How does the Hertz car rental benefit for Amex Gold cardholders work?

American Express and Hertz have a long standing partnership that gets American Express Preferred Rewards Gold cardholders extra benefits when renting a car.

We cover the car hire element of The Platinum Card quite often on Head for Points, because the benefits are strong. Platinum comes with free car hire insurance, Hertz Plus Gold Rewards Five Star status and an intriguing Hertz deal where you last rental day counts as 28 hours long.

Today I want to look at the Hertz benefit for Amex Gold cardholders in detail.

What are the benefits of the Hertz / Amex Gold partnership?

The Hertz / Amex Gold landing page on the American Express website is here.

These are the benefits on offer:

• 10% off best available rates at participating locations worldwide
• One car class upgrade for rentals of 5 days or more, subject to availability
• Additional driver fee waived

Car rentals in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Taiwan are excluded from the offer. Rentals within Japan are eligible for a reduced discount of 5%, a complimentary additional driver but no vehicle upgrade.

How to save 10% on Hertz car rentals with Amex

To make use of the discount you must enrol in Hertz Gold Plus Rewards via the American Express portal here.

If you are already enrolled in Hertz Gold Plus Rewards you must add the CDP code #705500 to your profile.

To complete the offer you must also register a valid American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card as the form of payment in your Hertz Gold Plus Reward membership profile.

Once registered you can book car rentals on the Hertz website or on the phone to receive your discount and benefits.

Existing bookings are not eligible for the offer, but if you haven’t pre-paid it is worth checking whether cancelling and re-booking will save you money.

The additional driver benefit may be more valuable

In truth, there are plenty of Hertz discount codes available via various travel partners. We have always liked the Virgin Atlantic deal because you receive 1,000 Virgin Points however short your rental. You can also earn Avios with Hertz if you book via the Qatar Airways code.

The ‘additional driver’ benefit DOES offer real value for a couple. It is harder to get this for free and it can be laughably expensive.

I always fail to see the justification for charging for this at all, since alternating long drives across two people should be safer and something to be encouraged.

The upgrade benefit has no real value

Different people treat car rental upgrades in different ways. If you need a certain size car because of your luggage requirements, you need to book it in advance. You can’t rely on an ‘if available’ upgrade.

Some people are also unhappy driving larger cars than they are used to, especially when it comes to parking. An upgrade can be a problem at times.

In any event, irrespective of how you booked or your status with the car rental company, you are far more likely to be get an upgrade when renting compared to flying or checking into a hotel.

Conclusion

The Hertz benefit is a relatively low-key part of the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold package.

The 10% discount is nice to have if you can’t find a better deal – although you probably can – but the real value seems to be in the ‘free additional driver’ benefit.

PS. Remember that Avis offers a ‘free additional driver’ to anyone who books via the British Airways portal here.