How to earn Avios points with Budget car rentals

In another article today, I looked at changes in the way you earn Avios from Avis car rentals.

Whilst Avis and Budget are sister companies (the parent company is called Avis Budget Group), nothing has changed in the way you earn Avios when renting cars from Budget.

However, as it is over two years since I last looked at this, I thought it was worth a reminder.  The main Budget website is here.

The relationship between Avios and Budget has historically been a bit odd, to say the least.  It was presumably down to the wording of the contract between Avis and British Airways.

Prior to 2018, you could earn Avios points with car rentals from Budget but ONLY if you credited them to an avios.com or Iberia Plus account.  You could not credit to British Airways Executive Club.  If you looked at the Budget UK website there was no mention of Avios at all.  It wasn’t even listed under their European partners.

This all changed in 2018.

You can now credit Budget rentals directly to British Airways Executive Club.  We got a new Avis / Budget / Avios website which replaced the old avisba.com.  You can find it here.

How many Avios do I earn from Budget?

You earn 2 Avios per £1 spent.  All Budget locations worldwide are included.

Note that you do NOT get a free additional driver when renting with Budget as a British Airways Executitve Club member.  This benefit is only available with Avis rentals.

The earning rate with Budget is clearly poorer than the Avis earning rate (5 Avios per £1 with Avis vs 2 Avios per £1 with Budget) but at least you now have the option.

You can find out more on the Avis Budget / BA site here.  For more general information on Budget, visit their website here.

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 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 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.)