Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get a huge 18,700 Avios for ONE UK Avis rental – but does it make sense?

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Iberia Plus and Avis have launched a very low key promotion which a HfP reader flagged up last night. If you can make this work for you, you could do very nicely.

Take a look here.

Avis is offering 18,000 Avios if you book a Group C car, or above, for 3 days or more, starting on 8th, 9th or 10th December.

Avis 350

You will also earn at least 700 base Avios for the rental.

If you can get a good rate from your local depot this could be a real winner.

The devil is in the detail with offers like this.  If you are thinking of taking part, read the rules carefully as well as my summary below.

You will earn these Avios in Iberia Plus.  You will need a free Iberia Plus account to take part.  You will not get the bonus if you credit to avios.com or British Airways Executive Club.

You must book on avisiberia.es, iberia.com or avis.es.   Bookings on avis.com or avis.co.uk do not qualify.

Your rental must be in the UK, mainland Spain, Balearics and Canaries, Italy, France, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium or Holland.

The deal is NOT valid on Prestige rentals, Chauffeur Drive or van rentals.

You cannot use any other coupon, promotion or frequent flyer points offer.  This implies to me that you must book at the standard Avis rate.  It even implies that using the Iberia discount code would disqualify you.  This may be taking the rule too literally but you don’t want to risk 18,000 Avios.

It is worth pricing up a 3-day rental from your local Avis depot.  Try out rentals starting on the 8th, 9th and 10th for three days for a Group C or above.  If the price works then it could be worth renting a car and sticking it on your drive for the weekend.

I tried a random booking in Bolton and got a price of €51 – a bargain for 18,700 Avios.

Unfortunately, because I can’t park anywhere near my own house without a parking permit, it isn’t one for me.  If you can make it work for you it could go nicely.  Just make sure you follow the rules to the letter.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (291)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Cate says:

    Just noticed I could have banked another 500 avios if i’d joined their Avis Prefered scheme before booking. DOH!

  • stephen says:

    just books a car for 59 euros in Belfast city centre. handy as I have free parking 2 minutes from avis depot so car will stay in work carpark and go back on the Monday morning. it might just manage 1 mile

    • Brendan says:

      How did you manage that?! The quote Im getting from Belfast is over 300 euro!

      • fastbowler says:

        Also booked from Belfast City Centre. As suggested by Stephen will use free parking and return car on Monday morning after travelling about 1 mile. Price for group C had gone up to Euro 85 but still a reasonable deal for 18,700 avios.

        • Brendan says:

          Nevermind, the system was defaulting back to returning in Dublin which was my initial search as I’m working there. I have an Xmas do in Belfast on the Fri night so I’ve rented from Fri-Mon , Class E for 66 euro. Have the option of working from our Belfast office so it means I can go home to Omagh for the weekend instead of taking the bus! Worked out very well indeed!

  • Mrtibbs1999 says:

    This is only a great deal if you have your excess covered – for example Amex platinum. A £500 charge due to a tiny dent may reduce your joy, otherwise.

  • Sarah Murray says:

    The groupings are all over the place. In Germany, a Golf shows as either Group B, C or K!!
    Meanwhile the dropdown in the Spanish link shows that a Group K is A6 size.

  • Scottydogg says:

    O/T , but is anyone else tried to link their Amex rewards to Virgin flying club recently and had a problem ?
    I tried (with the new number) and it did not work (tried the old number as well) , I phoned Amex and they don’t understand why its not working , they put me through to Virgin where I sat on hold for half an hour before I gave up .
    I can only assume that the new number is causing the problem

  • roberto says:

    I am in Berlin arriving on the 9th and leaving on the 12th. I have reserved a car for €68 which is slightly more than I would have paid for a taxi to from the airport to Mitte. The hotel I am in has free parking so it seem a no brainer for a simple 18,000 avios.

    That with the 2000 avios for €24 i purchased in the groupon deal earlier has me potentially up 20,000 avios for just about £80 this morning.

    I was thinking about going all in with the BA 50% bonus too but I dont have the time for another holiday before the back end of next year and I guess there will be other deals between now and then. Sometimes you have to know when to stop.

  • Phil says:

    Excellent. What a coincidence. I already had a 3 day booking in France for these exact dates using my Avis Free Weekend voucher. Just cancelled that and booked on this for €73, the same car on the Avis UK site is £92. Brilliant. Can use the weekend voucher another time.

    Thanks very much to Rob and Jovanna.

  • N. Ford says:

    Ditto Phil above – I already had a booking in Menorca for the 8th – 12th for an A-group car, so I merely called Avis Preferred, cancelled that one -full refund! – and rebooked using the using the necessary criteria (C-group, Iberia Plus card number). Cost just another twenty quid for 18,000 more points, which I transfer to BA once they appear. Sorted!! Thanks guys…

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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