Featured Reviews
Featured Insights
Both The Platinum Card® from American Express (review) and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review) offer a variety of useful perks, and it can almost be tough to keep track of them.
Among other things, the Amex Platinum offers elite status with select travel companies. In a separate post I wrote about the complimentary hotel status offered by the Amex Platinum, and in this post wanted to take a look at the complimentary car rental status offered by the card.
In this post:
Just for having the Amex Platinum Card you receive car rental benefits with three major car rental companies — Avis, Hertz, and National (Enrollment required). Note that this applies to both the personal and business versions of the card, and authorized users are eligible for this as well. Once you enroll for these programs on Amex’s website, you should see the new benefits and status kick in within a few days.
While I wouldn’t consider these perks to be that extraordinary, they can add value with your next car rental, so let’s take a look at what you need to know about these (and when you’re renting a car, make sure you also consider the best cards for gas station purchases).
Let’s go over each of the three perks you get, starting from most valuable to least valuable (as I see it).
As an Amex Platinum cardmember you can enroll to receive complimentary National Emerald Club Executive status. You would ordinarily earn this after 12 paid rentals or 40 paid rental days in a calendar year. While there are quite a few rewards, I’d say the most significant are as follows:
As an Amex Platinum cardmember you can enroll to receive complimentary Hertz Gold Plus Rewards President’s Circle status (this is a new benefit as of 2022). You would ordinarily earn this after 15 rentals or $3,000 worth of spending in a calendar year. The most valuable perks of this status are as follows:
In addition to the perks offered by Hertz Plus Rewards President’s Circle status, you can get further benefits by using Amex Corporate Discount Code (CDP) 211762. This could offer savings on your rental, a four-hour grace period on returns within the United States, and more.
As an Amex Platinum cardmember you can enroll to receive complimentary Avis Preferred Plus status. You would ordinarily earn this after 12 rentals or $5,000 spent in a calendar year. This Avis status includes the following benefits:
While renting cars can be extremely frustrating, I’ve enjoyed my rentals with National. Executive status is awesome, and makes the whole rental experience significantly more pleasant — not only does National typically have decent cars, but for many locations you can pick your car, and then there’s virtually no paperwork.
So if you haven’t given National a try, that’s something I would do, and the Amex Platinum status will help with making that as pleasant as possible. Alternatively, I find that both Hertz and Avis are pretty decent if you have status.
That being said, I wouldn’t recommend actually paying for your car rental with the Amex Platinum:
Instead I’d recommend using a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review) for your car rental, as it offers 3x points on travel purchases (including car rentals), and offers a collision damage waiver.
The Amex Platinum offers car rental perks with Avis, Hertz, and National. National is by far my favorite major car rental company, and having Executive status with the company is valuable. I also sometimes rent from Hertz when National is a lot more expensive, and have had good experiences as a President’s Circle member. If you have the Amex Platinum and have any upcoming car rentals, make sure you enroll to receive some complimentary elite status perks.
If you have the Amex Platinum, have you used the car rental benefits?
It looks like the Avis status match isn’t allowed in the US??
Overall Enterprise has better rates compared to the above rental companies. I compared my advance car rental holdings in Boston, Seattle, Detroit, SXM, BTV, Nice and Brussels this year to Enterprise and none are better. Those destinations are mostly vacation with some family so it’s not like a rental car upgrade will make or break my trip.
Except when they upgrade your 7 seater reservation into a premium 5 seater and run out of cars.
That’s going to break a trip.
Ben — How exactly do I get the Avis status?
Google “Avis Status Match”, and you’ll find the page to upload documents to match.
Better to upload your Hertz President’s Club card and match to the highest Avis level.
Please stop saying these benefits are “free.” They are part of what we are paying for with our $695 annual fee. They are actually far from free.
Do you get Sixt status on the Plat? I guess you can just status match from Hertz so technically you do…I have an upcoming reservation with both Hertz and Sixt and I’m trying to see which would be better perk-wise, since they’re the same price. It’s a little tricky locking down which benefits are available at non-US (Caribbean) destinations
Sixt offers some benefits but mostly a status match after 3 rentals to Hertz Gold or above status.
Your feedback is important in helping us keep our community safe.
The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser’s responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.
It looks like the Avis status match isn't allowed in the US??
Except when they upgrade your 7 seater reservation into a premium 5 seater and run out of cars. That's going to break a trip.
Overall Enterprise has better rates compared to the above rental companies. I compared my advance car rental holdings in Boston, Seattle, Detroit, SXM, BTV, Nice and Brussels this year to Enterprise and none are better. Those destinations are mostly vacation with some family so it's not like a rental car upgrade will make or break my trip.
You have successfully joined our subscriber list.
Stay connected with the latest travel, aviation, and credit card news.
Advertiser Disclosure: Some links to credit cards and other products on this website will earn an affiliate commission. Outside of banner ads published through the Boarding Area network, this compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site. While we do try to list all the best miles and points deals, the site does not include all card companies or credit card offers available in the marketplace. Please view our advertising policy page for additional details about our partners.
Editorial Disclosure: The editorial content on this page is not provided by any entity mentioned herein. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. See more about our ethics policies here.
© 2024 – OMAAT | All rights reserved