to checkout. I show the agent the license/contract to be let out of the garage as that doesn't trigger the 'checkout' mechanism in the Avis system currently. The time out in this case always matches what's on the contract.