Car Rental Discounts: Where To Find The Best Deals

Simply put, rental car discounts are savings offered to consumers and businesses on their car rental reservations. This can come in the form of a price discount, free day rentals, upgraded vehicles at no additional (or minimal) cost, free or discounted add-ons such as car seats, fee waivers and more.

Membership Programs

AAA

Joining AAA doesn’t just get you access to roadside assistance. Members can also receive discounts and rewards from over 100,000 partners. This includes car rentals, lodging, food and entertainment.

For rental car partners, AAA has relationships with Hertz, Dollar Car Rental and Thrifty Car Rental. Renting through AAA unlocks exclusive savings of up to 20% and benefits such as a free additional driver, free child safety seat use and more.

AARP

AARP membership gives users access to discounts, programs and services from hundreds of partner companies including many in the travel and leisure space. Members who are looking for car rental deals can find discounts of up to 30% with Avis, Budget and Payless Car Rental. Other benefits include free upgrades, waived additional driver fees and credits that can be applied to future rentals.

BJ’s Wholesale Club

BJ’s partners with six rental car companies: Avis, Budget, Dollar, Hertz, Payless and Thrifty. All of their partnerships offer a member discount on bookings at a minimum, with some offering free upgrades. Vehicles can also be booked with free cancellation for the added flexibility of being able to continue to shop around for the best price.

Costco

Costco’s rental program allows discounts and benefits from Alamo, Avis, Budget and Enterprise. Benefits range from member savings at booking, additional driver fee waivers and discounted GPS rentals. Unless booking a prepay rate reservation, members may cancel or change rental car reservations at no additional fee though daily rate changes may apply.

USAA

USAA is the only free membership program listed but carries restrictions on who can join. USAA is open to military members and their eligible family members. As a member, USAA Perks are accessible and has partnerships with Avis, Budget, Enterprise and Hertz. Renting benefits include rental discounts, fee waivers for young and additional drivers, limited damage liability and additional savings for prepaying.

Car Loyalty Programs

Not everyone has access to or wants to pay for one or multiple membership clubs. In lieu of this, rental car shoppers should heavily consider signing up for whatever loyalty program held by the car rental company. These are usually fast and free to join and allow you to track your rental information through their dedicated apps. Benefits vary based on loyalty status but even one-time-use travelers can benefit.

As an example, the National Car Rental loyalty program is three-tiered. Emerald Club (base) members can earn free rental days, have second driver fees waived and receive special member-only discounts and offers. A popular benefit is Emerald Aisle access. This allows users to choose any vehicle in a designated area of participating locations and only pay the midsize vehicle rental rate, all while skipping the counter.

Discount Codes

Discount codes are codes you can enter at booking to grant rental savings or upgrades. Some codes are available for public use and can be found on the rental car website while some can be more personalized to individual users.

Employers will sometimes have their own discount codes available. Asking your HR department if they have a relationship with any rental car companies could help you find some extra savings. Alumni or other association programs may have their own as well.

There are more than a handful of credit cards that offer bonus points, additional insurance coverage, or higher tiered status with rental car companies just by owning or using the card on bookings.

Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Both the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card provide a primary collision damage waiver (CDW) benefit. This means cardholders can save money by declining insurance from the rental car company. And since the coverage is primary, claims can be filed without involving your personal car insurance.

In addition to this benefit, 10 points are earned when booking through Chase Travel℠. Additional rental car privileges are available with Avis, National Car Rental and Silvercar for Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders.

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card provides primary rental car insurance when you use your card for bookings and earns 10 miles per dollar on rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. This card also grants complimentary top-tier Hertz President’s Circle status which gives guaranteed upgrades, the widest selection of Ultimate Choice vehicles and additional benefits and rewards.

The Platinum Card® from American Express and American Express® Gold Card

The Platinum Card® from American Express (Terms apply, see rates & fees) and American Express® Gold Card (Terms apply, see rates & fees) both offer secondary rental car insurance¹ with the ability to purchase primary rental car insurance when using either of these cards for booking. Secondary coverage isn’t as great since your personal insurance company could penalize you for making a claim. That said, it could come in handy if your primary insurance doesn’t supply enough coverage.

In addition to the car rental insurance coverage, The Platinum Card gives status privileges with Avis (Preferred Plus), Hertz (President’s Circle) and National Car Rental (Emerald Club Executive). Benefits of these statuses include complimentary upgrades, free weekend rentals after qualifying activities, grace periods on rental returns and more.

AutoSlash

If you’re not interested in signing up for membership programs and just looking for a simple search, AutoSlash is one of our favorite websites for finding low car rental prices. Simply enter your pickup location, date range and vehicle type. You’ll receive an email shortly after with the deals they find.

AutoSlash goes a step further and will track your booking. If they find a better deal for your search parameters, they’ll send you an email letting you know. Even if you don’t book through AutoSlash, they’ll still track your reservation details to see if they can get you a better price.

Turo

Do you ever wish you could pick the exact vehicle you wanted? Turo may be the option for you. Turo is a peer-to-peer car rental company that functions similarly to Airbnb.

You see and select the exact vehicle from various hosts for your selected date range and depending on location, may come directly to you. With the large shift to people working from home, many have turned to renting out their vehicles. This could pose opportunities for great deals to be found.

One of the most tried-and-true ways to save on car rental bookings is to opt to pay at the counter. While prepaying can sometimes give you a discount, life happens. By opting to pay at pick up, you can modify your booking if a better price is found or cancel if things change.

Another rule of thumb is to decline prepaying for gas. When you opt to prepay for gas, you’re paying for the full tank. It doesn’t matter if you bring the vehicle back with a quarter full or 75%, you pay as if it’s empty. While they may charge competitive prices, it’s only worth it if you know you’ll bring the vehicle back with a near-empty tank.

Finally, consider an electric vehicle. This isn’t for everyone but could be a way to save some money. Many hotels now offer free charging for their guests. If this applies to you, you may save a bit of money by not having any gas refill costs.

Whether you’re road-tripping or need a vehicle after your flight, there are many ways to find car rental discounts. Being diligent and checking multiple options can help you secure the best deal to make your next reservation more affordable.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

Upon enrollment, accessible through the Capital One website or mobile app, eligible cardholders will remain at upgraded status level through December 31, 2024. Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply.

To view rates and fees for The Platinum Card® from American Express please visit this page.
To view rates and fees for American Express® Gold Card please visit this page.

¹Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. Car Rental Loss or Damage Coverage is offered through American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.