This One Thing Will Save You Hours At The Car Rental Line—And Help Make Sure You Get A Car - Forbes

For the frequent traveler, the most valuable tricks and tools are often not the ones that can help score the occasional cheap airfare, but rather the ones that save time on every trip. If you rent a car, the process of picking up and selecting your rental can add significant time, sometimes hours, to your trip after you arrive at your destination.

During 2020, many rental car companies cut their staff and their fleets, leading to sometimes excruciatingly long lines and car shortages at rental car companies throughout the U.S.

But there is a trick that can cut the time you spend waiting in line at the car rental counter, sometimes allowing you to go directly to your car at major airports: Joining a car rental company's rewards program.

Join the Rewards Program

Most car rental companies have rewards programs that allow members to save significant time at most major airports. They do this by storing your drivers license and payment information, and having you agree to their rental terms in advance, so you can skip the line and either use a self-service kiosk or go directly to your car.

Almost every major car rental agency in the U.S. has a rewards program that can be joined online. Joining is a matter of uploading your driver's license information, your credit card details, selecting a few preferences and making sure that your loyalty program number is added to any existing reservations.

At all of the major car rental companies, joining these rewards programs is completely free.

Perks and Benefits

The biggest perk of a car rental loyalty program that is available immediately is some form of time-savings when you pick up your rental car. The Hertz family of rental companies (Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty) all allow you to skip the counter and go straight to your car when you arrive at your destination. Avis Preferred members can also skip the lines, but their value-oriented brand, Budget, allows their Fastbreak members priority access through self-service kiosks. In every case, simply signing up for the rewards program will save you some time, if not allow you to skip the line entirely.

The time savings don't stop after you pick up your car. Many of the car rental companies allow you to return the car, drop your keys and leave. At some airports, you can leave, but many off-airport and after-hours airport operations have a drop box where you can securely deposit keys after parking your car. Once the rental car company's staff checks in your car, they will bill you for your rental using your stored payment information.

In addition to time-savings, joining a loyalty program makes it more likely that your reservation will be honored. This will be especially important in the short- to medium-term as rental car companies have sold off large parts of their fleet and are frequently running out of cars in some locations. Even during normal times, car rental companies can run short of cars. According to USA Today, 1% of rental car reservations are not honored. If you are a member of a car rental loyalty program, the rental car company will often designate a specific rental car for you a few hours prior to your reservation time, making it more likely that there will be a car for you when you arrive.

Most car rental companies also have a mobile app that you can access if you are a loyalty program member. The biggest perk of rental companies' mobile apps is the ability to update your reservation on the fly in the case of flight delays. Updating your reservation is important to ensure that you have a car on arrival, as many rental car companies will release reserved cars within a few hours if a customer does not show up. For frequent travelers, these apps also allow you to easily access your rental history.

Finally, for frequent car renters, these car rental loyalty programs typically offer the ability to earn rewards points good for future car rentals or earn frequent renter status that grants benefits such as free car upgrades, access to priority customer service, or access to preferred cars.

How to Sign Up

Signing up for a car rental loyalty program is as simple as registering for an account, giving the car rental company your driver's license information and providing a credit card for payment. Most rental loyalty programs will allow you to select optional services or set your preferences, such as your preferred class of car, when joining the loyalty program.

Here are the names of some of the largest and most popular programs. As there are many smaller, limited-service, or regional car rental companies, you may find companies at your destination that are not on this list. Check your car rental company's website for more information on their loyalty program.

• Hertz—Gold Plus Rewards
• Dollar—Express Rewards
• Thrifty—Blue Chip Rewards
• Avis—Avis Preferred
• Budget—Fastbreak
• National—Emerald Club
• Alamo—Alamo Insiders
• Enterprise—Enterprise Plus

Bonus: Avoiding the Upsells

Another under-appreciated time-saver of car rental rewards programs is that they help you avoid upsells at the rental counter. Many rental car companies incentivize their agents to sell you additional options and services like prepaid fuel, GPS navigation systems and loss/damage waiver insurance. Worse, some try to entice you into paying more for something that you may get anyway like a higher-class car or satellite radio.

If you are a member of a car rental company's loyalty program, you can set your preferences to decline (or add) these additional services and not deal with an agent trying to upsell you at the rental counter.

Adding Your Loyalty Program Information

If you book directly through your car rental agency's website, your loyalty program information will usually be added to your reservation if you are logged in when making the booking.

For car rentals, you can often save a lot of money if you shop around. Unlike airline ticket prices, car rental rates can vary widely across online travel agencies and you can often score a great deal by checking several booking sites. Fortunately, you can use sites like AutoSlash, Orbitz, Expedia or use members-only deals like Costco's car rental deals and still enjoy the benefits of your loyalty program if you add your loyalty program number to the reservation during booking.

One note of caution on using opaque booking sites like Hotwire or Priceline: These sites offer deals which are often lower than published prices on some car rentals, but in order to score the deal, you must prepay for the rental before you are shown the car rental company. With many of these types of "opaque" bookings, there is no opportunity to add your loyalty program information after the booking and loyalty program benefits are usually not honored. The counter agents may even be incentivized to more aggressively try to up-sell you because the car rental companies usually make very low margins on these rates.

Even if a Hotwire Hot Deal or a Priceline Name Your Price car rental can save you a few dollars, it might be worthwhile to pay a little bit more to know who you are renting from and have the benefit of skipping the car rental line.

Increasing Your Status With Credit Cards

Many rental car loyalty programs offer some form of elevated status for their members who rent cars frequently. While this status is most often earned through repeatedly renting through one company, it is sometimes also granted as a credit card benefit. Many premium credit cards like The Platinum Card® from American Express, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and the Citi Prestige® Card* come with upgraded status in a number of rental car loyalty programs when you enroll.

Elevated status in the rental car programs comes with perks like free upgrades, the ability to add an additional driver for free, return grace periods and rental discounts. In addition, if the rental car companies overbook their cars, they are much less likely to cancel reservations for their loyalty program members who hold status.

If you have a premium credit card, it can be worth checking to see if this is a benefit that you already have access to. If you travel frequently and are considering applying for a premium credit card, elevated rental car status should be part of your value calculation.

For more on the rental car benefits provided by many credit cards, see the Forbes Advisor article on credit card rental car benefits.

Bottom Line

If you plan on renting cars during your travels, join your car rental company's loyalty program.

For an investment of five to ten minutes, you will have a much smoother car rental experience almost everywhere you go and you will almost certainly save at least that much time by avoiding the rental counter on your first trip. Do yourself a favor and join the loyalty program so that you can spend an extra hour enjoying your vacation rather than standing in a line waiting to rent a car.

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

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