A couple of years ago, when I was a BA top-tier elite, BA had offered me complementary AVIS Preferred Select membership. I did not need it and discarded the invitation.

Currently, are there any other ways (beyond AmEx Platinum) to receive complementary Preferred Select membership?

filling out an application for Preferred Select would be a waste of your ink.

Yes, I read what some others had to say about the program:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=354148

However, I have a couple of rentals coming up where I unfortunately have to use AVIS rather than Hertz, and I thought a tiny chance of an upgrade would be better than none...

At one time- a VISA signature card would get you select status- but it looks like they have discontunued it...

As long as your expectations are low, you won't be greatly disappointed. I've actually seen a wide variety of vehicles over the last year and it would help if I were in the market for a new personal car. I generally rent mid-size or full size and I'm sometimes upgraded to a luxury or SUV. This week, the sign pointed me to a minivan but there was no paperwork in it (I was 4 hours late). I went back to the desk and was given a different space, this time with a Crown Vic.

In the last month or 2, I've gotten a Camry, an Aztek, a DeVille, a Cavalier (I asked for a compact on purpose and would have turned down an upgrade) and the Crown Vic. All summer long, I got Impalas everywhere I went. Oh well, beats the old Malibu.

I was a "Preferred Select" for many years, through my Amex Platinum card. I guess I was dropped to "Preferred" sometime in 2004. Due to a job switch, I'm renting Avis a lot these days (we need to rent Avis or National, the rates are the same).

So:
1) Does the Amex card still "entitle" me to Preferred Select?
2) Is there any difference between Preferred and Preferred Select? Is the difference worth making a fuss over, assuming (1) is true.

In the last 2 weeks, I've crammed 4 people into a 25K mile Chevy Cavalier with manual locks and crank windows, and I've had our company president in the back seat of my Avis Chevy Malibu, along with 2 VP's and all their luggage!

Your company president will not let you spend 20 bucks more on a rental and get a larger car?

Yes, there is a difference between Preferred and Preferred Select. Anyone can get Preferred status (this is AVIS's bypass the counter product) by signing up. Its free. Select status requires X number of rentals a year. They say you get a one car class update, but there are MANY threads here that say different. You do get this status with a plat amex.

If you want to rent a Cavalier and get a caddy- I suggest you pay for it or get a black amex card- that gets you President's status and from what I have seen here, you will get the kind of upgrade you are looking for.

Oh, I wasn't expecting a caddy -- actually, our corporate rate is exactly the same for a sub-compact as an intermediate. Years ago, I changed my profile to sub-compact, since Avis was "upgrading" me to huge cars and SUV's, which I don't like driving, and renting a small car actually yielded a vehicle that can fit into a single lane on the highway. (this is when I was a "P.S").

I was just wondering if I should call up Amex and get myself un-downgraded from Preferred. If it is a meaningless status, I won't bother.

in manhattan, they give you any car they want to give you when you walk up to the counter. if they give you a smaller car they will not adjust the rate.

no WSJ, etc. are given in manhattan. you are just lucky that they are giving you a car. Preferred Select is COMPLETELY ignored in manhattan. no thank you is tendered...again, they are doing you the favor.

I was preferred select for 10 years they just bumped me back to preferred and I have noticed that the cars have gotten older and smaller since then. I still prefer National, but do miss the select. Ah well I am off to my 30,000 miles monte carlo...... I didnt know they kept cars this long.....

I got a WSJ for a LGA rental a couple of months ago. I'm preferred select based on some mail AVIS sent me about 4 months ago, but I haven't seen any difference in my rentals.

Same thing happened to me in October. I didn't make a fuss about it. I just followed the link on the AMEX website to sign-up for Preferred Select. The Avis website noted that I already had a wizard number. A week or so later I received my new card.

you generally get a newspaper and a 1 car upgrade.

THat is very very random
I have to use Avis due to corporate reason, and I rent about 3 times a month or so, I do believe I am a good customer, and I am preferred but the newspaper is probably once every 3 to 4 times and the upgrade even more random
IN top of that, I am not sure if it is just me, but I have starting to notice that the cars were getting older and older, I actually got two cars with over 28K in the last month, which was a first for me with Avis

I got a 1 class upgrade on 1 of my previous 3 rentals. Hoping for an upgrade on Sunday, we'll see...