At the beginning of the year there was consternation over the ‘end date’ for Hertz benefits for Capital One’s suite of Venture cards. The Venture X card in particular offers Hertz Presidents Club status, while the Venture offers Five Star.
As I noted at the time, this end date wasn’t actually new. It was in place since the benefit launch three years ago. They simply highlight it because they do not want to promise something on a card (in this case, Hertz benefits past 2024) that they cannot deliver. That’s the lawyers talking.
And since the contract extension hadn’t been done yet, Capital One simply offered that,
We are continuing to find ways to offer unique experiences to cardholders that they are passionate about and can share with friends and family. We are currently in the process of evaluating the benefit, including the potential extension of the benefit, and will be in touch when there are updates.
In fact, Capital One tells me that they did extend the Hertz benefit. The top Hertz public status tier that you can earn as a frequent renter is their Presidents Circle status. And that’s what Venture X offers. (I’d flag that Hertz also offers it through Mastercard World Elite so if you have a World Elite Mastercard you may be able to access it.)
Normally the status requires at least 15 rentals or spending $3,000 with the company, and it comes with upgrades, faster points-earning (so you have more points when they devalue without notice) and better car choices in self-service lanes.
Don’t expect much when you rent from Hertz even as a Presidents Circle member. But it is much better to be one than not to be one when renting from them, for sure. And I have found them often the cheapest compared to Avis and National.
Gary,
Does the card come with “arrest/incarceration by Hertz” insurance?
Asking for a friend.
Hertz? Really? Gary, there’s this blog you need to check out called View From the Wing that has reported HORRIBLE incidents with Hertz.
@Gary – You forgot to mention the bonus lottery for a free extended stay with 3 square meals a day at a random location in the US! There are a couple of conditions in the fine print, though…
@jamesb2147: That would be the ex-Presidents Circle.
(Sorry, I could not resist.)
Gary
Isn’t “Hertz Benefits” an oxi-moron?
Picard
Terrible news.
Why does C1 hate their cardholders this much that they want tgem to get arrested?
Renting from Hertz, hurts.
Who even still rents Hertz? Any serious business traveler has most likely moved on after the horror stories.
Ha! Love the comments.
Gary points out the problem with Hertz – it’s cheaper usually where/when I rent.
President Circle gives me some hope of service, although not at DEN on a Friday evening -see Seinfeld clip and BTW how many millions of PCers are out there?
And I know not to extend my rental!
I tried the C1 president’s circle to rent a car for 2 days and I returned it exactly as I found it – no damage. Over a year later I get collection letters and bills for damage to the car.
The milage on the damage report was higher than my return milage. Hertz uses an in house collections company to demand payment despite not being licensed in my state and thus illegal.
In the end a letter from my lawyer stating that he was representing me resulted in Hertz dropping this immediately. Hertz is forever on my personal do not rent list.
It is quite disappointing to me that C1 would do business with such an unethical company like Hertz.
Hate to the be the odd one out, but I have never had a truly bad Hertz experience. I get PC benefit from my AmEx platinum card, but would make it easily without it- their ‘ultimate choice’ with PC makes things really smooth at a good cost. Yes, I have heard of the horror stories. But I’m fascinated by how many people talk about them vs how many people have experienced them.
Hertz doesn’t honor their reservations and files false reports with police claiming customers who returned their rental car on time stole the car. Don’t make the mistake of renting from Hertz.
For everyone who hates Hertz, the benefit of this is that you status match with other car rentals.
That’s the real secret.
I’m really surprised about these horrible reviews. I’ve used Hertz twice because it’s the president circle benefit and both times it was a easy seamless process.