1. As per the Terms and Conditions: “Avis Preferred Points will be awarded to the customer as quickly as commercially reasonable of their rental check-in, conclusion of non-rental activity and/or per stated promotional period.” We expect Avis Preferred Points will be awarded within 72 hours of the rental check-in or conclusion of non-rental event.

2. At this time, only rentals that are eligible for earning or that include a points redemption will be displayed.

3. Redemption options for Avis Preferred Points will be displayed when the member has enough points in their balance to redeem a reward.

Well, is it just me or is this just a COMPLETE joke of a program? I'm pi55ed at Hertz and looking for alternatives. So I'm supposed to commit to Avis, keep spending money with them, earn these so-called "points," and then hope, that some day, I might possibly have enough points for a free GPS? Give me a friggin break!



Plus, I just spent 20 minutes on the Avis website trying to find out redemption values or an award chart. That didn't work, so of course I came here, only to find out the geniuses behind this didn't create one!

Or you could just forget about Avis' own points and earn partner points, which with the right promos probably get you way more than Avis' own points ever would, especially if you're not renting terribly expensive cars.

1/5 (or more) of a hotel night (9000 total Club Carlson points for 3+ days) or 1/8 of a domestic round trip (at least 3000 total AA miles for 5+ days) is probably worth a lot more than 1/? of a free of free day of GPS. (Especially if already have your own GPS, whether stand-alone or phone-based.)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/avis-...romotions.html

(On any given rental, you can either earn Avis' own points or any partner's miles/points, but not both.)

I read some of the posts on this thread though not all so I apologize if I repeat some things?
Yesterday I spent 15 minutes (literally) on the phone speaking to three different representatives, including a Supervisor, at Avis trying to get an answer to my questions about points needed for redemption next year.
The first two were very nice and apologetic that they could not find the answer. (Tony, then a Supervisor) The third, in sales (Jocelyn?) could have cared less and actually hung up on me.

We are hoping to take the family to Hawaii next summer and we are working on our Marriott (Platinum Premier) and US Airways/American(Chairman/Executive Platinum)points. I have been a customer of Avis (First/Preferred Plus) for several years and have 14 rentals so far this year. (9 to go to get the 1.5 points per dollar). I am also a customer of Hertz (Gold Plus) and National (Executive Elite/Emerald).
I am very frustrated with this new program as no one on the phone could answer my question about points needed for future redemption, even a supervisor that I spoke to. I am a weekly business traveler and I would have hoped that Avis valued my $$? I really like Avis and the upgrades but can't continue to rent from them without these answers. I have a reservation for this week which I will cancel and rebook with Hertz. When I told the last rep that I spoke to that I would have to stop renting with Avis unless I found the answers I needed, she hung up on me!

Its crazy how these companies could are less about their customers these days. American Airlines is another one that is driving me away...

FWIW, I had some points post for my first post-July 1st rental and now when I make a new reservation or modify an existing one, here's what I see in terms of redeeming for points:

3 day Minivan rental, adding GPS ($9.99/day) requires 316 points. Adding Sirius (6.99/day) was 200 points. That is the daily pricing (so would require 600 for Sirius, 948 for GPS. You can do the conversions and see what they are worth.

Did they tell you how many points for the minivan rental itself? (Not including the extras) I am "chatting" with an Avis Rep right now and they won't tell still...

So:

9.99 / 316 = $0.03161/point
6.99 / 200 = $0.03495/point

Let's use $0.03/point. A $50 rental will cost 1667 points which in the best case is $1667/1.5 = $1111 of spending. Say at a $40/day corporate rate, that is 28 days of rental! So, it will take a typical M-F business traveller 7 weeks to earn a $50 free rental. If one travels 42 weeks out of the year, that means $300 of free rentals.

Other than the $0.03/point assumption, is the math right? It is late and I had a fun day

Maybe the slogan is now: Avis: YOU try harder [to earn free rentals from us]

.03 is only for add-ons , abase weekend low margin car rental will likely be much lower ... I've been rental 2x or 3x per week from Avis for 6 weeks ... Have 365 points posted ...

I couldn't find that option anywhere. I could only see points available for add-ons when modifying as well as creating new reservations.

AVIS rep? Anywhere to be found now?

National's program sounds much better at this point. Adios Avis.

My back-of-the-envelope calculations match the above and make renting from Avis an attractive option only if their prices are actually better. The tie, in other words, now goes to National.

Who ever heard of rolling out a program where you can't value the points? In what alternate universe does that make any sense at all?

If one looks at this thread on the history of this change, the conclusion is probably Avis does not care and this is just something they can say they have for the sake of having something.

Those who can credit to other programs will probably continue to do so and Avis probably did the math already and thinks this is the minimum they need to do for those who have no choice.

The alternative cost of instead using MUHA002 and earn 10000 Club Carlson points/rental would yield 70,000 points. That is either eight category 1 nights, or one night in highest point category 7.

That's a 4% rebate - why would you expect something better?

It's not like filling an unsold seat on an aircraft

Sorry if I'm asking a dumb question, but I'm fairly new here and am not seeing my answer to this question in other threads.

Anyway, I'm seeing references to Club Carlson. Can my Avis points be used there or vice versa? I rent from Avis quite often (several times per month) but do also stay at Club Carlson hotels here and there.

Also, it seems like the overall take on the Avis policy changes is negative. Is it worth investigating any other card companies? I've used Avis religious for 12 years now because they've never given me any guff for using debit cards (they've never once run a credit check, authorized the card for even a penny more than the rental cost, and the rewards were great), so its never occurred to me to use anyone else. If you do recommend another rental car company, who is at the top of the list? Hertz? National? I'd like to find someone who is debit card friendly as I use debit cards for everything.