I and what seems like many posters I have seen in this forum have begun to see that Avis First is a useless program.

• Upgrades vary a lot regardless of lot size. I fly into DFW and ORD a lot and get upgraded to from Intermediate to anything from a Sebring Convertible to a Hyundai Accent. My business partner is with Hertz and he gets upgraded from the same level to an Infiniti M45 or a Cadillac Escalade.
• Customer service and Reps in the facilities are rarely helpful.
• The AvisFirst website is a early internet style website with very little functionality. It would seem that an Avis First member, et al. would be able to customize their profile, likes, dislikes, etc.
• And, above all, the weekend coupon. When am I going to ever use that? I travel every week from Monday thru Thursday and I get an Avis rental. Am I really going to get another rental when I get home? Why don't they offer some sort of reward system like airlines and hotels do? A member could move up in the Avis Preferred Ranks or even use those points to rent cars, etc. Seems like an easy move.

My boss and I agree that we are more like Avis Last. I have received multiple free coupons and like you, I am never going to use them.
Getting upgrades is like pulling teeth, and they are inconsistent.
I get to look at the Volvo's and Infiniti's at Hertz, while I drive off in my stripped out sonata (w/ XM). I don't have a choice as Avis is my company's provider.

avpman, if you want a Volvo or Infiniti, then go ahead and book one. When I was a Avis First earlier this year I got upgraded close to 95% of my rentals at IAD/DCA/DEN/LGA/JFK/SFO/BWI/ORD.

I can't figure out how to use the coupons. Go to avisfirst.com, coupons, make a reservation now and you go back to avis.com for a regular reservation.

I used to use National - emerald isle was cool - take any car you want in the section. Then I showed up at the Tampa airport and there were no cars, no kisok, nothing. National went under and I was told Alamo had acquired them (off site) and would honor the reservation. Walked over to Avis and never went back.

However, Avis First is useless. Is Hertz really better?

Avis First is useless.
Free weekends are a lousy program vs Hertz which I used to use all the time until the company switched to Avis. I could use my free days with Hertz anytime. Whenever I have tried to use an Avis "free weekend", the location refuses them or the date is blocked.

another subtle problem with Avis ... not just the First program i believe, but have any of you actually ever used the eMusic coupons you get?

seriously ... can you name me one band of even mediocre popularity (classic rock, modern, pop, etc.) that is on eMusic.

I miss getting the old 10 iTunes coupons each week.

Yes. I've used up all my eMusic coupons but I must say that a majority of the collection on there is synthesized junk... the remainder is independent label and famous artists who have allowed their material to be on eMusic. Hopeless.

I agree that Avis first is pretty inconsistent, but at the Hertz 5 star level, it really wasn't much better for me. The main things I saw as being better at Hertz are:

1) bus frequencies at airports like LAX and ORD seem much better with Hertz.
2) Name on the board with car ready to go was a bit better with Hertz.

I was never upgraded to anything close to an Infiniti or Cadillac from an intermediate, although I did "luck" out with a Town Car once. But Hertz also stuck me with an intermediate Corolla a couple of times, and said there were no upgrades available.

I do like the National Emerald Aisle, but during the period that I used them, they seemed to totally run out of cars often enough to be annoying.

The use of an Avis free weekend coupon is confusing on the Avis website. When you make a reservation on the Avis website it still shows the price the rental would cost for that weekend. If you look at the disclaimers it says total price does not include any coupons which will be applied at time of rental. What I do is call Avis and verify if the coupon can be used for the dates I need and make the reservation over the phone. I have used several free weekend coupons since the start of the Avis First program, the only weekend(s) that have been blocked out are holiday weekends. I have had no issues using them.

The first time I turned my free weekend rental in I got charged about $9 in taxes. I forgot and left it on my corporate credit card which is the one in my preferred profile. Now I remember when they say would you like to leave this on the cc you reserved this on to say no, please change it.

When I finally hit 25 I thought I'd never rent from Avis again unless necessary until I had a delayed flight and saw another side of Hertz. I've been delayed many times with Avis and often they still have my contract available and they'll either just hand it to me and I'll be on my way or they'll correct the pickup time on the contract to a more current time and I'll be on my way...same rate, etc. This was with up to a 4 hour delay.

I was delayed due to late aircraft twice on Hertz. Even though they made me fill out my flight information so they could know when I'm arriving, upon arrival they seemed to no longer have any record I had a reservation with under a 2 hour delay. They had to generate a new reservation for me and give me a walk-up rate double my original rate. My fault for not verifying that upfront since I did have human interaction to get any sort of keys anyway.

Just this week at SMF I had cancelled a Monday 11 pm pickup and rescheduled a pickup for Tuesday noon when I meant Monday noon. I just walked up to the preferred desk at SMF, said my name, handed my license, and was given a contract and keys with my usual rate. It wasn't until I checked my e-mail later I discovered I showed up 24 hours before my current reservation and 11 hours before my canceled reservation.

Aside from that the eMusic is useless and there's already a thread on that. The free weekends are a joke and I was sent 3 at the same time earlier this year b/c they had a glitch and didn't give me 3 of them. I didn't really miss them though. Last year I used 2 of my 8.

Any "upgrade" = SUV

The only real perk I've gotten from Avis First was the Aux cables certain airports had for First members. I didn't hit a major airport location until a week after that promo expired and asked BWI if they still had any. They seemed like they hadn't handed out any and gave me one without any hesitation. I kept that cord in my purse for quite a while. I lost it and now need a new one. Maybe I'll just have to ask another major airport if they still have any.

well, at least most here are getting some kind of an upgrade....I've been renting in Europe over the past few years and have gotten zero, nada, zip, zilch...rent economy and get economy....once the woman indicated that oh, we dont have any more economy automatic cars.....but we do have a compact - great an upgrade....only to find out upon returning the car that she CHANGED the rental price and I paid an extra three hundred euros!!!

I like Avis in the US a WHOLE lot better than Avis internationally.

Avis First does give me a much more reliable no wait than Hertz 5 Star. I am member of both and once Avis started giving SW RR credits for rentals they became my preference by far. They always upgrade me to an SUV from a full size (I like SUVs and prefer them over most premium vehix) and very rarely do I ever have to speak to anybody after I give my name to the bus driver or find my name on the board.

Avis also has lower rates for the most part than Hertz, which is a bonus. They partner credits do take longer to post to SW than Budget or Hertz, and they don't do as many promotions for double, triple, quadruple credits.

All in all, Avis is my 1st choice in rental car and probably won't be changing anytime soon. Except for St Louis, the Hertz there is GREAT and treats me like a king, I always use them when driving in MO!^

Well, Avis can do that too. At BOS a few weeks ago I arrived with my family around midnight and I wasn't on the Preferred board, and had to go inside the booth... where the agent really hard-sold me on taking an SUV instead of the intermediate car I'd reserved. I didn't want one because of the MPG, and I insisted on a car. He sullenly assigned me a Sonata and when I returned it four days later I found he's slammed me into "accepting" CDW and my tab was about $150 higher than it should've been. What a jerk.