When I used to rent from Avis all the time they gave me Preferred Select and I always got an upgrade of at least one class. When Avis went to 50 miles per day instead of the 500 miles per rental I switched to Budget for their Perfect Drive program. I have been very loyal to them accumulating 40,000 points (I�m not sure if this is allot but I do know how much I rent from them), and I have never received any loyalty recognition from them. Does anybody know of a loyalty program at Budget?

Budget doesn't have a loyalty program to the best of my knowledge. Their thanks for our being loyal was reducing our earned points by 1/2 and raising the redemption values on the rewards.

Once the rental agents saw that I was a regular, they would automatically upgrade me (from a Contour to a Continental).

I just signed up for FastBreak about a month ago. I still haven't received anything in the mail from them yet. How long does it normally take? I guess Budget is just as slow sending out material in the mail as they are renting vehicles. I've had multiple bad experiences with this outfit but don't have a choice as our company books all our travel arrangements.

I recieved my card, etc. within a couple of weeks of signing up. But with their current money woes, it may take a bit longer.

Well, what a coincedence. In yesterdays mail I received my Budget FastBreak card along with two upgrade coupons.

I think you are looking for elite levels within the Perfect Drive loyalty program, right? AFAIK, they don't exist...you just get upgrades tossed your way more often if people notice that you are a frequent renter.

I think Hertz is the only one that has formal Elite Levels, although something tells me Avis has something similar (I don't rent from Avis, so I don't know firsthand). I'm a President's Circle member at Hertz, which usually translates into a 1-car-class upgrade at most airports. The membership materials say it's "guaranteed upgrades", but in practice many Hertz employees don't even know what the levels mean, so the upgrade isn't always there.

But...if you rent a lot at large airports and you want a high upgrade percentage, you might think about Hertz... Their points program is pretty boring - no merchandise - but you earn free rental days at a decent rate, so you aren't losing much unless your main reason for choosing Budget was to hook up a new set of Callaway sticks.

[This message has been edited by rmccamy (edited 07-08-2002).]