Published: 7 September 2026
Avis Preferred: Benefits, Status Levels & How to Get President’s Club
All of the major car rental companies have rewards schemes and Avis Preferred is the free loyalty programme from Avis, offering regular customers faster car collection, upgrades and other benefits.
There are three membership levels – Avis Preferred, Preferred Plus and President’s Club – but you don’t necessarily need to rent frequently to get top-tier status. American Express Platinum and selected World Elite Mastercard holders can qualify for President’s Club, while Avis also offers status matches from competing car-hire programmes.
Avis is also particularly interesting for Avios collectors, with several different ways to earn Avios on rentals.
We’ve looked at how Avis Preferred works, what the different status levels offer and, importantly, whether its advertised discounts actually produce the cheapest rental price.
Avis Preferred has 3 membership tiers:
| Benefit | Avis Preferred | Avis Preferred Plus | President’s Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualification (annual) | Free to join | €1,000 spend or 5 rentals | €2,000 spend or 10 rentals |
| Priority service |  | | |
| 10% discount* | | | |
| Free additional driver* |  | | |
| Single upgrade | | Subject to availability | Best efforts |
| Double upgrade at weekends | | | Subject to availability |
| Roadside Assistance Plus* | | | |
* Geographic Restrictions: The 10% discount, the free additional driver and roadside assistance are only available to rentals in the following countries: Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, France (excluding Corsica), Belgium, Luxembourg, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Italy (excluding Sardinia), Spain, Finland, Greece, Portugal (excluding Azores), Iceland, Poland and Turkey.
Priority Service benefit
Priority service might not sound much but it is actually a pretty decent benefit. This allows you to arrive at the collection point and skip the regular queue with all your paperwork already completed. I have found this saves a lot of time, especially at busy airports, and also avoids all the tiresome insurance/breakdown cover/sat nav upselling which comes with hiring a car.
Upgrades
Upgrades are of course subject to availability, although whenever I have hired the cheapest car from Avis at an business location, I have always been upgraded to something bigger (sometimes too big). Of course, upgrades themselves are subjective (and probably more for the convenience of the rental company) but they are a definite nice to have.
Benefits for British Airways Club members
If you are a British Airways Club member, you are entitled to 10% off rentals and a free additional driver worldwide.
These must be made using the British Airways/Avis Worldwide Discount (AWD) code that applies to your BA status:
- Gold Members: N744400
- Silver Members: N744300
- Bronze Members: N284300
- Blue Members: N744100
Note, whilst booking, you need to be logged in to your Avis Preferred account for the discount code to work.
Do not assume a discount code automatically means the cheapest price
In my experience, offers from all of the major car rental companies should be treated with a pinch of salt. We tested identical three-day Avis rentals at Amsterdam Schiphol and Edinburgh – surprisingly, using my British Airways 10% discount produced a higher price than simply logging into my Avis Preferred account. as a President’s Club member and searching without the discount code.
| 3-day rental | Amsterdam Schiphol airport | Edinburgh city centre |
|---|---|---|
| Not logged in | £214.39 | £119.35 |
| President’s Club + BA discount | £192.95 | £108.24 |
| President’s Club without discount code | £160.79 | £91.59 |
In our research, simply being logged in produced a price around 25% below the public rate in Amsterdam and 23% below it in Edinburgh – considerably better than using the advertised BA discount which saved around 10%.
This won’t necessarily happen on every rental, but it demonstrates why you should always compare prices with and without promotional or partner codes before booking.
Is Avis Preferred Free?
Avis Preferred is completely free to join, so even occasional Avis customers can register and take advantage of the entry-level benefits.
When does the Avis Preferred Membership Year start?
Membership year starts on the date you join the scheme and resets on the anniversary. If you move up a tier, you get the benefits of the new tier for the remainder of the current membership year, plus the next 12 months.
What if I do not rent enough to maintain my Avis Preferred status?
If you do not have enough activity to retain your membership tier, you will drop down one level at the end of the membership year.
Three Ways to Get Avis President’s Club Without 10 Rentals
- If you have top-tier status in another international car rental programme, fill in this form on the Avis website to apply for a status match
- If you have an American Express Platinum card, you get President’s Club status as part of your package
- If you have a Mastercard World Elite credit card (such as those issued by HSBC Premier, Halifax, Lloyds, and Santander), you can apply on this website
How do I earn Avios on my rental?
You can credit your Avis hire to one of the various different airlines that use Avios as their award currency, although different earnings rules apply. Remember that you can move Avios between different schemes in order to maximise your Avios earnings or if you want to make a redemption on another airline.
| Avios programme | Avis earning rate |
|---|---|
| British Airways Club | 5 Avios/£ + free additional driver |
| Iberia Club | 5 Avios/£ or €, 3 Avios per $ (lower rates for corporate rentals) |
| Aer Lingus AerClub | 5 Avios/€ |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 2 Avios/$ |
| Finnair Plus | 500 Avios per rental |
However to keep it simple:
- Need an additional driver? – credit to British Airways Club (free additional driver & 5 Avios per £)
- Spending under €100 (approx £88) – credit to Finnair Plus (500 Avios per rental)
- Spending more than €100 (approx £88) – credit to Aer Lingus AerClub (5 Avios per €)
For more information on earning Avios on car hire see our guide.
Our Take
Avis Preferred is worth joining if you ever rent from Avis, even if you don’t hire cars frequently enough to reach Preferred Plus or President’s Club.
The scheme is free to join, and the priority-service benefit alone can make membership worthwhile. In my experience, being able to bypass a long rental desk queue at a busy airport, with the paperwork already completed, is considerably more valuable than it might initially sound.
Higher tiers become more interesting thanks to benefits such as additional drivers and upgrades, plus as we have shown, you may not need to complete the normal rental requirements to obtain President’s Club status. Status matches and benefits provided through selected premium credit cards can potentially give you top-tier status immediately.
Our pricing experiment also produced an important lesson: never assume an Avis discount code gives you the cheapest price. On both the Amsterdam and Edinburgh rentals we tested, logging into my President’s Club account without using the British Airways discount produced a substantially lower price than applying the advertised BA discount. We’d therefore recommend running several searches before booking, both with and without any partner discount codes – and comparing the final price.
Avis can also be attractive for Avios collectors. Depending on the value of your rental, you can credit your hire to several Avios programmes, while British Airways Club members can benefit from a free additional driver.
Overall, Avis Preferred is an easy programme to recommend because membership costs nothing. Just don’t assume that the headline discount or most obvious Avios programme will necessarily give you the best deal.
