I guess we'll find out on Weds

I'm assuming it's going to be try to hit these metrics by end of CY2015, and you'll have status through 2016

Maybe they'll have a dialed-down or accelerator offer for the remainder of 2015

I just started using Avis, but have 8r/28d in June

The "downgrade" aspect of all this doesn't sound quite right since the natural expectation would be to have status continue -- for this year, anyway. I've never heard of any status anywhere for anyone getting downgraded mid-year for any reason . . . ever. And old Avis First = new Avis Preferred Plus.

My new status comes from a World Elite MC, and so there may be a contractual wrinkle or two thrown in there as well.

I guess we'll see for sure very shortly, one way or the other.

This is not correct. I called the First Desk and was told that any First members will automatically migrate to Preferred Plus. The clock for re-qualifying does reset on 7/1 but that is actually immaterial unless you had a one time big first 2 quarters and even then you will keep the status until it would have ran out anyway.

I either had a poorly informed agent, or she was trying to make it not sound so bad that my recent 8 rentals won't count ...

I can confirm that First did change to Preferred Plus. I had to exchange the Fusion Titanium today since it was overdue for an oil change and its registration expires tomorrow and the reprinted contract shows me as "PREF PLUS/POINTS". Interestingly, the original contract on Sunday just showed Preferred rather than the First it has been printing up to last week.

It's still annoying that none of my earlier rentals this year count towards PC, but at least it's not a downgrade! (The 28K '14 Camry is more annoying than it being November instead of August before I hit PC)

I got a Maxima with 9,000 on it. I too just went and got stickers for the plates. It now has 32,448. I have had this car 14 months. I think Avis should stencil my name on it ;)

Well, that was fast. As of some time earlier this afternoon, I'm now officially "Avis Preferred Plus." Hurray?

I can confirm my account went from First to Preferred Plus. That being said, after using Alamo, Enterprise, and National (having National Executive status), I don't know why anyone rents with Hertz or Avis. Terrible cars and terrible prices...

I have corporate codes for all of the major agencies and Avis is by far the least expensive for me, aside from very rare occasions when the other guys have a huge glut of cars, and even then it's maybe $10 a week difference. The Camry I have now is the first one this year with more than 12k on the clock. I had to take it because it was literally the only thing bigger than a compact in service at the location, and there were only two of those. Usually they have closer to 15. Some poor ....... even got stuck with a Transit 350 this morning, that's how bad it was. I'm debating whether to try for an exchange at the airport tomorrow or not. I probably won't since there's nothing actually wrong with the car other than some cosmetic scratches on the bumper. Point being I usually get good cars.

If National weren't usually 50% more expensive I'd give them a shot.

Mine says Avis Preferred Plus too but no where I can find the explanation of what that means (other than the Beta site someone posted up the thread). I guess they still have about a day to provide us the details :D

Found this FAQ from googling Avis First changes:
http://www.avis.com/car-rental/conte...t-US_en-048467

Not a great deal more detail than has already been discussed but it does confirm all Avis First migrates to Avis Preferred Plus:

Hmm, it seems the T&C changed (per the Google cache). Instead of getting PC after 25 rentals/$7000 in spend, you remain Preferred Plus, but do get the increased points earning.

Anyone find out what it takes to cash-in these points?

Is there a chart anywhere with redemption levels?

Sounds like it's based off spend.

Looks like they need customers to go hit the 'opt in' botton and agree to the terms of service

I just opted in, which may have been a mistake since I now have to rent w/in 3 months to get the 250 extra points they're offering.

Preferred Plus members get 1.25 points per dollar spent on rentals. Even so, I still don't see an award chart anywhere. The whole setup seems rather opaque -- unless I'm just missing something.

Has anyone been able to price anything to see how much the points are worth? (It will be a dynamic priced system like Southwest Rapid Rewards 2.x.) Or, that part has not been enabled yet?

Also, some ominous stuff in the T&C:

...nor on rentals with the following discount rates, rate codes, rate categories or profile types: Corporate or government accounts that do not allow employees to participate in loyalty and rewards programs; ...

---> Does it mean those of us on corporate rates (that were not eligible for airline miles) won't earn any points?

...Avis Preferred Points are only earned upon the completion of a qualifying rental transaction which is paid in full

---> Does it mean if you applied a coupon to offset PART OF a rental, then you won't get any points at all?

Thanks.

Your Hertz/Avis corporate codes are better than mine. National is usually only 10-15 bucks different and with my Executive status, I get full size cars for midsize prices. Walk up, pick a car, drive off...less than 10 minutes.

Avis Preferred Plus members earn 1.25 points for every dollar spent on base rentals, and 2.50 points for every dollar spent on optional products and services, such as coverages, fuel service options, GPS devices, etc. Points are not earned from taxes or fees.

Members still have the option to participate in frequent travelers or loyalty programs from other travel companies, as in the past, by will not be able to earn Avis Preferred Points on rentals that earn credit with an alternate frequent traveler program.

As far as coupons are concerned, members will earn Points on the paid portion of their rental.

Just got the email entitled "Start earning Avis Preferred Points today".

What happens to the partial progress we've made toward a free weekend rental day? Does that all go away and we start with 0 points?

A full for the midsize price doesn't save me much; $5 a week or $2 a day for daily rates, on my contract. Guaranteed premium for the full size price would be nice, though. That's a big jump for me. I usually do end up with premium when I rent from the airport, but since it's been on my dime lately, I've been avoiding the exorbitant taxes/fees at the cost of usually getting exactly what I book.

Back on topic, it appears that all my rentals so far this year have counted toward status. The site tells me I need 13 more rentals to get the 1.5 point/$ tier of Preferred Plus. It should be 12, but I'm just assuming that's because my last return hasn't percolated through the system yet. It's really too bad that the jump isn't to PC, but what can you do? If National weren't $30 a week more and 20 miles away to get to the off-airport location, I'd probably give them a try if they'd match me to EE, despite the free day earning structure being terrible for 7 day rentals.

I'm a Presidents Club member through other means than rental qualifiers... Here's what it says when I log into the website, if anyone is interested:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...27-avis-pc.jpg

as a PC I am rather miffed I start at 25% bonus. I am quite surprised that they didn't make it 50% automatically.

I have a rental next week, and I always do M-F rentals, so it will be interesting not doing things by days (only rentals and dollars). I should be able to make the spend pretty easy, just a odd way of doing it for people who rent weekly vs daily.

My Preferred Plus benefits screen is exactly the same as your Presidents Club benefits screen image.

Except it says "Avis Preferred Plus" at the top of the left-hand column. :)

Maybe they forgot/missed putting in a different pop-up description for Presidents Club members?

If you did not finish your 4 rentals by 6/30, then you lose them.

My understanding is that we start with 0 although it would have been nice if they threw in some points for AvisFirst members - or at least those who already made Preferred Plus by 7/1.

The big unknowns for me are:

1 - how much the points are worth?
2 - would all corporate rates that did not qualify for frequent flyer points qualify for Avis point accumulation now?
3 - would a partially paid rental (e.g. $200 rental but turned in a $25 coupon OR if they took off $25 due to problems) earn points (for the paid portion - $175 in our example)?

T&C seem to say NO for #2 and #3 which is not good.

Thanks.

Members start with 0 points and are eligible to earn 250 bonus points after opting-in to Avis Preferred Points and completing a qualifying rental within 3 months. Avis Preferred Plus members can then earn 25%-50% additional bonus points on each rental while they maintain their Tier status.

1. Points are not worth a specified dollar amount. The redemption of Points is dynamic, much like car rental pricing, and the quantity of points required for benefits varies based upon such elements as duration of the rental, date, car class, time of year and location. For example, a one-week rental at a major airport location during a peak travel period will require more points than a weekend rental taking place during off-peak season at a local market Avis location in a smaller city. All of those factors will determine how many points are required to obtain desired benefits.

2. Generally, yes. There is no surcharge to earn Avis Preferred Points; however as per some corporate agreements, employees may not be eligible. You may want to check with your company to be sure.

3. Yes, members would earn points on the paid portion of the rental; so, in this case the $175. However, please note that points are not earned from taxes or fees.

Back to National for me.

Ah, so I'm not missing anything. It is opaque, and intentionally so to boot.

I had an online chat with Avis customer service via avis.com

Was told that all rentals since Jan 1st 2015 will be counted towards the 12 needed for preferred plus status. However, only rentals that are initiated on July 1st or later will accumulate points.

Unfortunately the rental I began on Monday June 29th and returned July 2nd will not be counted for points. This further delays the 250 point enrollment bonus, which posts 72 hours after a post July 1st rental is returned.

Thank you. i would suggest you work with Flyertalk to formalize your presence as an Avis representative. Otherwise, we don't know if we are dealing with someone who officially represents Avis, a helpful employee who is not authorized to do so or someone pretending to be Avis.

If you look through Flyertalk, you will see some members spend a lot of time working out the math of the programs. With the description you provided, it seems we really can't determine that. Without the ability of determining the value of the rewards, a rewards program does not make sense to some of us. It would be much better to say each point is worth how much credit toward a rental based on whatever rate we can find rather than this indeterminate math.

Of course, after what Avis did with Avis First (botched rollout last year of the new program, expiring the coupons early, lack of communications on the transition), we know to not expect too much....

Ha, this is hilarious.

Oh well. I've been doing a ton of rentals in NYC and BOS lately, and I honestly don't want the upgrades since it gives me larger cars, and I have a hard time parking them on the small streets in those cities. I've been rejecting every SUV rental upgrade (except in winter).

I think some time in the past year, I just stopped caring. After 8 years of weekly travel, I just want to get home faster. No super nice car is going to make that happen. And since all the lower class cars now have bluetooth, cruise, automatic, a/c, leather, etc., seems all i need is a steering wheel and 4 tires.

Any one else just stop caring?

I can see the coupon number on my upcoming reservation (to get 8250 extra Club Carlson points) but I don't see how to verify that my Club Carlson membership number is still on the reservation. Do I have to call up?

The only upgrades I care about are flights crossing the big oceans. Whether it is domestic flights or Avis or hotel, they just don't matter that much anymore. For cars, I try to be fuel efficient and also don't want nice cars that attract attention.

I would be happy if I get a Chevy Cruz or Hyundai Sonata/Elantra every time. I actually have them put in my profile no upgrade but I still get them.

I do try to avoid cars that smell like smoke or too much cleaning agent.

Did anyone else not get any announcement about this, last fall or recently?

I certainly read about everything first here (pardon the pun!), not in emails from Avis, but I can't remember for sure which if any emails I got from Avis after I'd already read what they would say here.

Yes, customer service (800-331-7423) should be able to look it up.

I used to be able to see it; why was the functionality removed?

It seems a lot of us are not getting any updates while we can get reservation confirmations and e-receipts fine. Yet, some members seem to get e-mails about these changes.

I wonder:

1 - how long does it take for a rental to post?
2 - would it list rentals that are not eligible?
3 - do you need to have enough points in your account for the website to display how many points are needed for a rental?

Thanks.