Easy Giveaway: $1000 and National Car Rental Top Tier Elite Status!

by Gary Leff

National Car Rental has what I believe is the strongest promotion in the market each year, “One Two Free.”

You earn a free rental day for every two qualifying rentals (mid-size or larger for 2 days or longer). And when they run the promotion, they do so for long periods of time. The most current offer is for a five month stretch which concludes at the end of January.

I’ve been renting regularly from National for the past couple of years. The unique selling proposition to me isn’t the rewards, though I’ve earned plenty of free rental days. It’s the ‘Emerald Aisle’ where being a member of their Emerald Club program means you walk out to the lot, take your choice of cars from the designated row(s), and just get in and drive to the exit.

Sometimes I’ll take whatever is closest, other times an SUV when I want something larger, and occasionally I’ll get in a bunch of cars to look for the one with lowest miles and features I want. National calls it “speed, choice, and control.” I call it not having to go asking for something other than a Taurus.

As the current One Two Free promotion wraps up, National offered me the chance to interview one of their frequent renters and also give away status and gift cards. I jumped at the chance.

  • To be clear, I’m not taking anything from National for doing this — all of the prizes and benefits go to you, my readers.
  • I thought if they could put me in touch with someone to interview who rents much more frequently than I do, a minimum of 100 days a year, they could offer a really interesting perspective.

So here’s the giveaway:

  • (5) $200 gift cards
  • (5) National Emerald Club Executive Elite status upgrades.

There will be (5) prize winners, each to receive a $200 gift card and Executive Elite status. Not only do Executive Elites get to pick from the Executive aisle of higher category cars (as National Executive status allows) but they earn free rental days faster and in my experience are able to redeem those free rental days for premium vehicles.

All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on this post answering the question: what is the one thing that can make your car rental experience better?

Please enter only one time. This contest will run through January 19 at noon Eastern, and I will draw the winners with the assistance of random.org. All of my decisions are final.

Here’s the interview, so you can learn about car rentals from someone who rents more than I do

I had a great discussion with Bruce McNeal who rents well over a hundred times a year, and thought I’d ask how he thinks about his rentals and since he more or less lives in a car how he approaches making it as comfortable and easy as possible.

How often are you on the road, and what leads you to travel so much?

    I am on the road sometimes for 15 days a month. I am part of the store support team on a national retailer. I have locations in ten states.

Are you renting from the same locations over and over, or different locations?

    I fly to 4 or 5 airports and try to know the staff on the Aisle or at the rental counter at the airports. The rest of my rentals come from the great staff at the National located in Naperville, IL. I park my car at that location and drive to areas where I can visit 3 or 4 stores at a time.

How many of your rental days are through National?

    All my rentals are with National, when the Markham location was closed, I tried Hertz local and the cars were inconsistent. I also had an issue with the I Pass ( toll road auto pay)system that they had.

Why do you choose National as your primary rental company?

    Our corporation uses National as a primary car rental company, the special treatment as an Emerald Aisle member and other perks keep me coming back.

How do you book – do you have an assistant, do you book yourself, and if so online/phone/mobile app? Why?

    I book thru a corp. travel site, as required by my company. I used to book on`line and take advantage of the great discounts sent out from National. I do not have anyone assisting me.

When taking cars from the Emerald Aisle what do you look for in making your choice – specific vehicle type? Do you get in multiple cars and select based on features or look at mileage? In other words, do you take the first car to get out quickly or do you use the Aisle to be picky?

    The first thing is a personal matter; I have several family members that either are retired from American car manufactures or are currently working for one; I take great pride in “Buy American” whenever I can. I enjoy SUV’s in the winter when roads can become hazardous. Then I like the great looking cars( in my opinion) like the Chrysler 300. Currently I am crazy about the Ford Explorer especially when it is fully loaded and has satellite radio.

Do you take any accessories or optional items? Why or why not?

    When I am in an area that I do not know and not working, I take insurance, I pass on everything else.

How do you refuel – do you prepay, fill up the tank yourself, or just return the car without a fillup? Why?

    I always refill, the National in Naperville is part of an Enterprise location, so I return with the same amount of gas. The main reason why is that it is our policy not to prepay gas.

How do you use your free rental days? Business or leisure? How do you decide whether to pay out of pocket or use a free rental day?

    More often than not I attach the extra days to a rental when I intend to enjoy a weekend in or near a city that I am working in that week. There have been several times that I let my wife drive my car and use a rental car if her auto in in the shop for several days. I will pay for the rental instead of using free days, if there are great weekend rates in the discount coupons that National sends out. Why use a free day for a nineteen dollar rental?

Any other tips and tricks that my readers should know?

    Being nice goes a long way. There was an airport location, I befriended one of the Aisle attendants; I would call and they would find the best available car for me. Please be pleasant to the people working at the locations, they rent 100’s of cars daily and some things do not always fall together. Lastly a smile means a lot to everybody.

Thanks, Bruce!

Now, leave your comment on this post to enter to win a gift card and status! And take advantage of 1-2 Free while there’s still time!

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. I prefer National because they are quicker, and don’t try to upsell like other rental agencies.

  2. Rental experience for the mass is based on price. Given that for most, the location is not an issue, the criteria beyond price is customer service. It will be helpful for the CS to guide the renter (who may or may not be a frequent user) through the process. Most of the time, when you hear “that made my day”, it’s a consequence of a good person-to-person interaction. That’s why we value high-end hotel, airline, etc. Like someone posted in the miles & points blogsphere sometime ago, we just want to get some kind of attention. Given the stress of air travel it’s really a small ‘price’ to pay for the company/attendee that can yield huge dividend.

  5. Using the added upgrade level with the Amex Platinum is going to make my experience much better! Thanks!

  6. Emerald VIP is actually top tier status, and its started to creep into a little bit of a devaluation with National. Cars that used to be a find in Emerald Exec are now sitting with VIP tags…Still National is by far the best US rental company.

  9. always frustrating when it takes a while for someone to check in the car upon return at busy airports. There must be a way to reduce this time

  10. I used National for the first time in the fall and I’m hooked. Being able to just walk up and pick any car makes it totally worth it.

  11. I wish that there was a way to make sure all costs are clearly explained and upfront. I was given bad information by a couple employees on how their toll tag worked and was charged a bit extra. My fault for not perusing the contract, but a little good info would not have misled me.

  16. Labeling of cigarette smoke. Indication of GPS if not standard would all help my rental car experience.

  18. Not having to stand in long lines! It would be great if all customers (not just those with status) could know which car was theirs and be able to skip a line and go straight to pick up.

  19. Anything to speed up the process of getting and returning the vehicle. Waiting for the car to get checked back in, then waiting for a rental car shuttle to a terminal, then more waiting in security… Business travel has enough of these hurry up and wait moments that any time one can be removed or minimized, it’s always appreciated.

  20. Quick returns is a must. I rent 3 cars a week and there is nothing worse then a long line for a return.

  21. Figuring out a better way to return the rental without gas if running late and not incurring fuel surcharge. Always the biggest issue.

  24. I think National is great. The only problem is that sometimes they are too expensive compared to their competition.

  26. I wish rental car companies at some airports could be accessed by the monorail/train systems. At ORD, when they were putting in the monorail system, the rental car companies were supposed to be on it but they all refused and instead kept their slow, individual buses. Having all the car companies on the monorail would cut down on wait time and congestion when picking up and returning rental cars.

  29. Hertz is supposed to offer a similar thing with their Hertz gold program but I’ve found much to be desired. Perhaps it’s time to try National!

  30. I use National and only on a very rare occasion Hertz and after several years I have found that National does a better job and offers a better mix of vehicles and adds the little touches that mar a rental car better and at no cost.

    12 rentals and 75 days in 2014

    Edward

  32. I recently got to return a car empty for free. My car rental experience would be better if I could do that every time for a non-extortionate rate.

  33. My car rental experience would be better if the process of getting the car can be made quicker.

  35. Not having to wait in a long line after a long flight. Executive status would be fantastic!

  36. streamlining the process is always helpful. Most people have just spent a long time on an airplane and just want to get to their final destination.

    Also, not having vehicles that aren’t just the base vehicle from the manufacturer. I pay the same amount regardless of if it has power everything or nothing. It just makes it more enjoyable when I don’t have to manually roll down a window.

  38. Better line of site into a rental location’s available inventory would be great. I’ve been stuck with minivans when traveling alone to San Antonio multiple times even as Exec Elite.

  42. More reliable bus service when rental cars require a bus ride from the terminal. The wait and overcrowding of buses at PHX and IAH is particularly bad.

  43. Consistently well maintained lower mileage vehicles and a better way to do the initial vehicle inspection and provide that information to the rental company.

  50. The one thing that would make my car rental experience better is making sure the car type reserved is available and provide a process where there is no need to go into the booth/office and interact with an agent unless there is a problem or a change/upgrade desired.

Comments are closed.