Traveling from DAY to Charlotte...
 

Hello All,

I will be traveling Feb 24-Mar 1, 2010 from Dayton, OH to Charlotte, NC. I need to rent an intermediate SUV and the prices are ridiculously high. I am an Avis preferred member, a government employee, and I cannot believe the rates I am getting back. Have prices gone up significantly in the last 3 years(like double)?

I have seen codes on here, and I am unsure of what to do. Do I use these codes under my preferred/wizard number or what? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Yes, prices (and add-on fees and taxes) HAVE skyrocketed, and a one-way trip charge may be involved with the costs you are finding. I can't offer you any codes other than those discussed here, but generally use the code, get a rate, and then call AVIS to add my wizard number after that.

J991952 Code
 

deleted

Can anyone suggest a good code for use in europe? I have tried quite a few of these and can't get anything less than £500 for 2 weeks hire in August. I know it's peak but that is 50% more than the likes of holidayautos.

Which location are you going to rent from?

I would like to rent from PARIS too. any code suggestion?

Ring in 2010 with 2,010 bonus miles from Avis
 

Kick off the New Year with 2,010 bonus SkyMiles® exclusively for Delta SkyMiles members. Plus receive up to 25% off your rental.

* From January 1 through February 28, 2010, SkyMiles members can earn 2,010 bonus miles on qualifying rentals of 2 or more days at participating Avis airport locations in the U.S. and Canada.

* Mention coupon number MUAA039.

* Provide your SkyMiles number when making your reservation. This offer is in addition to your everyday savings of up to 25% when you use AWD # K817600.

How do I know what the coupon rate is?
 

Relative newbie here...I used a coupon code for Avis.com, and although it seemed to accept the code (it declined a few others) the rate didnt change. So do I not get to know the rate until I show up at the counter, or do I assume the coupon didnt work?

BTW I made a reservation for the same car through AAA.com (at Hertz) and the rate was nearly a hundred dollars less for a 2 wk rental.

Thanks for any info.

A family member was recently charged rack rate (almost 4x the reserved rate) for a reservation made with D005297. I haven't gotten the whole story, but it sounds like D005297 may be dead. See also this thread.

G417900
 

Have not posted here in awhile. I cant believe this thread is still going almost six years after I started it. :) Anyway I still use my favorite code of G417900
for most of my rentals. This is the code that was changed from the "L" code that was a favorite here years ago. This code still gives me very competitive rates, free LDW, and never a hassle with ID, etc. I just noticed something new with it. They now offer you preferred service when you use it. Here's the link:
http://www.kellsport.com/avis.html

I don't know much about the company or what they do. I just know that myself and many colleagues, and many people on this board have been using this code "forever" and I've never heard of a problem.

I also use the Florida Employees code sometimes, but it always makes me tense, since I've seen posts from people that have been denied using it. 90% of the time I stick with my "G" code.

Dennis Letts
 

As many of you know, this particular code, as with many others posted on this site, are to be used by only those to whom they are intended. Knowingly using a code to obtain a discount that you are not entitled to is a criminal act and may result in prosecution. At very least, it may result in paying more than you intended once the unauthorized discount is reversed. The Avis Budget Group has been actively identifying abuse when it occurs and taking decisive action when appropriate. In some cases, renters have been placed into our "do not rent" database and other some cases, prosecution has resulted. We are actively monitoring this site and will continue to do so. To those who use this site to obtain legitimate discounts, we appreciate your business. To those who knowingly commit fraud, you have been warned.
Dennis Letts
Director of Corporate Security
Avis Budget Group
[email protected]

I'd like to post a friendly warning to those who knowingly use "unauthorized" discount codes to do so at their own peril. Representatives from Avis Budget are now actively monitoring this site looking for codes that are being abused. Those who use these codes will pay substantially more once the unauthorized discounts have been reversed and depending on circumstances, prosecution for fraud is an option.
To those who use this site to identify legitimate discounts, your business is genuinely appreciated.
Dennis Letts
Director of Corporate Security
Avis Budget Group
[email protected]"

Fraud? I hardly think so. In most cases, the amount of value obtained is less than $500. Oh, and with the crack-pot staff working at Avis and/or Budget, that likely get paid less than 8 bucks an hour who generally have an "I don't give a sh*t attitude" I find it highly unlikely that anything would come of it. In fact, I was in a major rental centre last week, standing in line at the Avis counter and the person in front of me was a walk-up with no discount code. The agent said, "Oh, here, let me use the AAA code to give you 10% off, that should make things a bit easier for you." It was pretty clear, the customer from Quebec, Canada, was not a member of AAA!

Is it troll hunting season again?

I'm just curious do AVIS also have some Rep. here to help out with difficulties and qusetion's (like some airlines have), or they only know about this website, in order to place a policeman here?!

Friendly warning? Just like the friendly reception customers get greeted with at Avis locations! They must all go to the same training sessions.

+1 The words "peril" and "prosecution" don't ring of friendly.

Mr Letts, thank you for your miserable, hard-*ss, cop wannabe threatening warning. You'll be glad to know that it worked for me. Avis will never see my sorry face at your counter again. Hertz discount codes will do just fine. I'm certain your threatening post will cost Avis several hundred thousand dollars in lost revenue, in a very short period. I would have thought that Avis would have been thrilled to have so many additional renters using program codes available from this board. The discounts are all about the same, and you are offering these discounts without any qualification to any company that completes the online registration. Did you really think your tacky threatening letter on this forum would cause renters here to start walking up to your counters and pay full "rack rate" ? Things must be awful slow at the Avis security department for you to have time to scour online websites looking for people to "prosecute". No major cases to occupy your time these days? Well.... so long Avis and Mr. Letts. My Wizard # is officially dead. From now on it's all Hertz #1 Club
Good job Mr. LettsChaseOurCustomersAway !

p.s. If anyone else wants to forward Mr Lett's post to senior management, heres the contacts: http://www.avis.com/car-rental/conte...g-US_en-000677

Folks, is it really necessary to jump all over the guy like that?

I agree that Avis could be focusing their customer service efforts in better ways. But if they're going to be cracking down on "unauthorized" code usage, I'd rather they post something here telling us they're doing it rather than just going out and doing it and screwing up our reservations (as they did to a family member who had been using D005297 for years, and then was told one day it was an "expired" code not valid any more and he'd have to pony up rack rate).

Meanwhile, Mr. Letts, any chance you could arrange for a good code for FTers to use in a legit way? The folks on this board are pretty savvy about finding the best deal. If you can offer a code that consistently prices a little lower than your competition yet still lets us use your Preferred Service, I think you'll find a lot of us using Avis a lot more often. And if you tell us that unless we're affiliated with some giant business that's negotiated special rates, we're relegated to paying close to retail, we'll find a better deal elsewhere.

He seems to have edited his post (although somehow without leaving a trace at the bottom of the post saying when it was edited, perhaps he got the mods to do it).

Nobody jumped at him on the actuall warning, it was the language he used (which know has been removed) which angered many here, for example "fraud" "illegal" etc.

Ah, I see the differences from what you quoted to what it is now. That makes more sense.

Are you saying that the post from Mr. Letts has been altered by the administrators? If that is the case, than that is VERY disturbing. That casts a question on the credibility of this site. Our individual wizard #'s are easily traceable by our email addresses, which this site has. If the site administration has a "working relationship" with Mr. Letts, that would be a concern. Especially since I see a lot of Avis advertising on this site. In my case, I'm done with Avis anyway. So it's not an issue for me. There's an old saying in business "the help will kill ya". This is a classic example of an employee doing damage to his employer. Sad that this valuable place for information exchange has deteriorated to this point.

Perhaps not administrators but rather forum moderators. Moderators edit posts all the time. They remove copyright material, name calling, etc.

Here is a tip: use a different email address for sites such as FlyerTalk than the email address you use for accounts such as Avis.

I THINK avis is an ad sponser, are they not? I seem to recall a top of the page ad (on a computer I was using once that didn't have proper ad managment software on it) Can anyone confirm?

At first I thought Mr. Letts was a troll, but it looks like he may be legit:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dennis-letts/8/915/479

I don't have a car, so I rent cars a lot. After seeing Mr. Letts' attitude, I'm done with Avis and Budget.

Enterprise for me from now on.

Scare tactics are very rarely the way to go. The location that I planned on using this code for has a lot of locally owned competition, offering rates slightly lower than Avis. The only way I am going to rent with Avis is if I get the lower rate from this code.

If I am denied at the rental location, I will thank them for their time and rent from the locally owned business.

I wonder if AVIS' PR team knows that they have some rogue "Director Of Corporate Security" trolling message boards, undoing any good will the company has with some of their top customers.

I don't think we should be so strict and scrap Avis because of one rude member of staff, after all Avis is a great company, with many great and friendly agents.

I agree that Avis has many friendly agents who are great. I have almost always had good experiences with Avis.

However, this appears to be an official communication of Avis/Budget policy, and if that is so, I don't wish to support a company with such a poor attitude and tactless communication style.

I would LOVE to be proven wrong.

Perhaps I'm a bit behind of things, but are Avis and Budget one company (competing with each other)? :confused:

Common confusion
 

Avis/Budget Group http://www.avisbudgetgroup.com

Avis and Budget are one company.

National, Alamo and Enterprise are another company.

Thrifty and Dollar are yet another.

Hertz I think is still independent (ever since it was spun off by Ford).

Mr. Letts, thank you so much for clearing the air on unauthorized use of discount codes.

Let me be frank: although this is really not a matter of your concern, Avis is really not very competitive in most markets against other brands, particularly Dollar and Alamo. The use of the codes helps make them a little more competitive.

As many have stated, your missive, although undoubtedly well intentioned, probably is a loser for AvisBudget. Actually, a big loser. I'm sure you can appreciate people are going to want the best deal possible when renting a car, and most people in this forum are much smarter shoppers on average than the average renter. Then again, that's because we spend the most on travel than average renters.

Particularly in this challenging economy, you might want to consider that there is much more grey area in using these codes than you might suspect. At the end of the day, business is still business, and turning away business needlessly by, what's that again, threatening prosecution, is absolutely the wrong tack to take here.

I would suggest your energies are better directed to preventing real fraud and theft, not the relatively penny ante stuff which goes on around these parts.

Trust me, Avis could careless about their customers. They would rather lose all their most valuable clients than let anyone use discount code improperly. And yes, they DO put people on no rent list when you use the code you are not suppose to. This happend to a Chairman friend of mine.

I would never ever rent from Avis again. I will drive a Fox car before I step in Avis booth again.

It seems that this Dletts at Avis has a previous record of placing threatening posts (As Director of Corporate Security he feels this is his job), in fact all 4 posts he has on this site, sound more less the same, "warning" prosecute" "no rent list" Etc.

This is one of his other posts:

But lets not forget Avis is a great company, which I love using.

The threats from Letts are laughable. Sure, Avis can cancel your reservation or blacklist you - but corporations do not prosecute people, only the government has the right to do that - and using a discount code you're not entitled to is not a criminal offense of fraud, unless you use the code to avoid paying for damage to the car (i.e., it includes LDW) - and even that would be hard to prove and likely very low on the list of priorities for any urban prosecutor's office.

Maybe Avis can sue you - but is this really the correct way to handle it?

So, let him blow his fire and brimstone - the only real risk any of us have is losing a reservation or getting blacklisted from Avis. If they want to get rid of me as a customer because I'm using a code that saves me $5-10 a day and got my business instead of it going to a competitor, well they are dumber than they appear to be.

A "friendly" warning threatening criminal prosecution for using an internet discount code? This is laughable.

Anyone have the balls to call Mr. Letts and talk this out?

I sent him an email, he responded by explaining his position, that the fake vouchers sold on ebay by people not realising they were fake, caused some to be arrested Etc. and people told him that they would appreciate that a warning is given to be careful, as Avis has no choice but to take action, as this is causing them a big loss in revenue.

He is very willing to discuss this with anybody, he even sent me his cell no. that I can call him.

His email address is [email protected]

There is a HUGE difference between selling and/or using a fraudulent certificate for a free rental and someone entering an affiliate code to receive a discount off a paid rental.

While one can argue the latter is still naughty, it is far from being illegal or even worthy of blocking someone from renting.

If Avis was smart, instead of bellyaching over these codes, they would develop an affinity code for Flyertalkers which is as deeply discounted as any other code that's discussed here, make it only accessible via hyperlink from within the FT site so it can't be traded by the general public and then call it a day.

Even better - since FT sells a premium service (ad-free), the smart travel companies might find it beneficial to work with Randy and IB to create a package of affiliate discounts for premium subscribers that can only be accessed/used from a FT-specific booking engine - FT incentivizes us to buy the premium subscription and the travel companies get a savvy, ready-to-buy, interested and loyal audience to incentivize.

I'd rather do that than spend hours chasing codes all over the place.

Excellent idea!

I imagine this could also be revenue-earning for Randy/IB.