Join Major Car Rental Loyalty Programs for Faster Car Pickup—They’re Free

Car Rentals 101: Save Money and Time With Your Rental, Car Rental Loyalty Programs

The last thing most people want to do, after getting off a flight, is wait in a long line at a rental counter.

The best way to avoid rental counter lines and hassles is to join the rental company’s loyalty program.

Not that many years ago, joining most car rental loyalty programs required an annual membership fee or a minimum number of rentals per year. Nowadays, anyone can join and there is no charge to participate.

It’s your choice. You can either take a few minutes to sign up for the rental program ahead of time; or you can typically spend much more time, when you are likely to be far more tired, doing all the paperwork at the car rental counter.

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Benefits of joining
Quick access to your car
Keeping track of your membership info

Faster check-in. For most people, the primary reason to join a rental program is an expedited process when you are picking up your car. Given the amount of time you can save, even if you only rent one or two times per year, you’d be crazy not to register.
Pick your own car. The growing trend at the top airport locations is to allow you to pick any car (within your car class), just by walking to the car you want, getting in, and driving away. With a couple of the larger car rental companies, you can even switch to a fancier car (at the price posted on the windshield)—by just showing your ID to the gate agent.

Easy reservations for the long run. Once you’ve signed up, you no longer need to fill in your information every time you make a reservation. Everything stays on file and all you need to do is enter your member number.
No “aggressive sales pitches” at the checkout counter. You’ll often be able to avoid the time consuming and sometimes annoying sales pitch, which often accompanies counter service.
Earn free rentals. If you don’t travel very frequently, it may take some time to build up enough points or rentals to get free rental days. However, your credits will gradually build up and you will eventually save some cash (and not just time).

Access to extra promotions. Normally when you sign up, you’ll start getting periodic emails letting you know about special member offers and promotions. You might want to turn these off or you might appreciate receiving them. Either way, you’ll be eligible for a bunch of members-only promotions.
Move up to elite status for free upgrades. Several credit cards provide automatic elite status in some rental programs. Once you’ve registered, you’ll get access to guaranteed free upgrades and other benefits. Instant Car Rental Elite Status.

Quick access to your car

In all cases, being a member of the rental program translates to spending less time picking up your car.

At major airport locations, you can often go directly to your car (or your choice of car) and simply show your ID at the gate. National car rental was the trendsetter here and still the favorite of many renters, due to the ability to pick your own car at over 60 airports.
If you can't go directly to your car, hundreds of larger rental locations have special “VIP lines”, where you can walk up, show your ID, and pick-up your keys. At smaller rental locations, you’ll need to get in the regular line; but when it is your turn, your transaction will take a lot less time.

	Doesn’t offer any special check-in for members. However, everyone can check-in online to “skip the counter” at almost 50 large airport locations. Alamo Insiders.
	Skip the rental counter at many locations. “Select & Go” let’s you choose your own car at 50+ large airport locations. Avis Preferred.
	Special Fastbreak counters at 800 locations. “Choice service” lets you choose your car at many major airport locations. Budget Fastbreak.
	Go direct to the lot at some locations, VIP checkout lines in many others. Dollar Express Program.
	VIP checkout lines in many locations. Enterprise Plus.
	Special Gold counters at 4,000+ locations. Go direct to your car at 50+ large airport locations. “Gold Choice” lets you pick your own car. Hertz Gold Plus.
	Pick your own car from the “Emerald Aisle” at 70+ locations. Special checkout counters at another 30 or so locations. National Emerald Club.
	Go direct to the lot at some locations, VIP checkout lines in many others. Thrifty Blue Chip Program
	Express checkout lines and/or machines at many locations. Sixt Cards Loyalty Program.

Keeping track of your membership info

If you are going to join many or all of the car rental programs, you will need a way to remember your membership information. You could always write them down someplace you’ll be able to access easily, like the notes app on your phone, an email message that you send yourself, or a little spreadsheet that you store in the cloud. However, we recommend that you use a service called AwardWallet.

AwardWallet is a website and smartphone app that tracks all your loyalty program information. We recommend it strongly for frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs, but it also works great for storing the account information for car rental programs. The free version does everything most people need, but there is a premium version that helps make sure that your points don’t expire. Use AwardWallet to Easily Manage Your Loyalty Program Information