Bits: Avis £9.99 one-way rentals, Zipcar one-way rentals, Hilton Visa / Uber deal

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News in brief:

£9.98 one-way Avis car rentals to London

Regular readers will remember our article last year on Europcar offering £1 one-way car rentals to London. Europcar uses this to cheaply reposition cars that need to be taken back to London – letting you rent them for £1 is cheaper than hiring a transporter.

Avis is now offering a similar deal, but only for the period around Easter. You pay a flat £9.98 for a Group B or Group E car and need to drop it in London between 10th and 13th April.

Full details are on the Avis website here.

Zipcar trialling new ‘one way’ car scheme in London

I am a fan of the Zipcar car club in London as I wrote here. It got even better when Zipcar became a British Airways Executive Club partner, as I now earn 50 Avios every time I take a car out.

With the nearest car parked 30 seconds from our front door, and another 5 cars within a 10 minute walk, there is never any trouble finding a vehicle. The only downside is that, because you pay by the hour, a relatively short drive – followed by a wait before you return – can get expensive.

Zipcar is now trialling a new scheme in Wandsworth called Zipcar Flex. 50 cars have been allocated for one-way rentals, as long as you drop them within Wandsworth. You only pay for the car by the minute, and you can reserve it for 15 minutes via your smartphone to give you time to get to it before any other user grabs it!

This is an interesting idea. The question for me is what benefit this has over taking an Uber or a black cab, both of which are more convenient and presumably cheaper. They will pick you up at your door and drop you where you need to be without the trouble of finding a parking space. Since you can’t guarantee that your Zipcar Flex car will still be where you parked it when you want to return home, it doesn’t even offer you the certainty of having a vehicle available.

You can learn more about Zipcar Flex here.

New Barclaycard / Uber offer

If you are a heavy Uber user, Barclaycard has launched an interesting offer for you. It runs until the end of the year and could work out to be quite valuable.

If you charge your Uber rides to a Barclaycard, every 11th ride you take will be free (up to £15). If your 11th ride costs more than £15, you receive a £15 credit to your card statement.

Full details are here on the Barclaycard site.

You can take advantage of this offer as many times as you like and it is guaranteed to run for the rest of the year.

The Hilton Honors Platinum Visa card, issued by Barclaycard, is included in this offer so it will be of interest to many HfP readers.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus.

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

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

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

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

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

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

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

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending:

Barclaycard Select Cashback Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review

Category

Avis and Avis Preferred, British Airways and Avios, Hilton Honors

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

Ian says:

23 Mar23 March 05:56

The Uber deal only let’s you use the £15 credit in the UK sadly. I’m a heavy uber user but never use it in England
Pascal says:

23 Mar23 March 06:43

I quite like drive now (with the same system as the new zipcar flex) in general. However:
In London its barely cheaper compared to an uber. Plus you have to search a parking space and ‘fight’ with the traffic yourself.
I love it in Germany. With ridiculously expensive taxis and okay traffic it’s a great solution at the airports where they have it.

The problem in London seems to be that they have to negotiate with each borough individually. Hence flex is only being tested in Wandsworth for now and drive now didn’t make it further then their three east London boroughs (and car2go left London years ago due to this)
Ro says:

23 Mar23 March 07:10

Flex would be useful say you were a rental tenant moving rooms, or there was an uber surcharge at the time you needed it, then it could be cheaper.
- John says:
  
  23 Mar23 March 09:14
  
  Have you ever done it?
  
  I’ve rented a zipcar to move house three times (all within RBKC, which is also where Rob lives), and every time I’ve had to extend the rental to more than 24 hours. Returning the car to the original spot and taking the bus is not a problem.
  - Wayne Phillips says:
    
    23 Mar23 March 11:45
    
    Moving flat always takes longer than expected. Hence I never volunteer to help friends move anymore!
  - Ro says:
    
    23 Mar23 March 12:43
    
    TBH, as a rental tenant, i’m only ever moving the contents of one room and with close to little furniture… it’s pretty easy with two or three car journies
    
    genghis – i really struggle to get a man with a van for 50 quid in london, always ends up costing me more in my experience
    - Genghis says:
      
      23 Mar23 March 12:49
      
      We moved from a 2 bed flat in 2015 to our current house, moving all our furniture, only a few miles. Done in one trip on a long wheelbase tranny. A super strong Lithuanian guy with his van (and me) doing the heavy lifting. £50 for 2 hrs graft. SE London. If interested, I can provide his no
      - David says:
        
        23 Mar23 March 17:38
        
        I like the sound of a super strong Lithuanian guy for two hours 😉
- Genghis says:
  
  23 Mar23 March 10:49
  
  Surely a man with a van for £50 for a couple of hours is much better?
Chris Cannon says:

23 Mar23 March 07:44

Is there any stackable BAEC Avios deal with Avis? Is this a cheap way to “purchase” miles?
the real harry1 says:

23 Mar23 March 07:50

O/T Tesco – Lego Friends 1000 points on £60 back again, offer doesn’t seem to be advertised but points still get added
Andrew says:

23 Mar23 March 08:17

Do we think the 11 Uber rides are per Uber account or per Barclaycard account – i.e. If I load my Barclaycard to my partner’s Uber can we get to our 11 between us?
- will says:
  
  23 Mar23 March 14:17
  
  T&Cs say per Uber account
Jchand says:

23 Mar23 March 08:29

Would not use Uber if it was free
- Rob says:
  
  23 Mar23 March 08:35
  
  Outside London it is virtually free it seems. My brother uses my account around Sheffield and all the bills are £5 or so. Cheaper than the bus for a couple yet alone using your own car.
  - Jchand says:
    
    23 Mar23 March 08:54
    
    Maybe now while they kill the competition. Not in the future. I really can’t stand uber .
    - John says:
      
      23 Mar23 March 09:17
      
      Interesting thing to say, because in some US cities the local authorities are actually removing public bus services in favour of Uber
  - Will Squires says:
    
    23 Mar23 March 09:56
    
    Which bus are you getting in Sheffield that has a £2.50 fare? The max single fare on the tram is £2.30 (and that’s only priced that way to may the daysaver look cheap!).
    
    I agree though, I’m supporting somebody who’s overcoming anxiety and agoraphobia so public transport is not an option; it’s great having a cheap, convenient taxi service to help her get out and about.
    - Will Squires says:
      
      23 Mar23 March 09:56
      
      *make the daysaver
    - Kipto says:
      
      23 Mar23 March 20:25
      
      Used to be 6p in Sheffield per trip when I was a student there back in 1984. They then rounded it down to 5p. Heavily subsidised transport under the then council leader David blunkett
      - Rob says:
        
        23 Mar23 March 21:44
        
        When I used to go into Rotherham with my Dad on Saturday mornings, very early 1980s, it was 7p for him and 2p for me.
  - Nick says:
    
    23 Mar23 March 10:01
    
    100%! often tell people, why struggle with a bus paying £1.50 each when you can do the same quick journey for £5, for up to 4 adults!!
    - Genghis says:
      
      23 Mar23 March 10:52
      
      Love Uber. It’s good abroad as you can just put in where you want to go on the app instead of trying to explain that to a taxi driver / handing over the address on a bit of paper and he hasn’t a Scooby
      - Alan says:
        
        23 Mar23 March 10:55
        
        Agreed, also fantastic not to have to worry about having the right change or bonkers tipping (USA I’m looking at you :D)
      - Roberto says:
        
        23 Mar23 March 10:59
        
        +1
        
        And even better in countries where English is not the first language like Estonia (where I was at the weekend), its completely automated and Genghis says , tap tap and done.
      - Alan says:
        
        23 Mar23 March 11:04
        
        Yes, it is excellent there – although I found the standard of English in Tallinn was excellent – better than in Helsinki!
      - Ro says:
        
        23 Mar23 March 12:51
        
        Big uber fan too, even more so for the spg points… but hearing several bad things about them these days…. would like to move to lyft if it came over here… found it just as good when i was in NYC, in fact, it was usually slightly cheaper.
Stu N says:

23 Mar23 March 09:55

OT: BA Amex, just got my 3,000 Avios for requesting a supplementary card for my partner. Only applied a couple of days ago and got the “we will get back to you” screen. If only earning Avios by actually flying was this easy!
- Alan says:
  
  23 Mar23 March 10:13
  
  Nice! I got the same message, but card arrived in the post yesterday. Hopefully Avios post soon. Shame Plat c/back only offering a fiver for an additional cardholder 🙁
  - Anna says:
    
    23 Mar23 March 10:21
    
    Got the points but not the card yet! Guess that means the application was accepted…
- Roberto says:
  
  23 Mar23 March 11:02
  
  And its only for the “first” supplementary card.. As a married man my OH has a supplementary card already on Plat and BA so it excludes me from this promo.
  - Liz says:
    
    23 Mar23 March 15:43
    
    I wrote to them and asked for an additional supp and got the 3000 pts. Hubby was added at time of application – mother in law added a few days ago. Card has appeared on my account – was told to email back when we received the card.
- Roger says:
  
  23 Mar23 March 20:27
  
  I take it was for BAPP.
  Mrs Roger got 1000 points for adding me as her first supplementary card holder on her account for Free BA AMEX.
  - Liz says:
    
    23 Mar23 March 21:41
    
    Yes BAPP
    - Stu N says:
      
      23 Mar23 March 22:36
      
      Mine was PP as well.
  - Wally1976 says:
    
    24 Mar24 March 10:42
    
    I’ve got the free BA card already with one supplementary card. I messaged them to ask if I could have the 3k Avios for adding another card and they agreed :-). Haven’t actually done it yet but don’t anticipate a problem based on past experience of similar.