Huge 18,700 Avios for ONE UK Avis rental – but does it make sense?

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Iberia Plus and Avis have launched a very low key promotion which a HfP reader flagged up last night. If you can make this work for you, you could do very nicely.

Take a look here.

Avis is offering 18,000 Avios if you book a Group C car, or above, for 3 days or more, starting on 8th, 9th or 10th December.

You will also earn at least 700 base Avios for the rental.

If you can get a good rate from your local depot this could be a real winner.

The devil is in the detail with offers like this. If you are thinking of taking part, read the rules carefully as well as my summary below.

You will earn these Avios in Iberia Plus. You will need a free Iberia Plus account to take part. You will not get the bonus if you credit to avios.com or British Airways Executive Club.

You must book on avisiberia.es, iberia.com or avis.es. Bookings on avis.com or avis.co.uk do not qualify.

Your rental must be in the UK, mainland Spain, Balearics and Canaries, Italy, France, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium or Holland.

The deal is NOT valid on Prestige rentals, Chauffeur Drive or van rentals.

You cannot use any other coupon, promotion or frequent flyer points offer. This implies to me that you must book at the standard Avis rate. It even implies that using the Iberia discount code would disqualify you. This may be taking the rule too literally but you don’t want to risk 18,000 Avios.

It is worth pricing up a 3-day rental from your local Avis depot. Try out rentals starting on the 8th, 9th and 10th for three days for a Group C or above. If the price works then it could be worth renting a car and sticking it on your drive for the weekend.

I tried a random booking in Bolton and got a price of €51 – a bargain for 18,700 Avios.

Unfortunately, because I can’t park anywhere near my own house without a parking permit, it isn’t one for me. If you can make it work for you it could go nicely. Just make sure you follow the rules to the letter.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

Avis and Avis Preferred, Iberia and Iberia Plus

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Arun says:

30 Nov30 November 09:31

Can someone pick up a car if they have a different name to the booking/iberia plus cardholder name?
- Matthew says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 09:35
  
  I’m wondering this too. One of the terms and conditions is:
  
  Rentals must include the Iberia Plus membership number of the first named driver (the “renter”). This Iberia Plus membership number must be given at time of reservation and the card shown at time of rental.
  
  I don’t have a license, but my partner is willing to pick it up/drive it. So wondering if I could still do this with my Iberia Plus number…
Richmond says:

30 Nov30 November 09:31

68 euro for keeping car for 3 days on my drive, Gatwick rental office. Let hope avios will post.
- BigDave says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 09:54
  
  me too – It does say points could take up tp 8 weeks to post – worst comes to the worst I’ll get the amex points and the base points …
  - Cate says:
    
    30 Nov30 November 10:31
    
    How did you get it down to 68 euro at Gatwick? The closest I’ve got is hire Thur 8th
    (t= 1800hrs) return Sun (1100 hrs) for 84 euros??
    - Cate says:
      
      30 Nov30 November 10:38
      
      Sorted!!
    - Richmond says:
      
      30 Nov30 November 10:38
      
      09/12 15.00 to 12/12 15.00. Came at 68 euro for C group or E group if you pay now.
terri says:

30 Nov30 November 10:03

I am still chasing my missing avios for a Jersey rental in October with avis. No response to date to emails.
If I needed a car that weekend I’d go for it, but on past experience I’m not picking up a car I don’t need. Car hire pick up can be excruciatingly slow not to mention the hard sell on insurance. Be pleased for those taking part when the avios post.
- Richmond says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 10:07
  
  It took me about 6 months to get extra 1000 avios from November 2015. So I hope it will work better.
  
  Not worried about insurance, have annual excess policy. Otherwise wouldn’t bother as there’s always a risk of car damage and excess payment.
- Chris says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 10:19
  
  I have 2 outstanding Avis rentals with missing bonus Avios.
  Not sure who to chase – Avis or BA?
  - Richmond says:
    
    30 Nov30 November 10:39
    
    BA, Avis didn’t even reply to any of my emails and claim filled online.
Doug says:

30 Nov30 November 10:05

The confirmation e-mail or voucher does not state my iberia number anywhere. I know they should honor, but this system looks ancient.
rams1981 says:

30 Nov30 November 10:13

OT how do you check if your MBNA card has any of the AMEX offers?
- the real harry says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 10:22
  
  MBNA cards don’t ‘get’ any offers – you have to sign up for them on the Amex Connect site
  - rams1981 says:
    
    30 Nov30 November 10:33
    
    cheers Harry. Barely anything there but Shop small saved 🙂
Nick says:

30 Nov30 November 10:18

Just got a quote for 49 Euros. Can you transfer Iberia avios to BA Exec club?
- Lawro says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 10:51
  
  Yes
- Lucas says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 10:56
  
  You can but for individual accounts only. I have BAEC family account and couldn’t transfer from Iberia.
  - Brian says:
    
    30 Nov30 November 11:37
    
    Yes, but you can transfer Iberia to Avios and then to BAEC, even if you have a BAEC family account. So not an issue.
Dave H says:

30 Nov30 November 10:32

Thanks for the heads up, booked an astra for 3 days for 51Euro, was considering one for the wife’s next car so get an extended test drive and hopefully some bonus avois, at least we can cancel for no charge if it looks like the offer won’t be honoured.
Nick says:

30 Nov30 November 10:32

Not on the same topic, but (as mentioned in a post above), but the ‘gifting’ part seems like a good deal from BA.

Extract from the BA website:
‘Purchase or Gift up to 100,000 Avios and receive 50% bonus Avios with any transaction between 00:01 hr GMT Wednesday 30 November and 23:59 hr GMT Monday 05 December 2016.’