# Renting cars with AGR deals



## wayman (Jan 17, 2008)

AGR's website touts discounts/point-bonuses with Hertz and Budget, but I've had a lot of difficulty getting Hertz or Budget to acknowledge these on their websites or by phone. Here's what I've tried, and what I've been told:

AGR says Hertz will offer me 50 AGR per day, standard, plus

save 50% on weekend rental plus double points (111646, through 31 March), OR

save $5/day on weekend rental plus double points (107424, through 31 July), OR

save $20/week on weekly rental plus double points (107450, through 31 July)

I've tried clicking through each of these (as well as entering the information manually) on Hertz's website, selecting Fri-Mon (Hertz weekend) 7-10 March or 7-12 March to try weekly rates, from the CUS Hertz location, and I always get "Not all requirements for the promotion coupon have been met" error messages. I phoned Hertz's CUS office, and was told "oh, we don't honor the Amtrak coupon codes at this location". "You don't honor the Amtrak codes at the Amtrak station location?" "That's right, sir."

Is this for real? She suggested I try an airport location, as they should work there. But I tried them all for the Hertz Midway location on the website, and I get the same error messages (as well as more expensive regular-price rentals, by far).

Should I just give up on Hertz? I should mention that I've rented from them three times in the past, and all three were pretty lousy customer service experiences.

I've never rented from Budget before, but their deals sound good to:

AGR says Budget will offer me 50 AGR per day, standard, plus

save 20% (using the AGR BCD code, no expiration, works in conjuction with all other discounts)

get triple points (Select benefit, through 29 February), OR

save $20 on a 4-day weekend rental (MUGZ708, through 30 June), OR

save $30 on a weekly rental, plus get triple points (MUGZ039, through 30 June)

I phoned Budget's reservation number, and tried to get a price quote on a weekly rental from 7-12 March from their downtown Chicago location, using the save $30 plus triple points coupon, and... well, there was some communication difficulty, and perhaps if I manage to reach the location (rather than the possibly-outsourced-to-India hotline) I'll be able to better understand things, but... they would far, far rather give me some different discount code (saving me fifty bucks over the AGR quote he gave me), a very hard sell, and I couldn't get a straight answer from him about whether the lower quote came with any Amtrak Guest Rewards points or not.

So, am I actually able to get points from Budget (a weekly rental in March = 350 points tripled on MUGZ039, for 1,050 points) along with 20% plus $30 savings? Or is this a vaporware offer, too? I'll try calling the Wabash St location directly again (they weren't taking calls when I called the first time), but my confidence in getting an answer from them is low....


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## yarrow (Jan 17, 2008)

we had the same experience with budget. supposed to get triple points, as far as i could tell, and got none.


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## sechs (Jan 18, 2008)

There seems to be a bit a voodoo involved with Hertz deals, particularly as coupon acceptance varies from location to location. This will either be helpful or more confusing.


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## gpayer (Jan 24, 2008)

I just used the Amtrak code last week in Minot, ND (MOT) at Hertz. I generally use National Car (because I am an Emerald Club member and feel they give me a better overall deal). However, with Minot there was very few options - so I used the Amtrak deal.

It gave me 10% off the base rate and 50 AGR points (which posted in 7 days). There are better discounts with Hertz but some of them limit your miles (I needed unlimited miles in ND).


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