How to use the AvisFirst free weekend coupon?
 

I signed up with AvisFirst and got a free weekend coupon via email. Has anyone redeemed the coupon yet? I ask because there is a reservation link in the email, but when I enter the dates, the quote for the intermediate class car is not free. Is it better to call instead of online? If so, what's the phone number?

Avis coupons do not show up on the quote online. Just make sure you put the coupon in the online reservation & it does not come back as "invalid dates" or another error. When you get to the location, go to the desk & make them mark on your file that you have a coupon & they will take it. As someone else has suggested, always make them hand write or type on your rental receipt (AT TIME OF PICKUP) that they accepted your coupon. Twice when I've returned the car the coupon did not come off & I had to argue with them about it.

You will usually have to pay some sort of airport tax or the like as almost all airports/cities now charge a $x/day or $x/rental, but it shouldn't be more than $3/day.

Thanks for the advise. Any idea of how the pricing works if the rental spans more than the 2 days that is covered by the free weekend coupon? E.g. a rental starting Friday and ending the following Monday. Do I just pay for the 1 day that is not covered by the coupon?

Hmm...that makes it sound like I need the actual email. I never got one even though the website says , and when I called to have it re-sent, they just gave me the coupon code and that was it. It's sounding like this isn't going to work!

Correct, you'd have to pay for whatever isn't covered by the free 48-hour period covered by the coupon. When you make your reservation online, it will display the price/day and all the fees. You'll pay this price for whatever days/hours you were over. Also, I know with the previous coupons that you could not rent before Thursday afternoon (12PM I think) and the car had to be returned by Mon 11:59 PM. If you had the car outside this period, the 'weekend rate' no longer qualified and the coupon was invalid. Also, make sure you book early as they can black the date out if their inventory is already low that weekend. They'd much rather give it to someone that is paying than you.

I know before when they had the Free Weekend-er coupons, you had to physically present the coupon to the agent at the desk. However, after I read your post, I went back & looked at my email again... It states "Reserve now, or print this email to save your coupon details for future use. Remember, free weekend rewards are non-transferable. The Wizard Number and name above must be used on the reservation and rental in order to redeem your reward." In the T&C it does not mention that the coupon must be presented at the time of rental. However, I will always have mine on hand b/c the online reservation does not show the 2 free days when it calculates the price and I'd like to be able to prove I have it.

Are there any other restrictions? I'm looking to book for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, and I'm wondering if that is blacked out. It's awfully hard to know since the coupon doesn't get reflected in your reservation...

Different locaitons have different blackout dates. The best thing to do is go to avis.com and make a reservation using your coupon code. If the coupon is blacked out that day, avis.com will give you an error on the order of "Invalid coupon date" and prevent you from going forward with the booking. If you are able to complete the reservation with the coupon, then it's not blacked out then and you're all set.

No coupon on Memorial Day at BUF
 

I tried to book a reservation on Avis.com using the "Avis First" Free Weekend coupon at BUF for Memorial Day weekend and was rejected - "Coupon does not apply during these dates" was the message I received.

Interesting I'm using my coupon this weekend. I will print out the coupon just in case but when I made the reservation it came back with the right price, I'm picking up friday returning monday and the total quote is around $70 after fees and taxes for a mid size in Boston. ^

I will report back if I have any problems.

I too was able to reserve a car for Memorial Day weekend (Friday to Monday) at ORD on avis.com with no blackout date error messages.

No need for the coupon whatsoever. Not like before, but the "new" coupons are electronic only. I rented a car over the weekend by calling Customer Services and the rep inserted the coupon code and that was it.

Used the free weekend coupon for a 4 day weekend rental at SNA. As others have noted, I didn't need to present any coupon. Just remember to verify that the discount was applied when returning the car. The discount shown on the receipt as a Coupon/Discount for 2 x the base rental rate.

I had an even better experience but it might just be a mistake...

I rented a mid size in BOS as stated in an earlier post, the online estimate was to be $70+ for an extra day after the coupon was applied ($70 for a fri-mon rental after the coupon). I returned the car and get a bill for $23, it said I had a rate of $18 per day plus taxes. I had a car Friday night through Monday 5 pm for $23 all in with the coupon.

Not bad if Avis keeps this up I might stop bashing them at every opportunity.

Can someone PM me the coupon code? I can't get it to work.

I think each code is unique. I have mine in for a res for August & tried to put it in a dummy reservation for next month & it says the coupon is already in use. So if somone gives you one, it will: a) not be valid when the rightful owner goes to use it and, b) (Hopefully) will reject you b/c the Wizard # is incorrect.

It's not the usual code they used before for the free weekend-er coupons, where they all were the same.