Checking progress towards Avis 1st...
 

...anyone know how to do this from the website? I can look up this year's rentals... but wanted to know if they showed number of days anywhere.

Also, is there any way to challenge for this?

Thanks,

I'm not aware of any way to challenge for it.

The only way that I know how to check your rental days is to open up each rental in the "my account" section of Avis.com.

Just keep checking your MyAvis page. I checked mine on a whim last week and saw that my membership status had finally changed from Preferred to Avis First. I immediately went to the Avis First web page and registered, and it worked. I still haven't received any proactive notification from Avis of being eligible for Avis First, and probably never will. It's one of those things that you have to find out for yourself cause Avis won't inform you.