Avis points are useless.
 

I love my National free days. Just an awesome program. Hertz is so so. But hey I got a Cadillac in Honolulu last week for 750 points. Seems with Avis you can’t get anything and if you find something it’s 2100 points. You have to spend almost $2000 for a free day after taxes and fees. Unfortunately I’ve amassed quite a few points with Avis. I even have a long term rental in California at the moment. Seems like there is zero use for points these days. Even my local spot where my corporate rate is $32 a day they want 2100 in points for a day!

Yes I've noticed similar - Avis points have a lot less value than other rental companies... often to the point of being worthless to try to use.

I used to be able to snag rentals for 700 points/day. Since COVID hit, though, I can't get any for under 2000/day.

Completely useless. Just tried applying points for the very first time. Wouldn't work at all on the app, had to go to the website.

7 day rental without points - 256.41
7 day rental with 2100 pts applied for ONE free day - 235.84

So my 2100 points, accumulated over many rentals is worth a total of $20.57.... I miss National and hate my company for forcing us to move away

It also seems that Avis calculates taxes based on the cost before applying the points. If I try a 1 day rental, I'm still looking at ~$21 in net cost. Earlier this year when I rented a BMW X3 with National for one day and redeemed a free day my net cost was $3.61. Makes the points even more....pointless

Edit:
I just realized that point amount only works up to an intermediate. If I try to get a full size, it jumps to 3500 pts for one day!

Funny since according to the Avis website, 'Level 1' awards should be 700pts/day. The redemption is based on rental cost but is the 'standard' rate meaning rack rate with no discounts... so they can easily manipulate the pricing to force everything into the high categories and make points basically worthless.

*Standard daily rate does not include any Avis Worldwide Discount (AWD), coupon codes, special rates or any other offer.
Level 1 700 Up to $50
Level 2 1400 $50.01 - $85
Level 3 2100 $85.01 - $125
Level 4 3500 $125.01 - $225

Opinions on "Rent twice (for 2-days min), Get a Free day"?

I have a vacation week, in the middle of which I could do without a car. So instead of a weekly, I'm considering 2-day rental at start + 2-day rental at end to earn a future Free day. How restricted would that future Free day be?

There are some unknown blackouts dates on it, however I was able to use a free day for a future rental on a full size car that would've cost me ~150, so got much more value out of this promo than points will ever do.

Thanks; but I suppose no way to use that Free day to book a One-Way, even in seasonally cheap direction?

Came here to say, echo previous comments. Post COVID, cannot find any car at any location where the redemption is less than 2,100 points. Pre COVID (2018-19) is was fairly easy to find 700 point rentals. Would just like to find a fairly useful way to burn my ~5,000 Avis points.

The best way to utilize the next-to-worthless Avis points is to use them for 1 or 2 day rentals because they apply the credit to the least expensive day of your itinerary while charging the max 2100 miles. Short rentals make this impossible. Their formula reflects that Avis is the worst company to choose on a regular basis. I'm also not sure they owe the value based taxes or remit them to taxing authorities which they continue to collect for these free days. They are waiting for a taxing authority or state AG to stop them.

"they apply the credit to the least expensive day of your itinerary": Do you have a rate that changes by day? I've never seen an Avis (or other rental program) that different days cost different amounts on the same rental contract. However, I do recommend against using Avis points on rentals that are 6-7 days long. For a rental that's 6-7 days, you're typically charged the weekly rate of ~5x the daily rate. So paying for 5 days, getting 1-2 "free" (plus the taxes/fees). However, if you use the coupon on a 7-day rental, you get 1/7 of the weekly rate back instead of 1/5 of the weekly rate.

I was able to get the miracle 700 pts redemption value for a 5 days resv in Nov. Philadelphia, non-airport location. Burning the useless points while there is the opportunity.

I wouldn't say the points are entirely useless. I used to travel extensively and rent a car each week prior to COVID for years. I leveraged the points to rent pick-up trucks at my local AVIS at home whenever we needed to move stuff, take things to the dump, garden center runs, etc. It used to cover the full day rental of a new Ford F150/250 for around 700 points. But those were neighbourhood rentals I guess.

I gave up on the Avis points and started submitting airline and hotel program account numbers for credit when I rent Avis cars. This doesn't work either. They usually tell me after the fact that my discounted rate doesn't qualify.

I have accumulated like 3000 avis points but it’s confusing. Same location. One day I can see and redeem points for free rental days, another day, same location, same rental days, same category, it does not allow me to use my points towards the rental.

Is there a limit of some sort per location? Or was it because the rack rate went up and I didn’t have enough points anymore? Going above the Level 4 3500 $125.01 - $225. Using a corporate AWD so it’s not always easy to tell the rack rate unless I’m using a computer

I just reserved a rental for December 2023 and was able to use 1400 points towards a intermediate SUV. I think that’s the best deal I’m going to get. Used 2 days towards a 3 day rental.