Hertz Gold Plus Rewards: How to Score Free Rental Cars & Other Perks

Hertz Gold Plus Rewards is a car rental loyalty program. We recommend signing up for the program as it's free to join, and even the entry-level tier offers benefits like adding a free extra driver and additional vehicle choices. You get even more perks with higher status tiers.

The Hertz Gold Plus Rewards program also partners with other popular loyalty programs, enabling you to get upgraded status with Hertz Gold Plus Rewards based on your membership in other rewards programs. 

This article will walk you through everything you need to know about how the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards program works.

Key takeaways

• We recommend signing up for Hertz Gold Plus Rewards since it is a free program that rewards your loyalty to Hertz when booking rental cars. You can sign up for membership online by completing a simple form.
• Hertz Gold Plus members can earn one point or more per dollar spent with Hertz and redeem points for free rental cars or free airline rewards.
• The program offers additional perks such as picking your vehicle from Hertz's fleet, adding an extra driver at no additional cost, and picking up and dropping off your vehicle without having to wait at the checkout counter.
• Higher status levels come with even better benefits, including upgraded vehicles and more points for spending with Hertz.
• Hertz Gold Plus with other popular loyalty programs. That means you can get special status with Hertz Gold Plus Rewards based on your membership in other rewards programs, and you can transfer Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points to partners as well.

What is the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards program?

The Hertz Gold Plus Rewards program is a free program you can join that rewards your loyalty to Hertz when booking rental cars and can help you save on rental cars.

You can sign up for membership online by completing a simple form. After that, you can earn special status at a higher membership tier simply by spending a certain amount of money, completing a certain number of rentals with Hertz, or achieving status with a partner loyalty program that's transferable to Hertz.

Why should you join Hertz Gold Plus Rewards?

We think becoming a member of the Gold Plus Rewards program is worth considering, even if you just rent a car one time. After all, there's no cost to becoming a member, and even the entry-level membership offers perks such:

• The opportunity to earn one point per dollar spent with Hertz and to redeem points for free rental cars or free airline rewards.
• The Ultimate choice perk, which lets you pick your vehicle from Hertz's fleet
• The ability to pick up and drop off your vehicle without having to wait at the checkout counter
• Adding an extra driver at no additional cost when renting a car
  

Higher status levels come with even better benefits, including upgraded vehicles, more points for spending with Hertz, and the ability to transfer your rewards points to partners to book other types of free travel besides getting a car at no cost.

How to join Hertz Gold Plus Rewards

You can join Hertz Gold Plus rewards program at any time if you are 21 years of age or over. While drivers aged 25 and under normally are charged an additional fee for renting a vehicle with Hertz, they can still join the Gold Rewards Plus program. In fact, AAA members of ages of 21-24 who join the program will get the fee waived for underaged drivers when they rent a car.

Joining is simple. To become a member, simply visit the Hertz website, select Gold Rewards Plus from the top menu, and click Join.  

You'll be taken to a screen where you can complete a form to become a Gold Plus Rewards member. This will require providing information about yourself including:

• Your first and last name
• Your email address
• Your chosen password
• Your telephone number
• A corporate discount code, if you are eligible for discounted memberships through your workplace or other organization
• Your date of birth
• Your driver's license information including your license number; the state where your license was issued; and the date your license expires
• Your credit card information, which is kept on file for future reservations only — you will not be charged for becoming a member of the rewards program
• Your billing address for the credit card on file

After filling out this form and clicking to affirm you've read the program's terms and conditions and are consenting to them electronically, you'll officially become a Hertz Gold Plus Rewards program member.

The Hertz Gold Plus Rewards status levels

There are three different Hertz Gold Plus Rewards status levels: Gold, Five Star, and President's Circle. While Gold status is automatic when you join, you'll need to fulfill certain requirements to move up to a higher status. Each additional status level comes with its own perks and benefits, which get better as you move up the ladder.

How to match your status to Hertz

The Hertz Gold Plus Rewards loyalty program is not the only loyalty program out there. In fact, there are many others you can join with different travel services. The good news is, if you achieve a higher-tier membership in one rewards program, you can often get a "status match" with another — this means you can automatically move up to a higher tier with other programs.

Status match through car rental partners

You can earn a Hertz status by having one of the following tier statuses with other car rental companies:

• Avis: Avis Preferred Plus members who have less than 25 rentals within a calendar year can match to Hertz Five Star, while members with 25 or more rentals can match to Hertz President's Circle.
• Enterprise: Enterprise Plus Gold and Silver members can match to Hertz Five Star, while Enterprise Plus Platinum members can match to Hertz President's Circle.
  
• National: National Executive members can match to Hertz Five Star, while National Executive Elite members can match to Hertz President's Circle.
  
• Europcar: Europcar Privilege Executive members can match to Hertz Five Star, while Europcar Privilege Elite members can match to Hertz President's Circle.
  
• Sixt: Sixt Platinum Card members can match to Hertz Five Star. Sixt doesn't have a tier that matches to Hertz President's Circle.
  

Status match through airline and hotel partners 

Hertz provides a status match through several other rewards programs including:

• Delta airlines: Members of the Delta SkyMiles loyalty program who achieve Gold Level Medallion status will get Five Star status with Hertz. Members who achieve Platinum or Diamond status with Delta will get President's Circle status with Hertz.
• Marriott: Marriott Bonvoy members who have achieved Bonvoy Titanium Elite Status will get Five Star status with Hertz Gold Plus while Ambassador Elite members with Marriott get President's Circle status with Hertz.
• IHG: IHG Rewards Club members with Spire Elite status can automatically qualify for Five Star Status with Hertz.

How to earn Hertz Gold Plus Rewards

There are a few primary ways to earn points with Hertz Gold Plus Rewards including renting a vehicle, buying points, and transferring points from a spouse.

Renting a car

You'll begin earning points for each car you rent as soon as you become a Hertz Gold Plus Rewards member. However, the amount of points you earn will vary depending on which rewards membership status you have attained. You'll earn:

• 1 point per dollar spent with Gold status
• 1.25 points per dollar spent with Five Star status
• 1.5 points per dollar spent with President's Circle status

Purchasing points

Hertz Gold Plus Rewards members can purchase up to 10,000 additional points per calendar year after accruing a minimum balance of 500 points through spending on vehicle rentals. Points purchases must be charged to a major credit card and cost $0.20 per point. There's a minimum purchase of 50 points.

A cost of $0.20 per point is very expensive, so purchasing points is not typically worth your money. However, if you are very close to being able to redeem for a free vehicle and you need just a few more points, then it can make sense to buy them. If you decide to do this, you'll just need to log into your account and select "Points Purchase."

Transferring points from a spouse

Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points can be transferred to a spouse or domestic partner who is also a Gold Plus Rewards member. There is no limit to the number of times you are allowed to transfer points to your significant other.

How to earn airline and hotel points with Hertz Gold Plus Rewards

While Hertz Gold Plus Rewards can be redeemed for free rental car days, they don't have to be. You also have the option to transfer your points to select airline and hotel partners to redeem for free flights or free nights.

The table below shows which programs you can transfer points to and what the transfer rate is.

How to earn even more points and miles with credit cards

If you want to maximize the rewards you earn when you rent a car with Hertz, you can pay for your Hertz rental car with a travel rewards credit card. Many travel rewards cards offer bonus points for car rentals under their travel spending category. That means if you use one of these credit cards, you can score Hertz rewards for spending with Hertz and rewards with your credit card for car rental spending.

Some of the best cards to use to get bonus points for car rental purchases include the following:

Credit card benefits for car rental protection 

You can get complimentary car rental protection when you qualify and use a credit card that offers car rental insurance to pay for your car rental.

Be sure to read the fine print when it comes to your card's terms and conditions, though — some cards offer only secondary coverage, which means you need to rely on other insurance first, such as your auto insurance. Others offer primary rental coverage so they will pay for loss and damage without you having to first go through another insurer.

To take advantage of car rental insurance from your credit card, consider one of these credit cards:

Hertz Gold Plus FAQ

Hertz Gold Plus: bottom line

If you plan to rent a car from Hertz at any time, we recommend joining the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards program to take advantage of the benefits this free membership program provides. The entry-level tier of this program simply requires signing up, and it gives you a free extra driver and more vehicles to choose from.

Don't forget to see if you can score a higher membership status through your participation in other loyalty programs. And remember that you can get points and miles with both Hertz and your credit card by paying for your rental with a card that provides bonus points for this sort of travel spending.

Easy-to-Earn Unlimited Rewards

Bank of America^® Travel Rewards credit card

Benefits

Card Details

• $0 annual fee
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• If you're a Bank of America Preferred Rewards® member, you can earn 25%-75% more points on every purchase. That means instead of earning an unlimited 1.5 points for every $1, you could earn 1.87-2.62 points for every $1 you spend on purchases. You could earn 3.75-5.25 points for every $1 you spend on travel purchases made through the Bank of America Travel Center.
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Intro Offer

Earn 25,000 online bonus points after you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening - that can be a $250 statement credit toward travel purchases

Annual Fee

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Why we like it

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