Initially they tried to invalidate the contract by saying I had breached one of its clauses (The renter must return the car to the agreed location at the agreed time). I argued the point saying that the car could not be returned because it had been involved in an accident and was towed from the scene because it was wrecked. I also went to hospital that night and was not able to make contact until the next day. They eventually agreed which left me on hook for the standard deductible of $5000 in this case.

I spent the next two years arguing with them that I should only be liable for the $100 deductible as that was the stated amount in the rental contract I had with Avis. Back when this happened I had never been asked to provide evidence of my association with the AWD code or even asked about it at all. When making a reservation then picking up the car there was no way to tell if a code had been used. I found that the website and app remembered the code and even when clearing it from the reservation form it would still apply. Based on this I put it to Avis that it was their responsibility to verify the entitlement to the code before entering into a rental contract and that any contract signed by both parties was legally binding (At the time there were no clauses in the agreement about using AWD codes).

Eventually they threatened to take it to court and they stated they would argue that the use of a the code that I was not entitled to made my actions fraudulent and that they would push for me to pay the entire cost of repairing the vehicle plus legal costs. I spoke with a lawyer who advised that it was probably better to pay the $5000 than risk full costs plus fees so I did.