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Dollar Car Rental offers a rewards program called “Dollar Express” for its loyal customers. The Dollar Express rewards program works on a points-based system. Every time you rent a car with Dollar, you earn points that can be redeemed for free rentals. Members also have the option to opt out of earning points for free rentals and earn airline miles or hotel points instead. The more you rent, the more points you earn. This article will take a close look at the features offered in the Dollar Express rewards program and participation partners.
Dollar Express
Customers can enroll in the Dollar Express program for free by signing up online or at any of the participating locations. For every dollar spent on base rental charges, customers will earn one point at locations located in the U.S and Canada. Points will not expire as long as members have one car rental in a 2 year period. If you frequently use Dollar car rental services, these points can add up quickly and be redeemed for free rentals. On average, a free weekend rental day will need a minimum of 500 points and 630 points per weekday rental. Additional features include:
- Ability to skip the counter.
- Additional driver option — add your spouse at no additional fee.
- Priority service at the counter if needed.
- Earn 1 point per dollar spent on rentals in the U.S and Canada.
- Car rental discounts.
- AAA members earn 15% car discount. This also include 10% off prepaid fuel and free child seat. AAA code must be entered when booking to receive these discounts.
Airline/Hotel Partners
Dollar Express Rewards program allows travelers to earn points that can be redeemed for airline miles or hotel points instead of free car rentals like most other car rental reward programs. This can come in handy if you rent infrequently or jump between car rental programs but personally value a particular airline or hotel chain rewards over car rental points. Below is a list of the airline and hotel partners and the transfer rates that apply.
| Alaska Airlines– 50 miles per qualifying rental day. This offer is limited to 30 days per year and Dollar will tack on a $.95 surcharge per day. | ANA-300 miles per qualifying rental. |
| American Airlines– 50 AAdvantage base miles per rental day and limited to 28 days per year. | Avianca Airlines– 50 lifeMiles per rental day on qualifying rentals. Note: members have to enter LifeMiles promotion code (PC) in order to earn miles. |
| CopaAilines– 200 ConnectMiles per qualifying rental. Members have to enter in their ConnectMiles membership number in order to receive miles. This benefit will end 12/31/2024. | Delta– 4 miles per dollar spent on qualifying rentals. Members will need to include their SkyMiles number to their reservation. |
| Frontier– 50 miles per day rental of 1-4 days. 500 miles per rental transaction of 5 or more days. Members will need to include their Frontier Miles number and dollar will add a $.75 per day surcharge. | Japan Airlines– 300 miles per qualifying rental. |
| Southwest Airlines– 600 points per qualifying rental transaction. Dollar will add a $1.50 per day up to a maximum of $8.00 surcharge! | Spirit Airlines– 50 free spirit points per day on rentals of 1-4 days. 500 points per transaction of 5+ rental days. Members have to include their free spirit number in order to receive miles. Dollar will also include a surcharge of $.75 per day. |
| IHG– 125 One Rewards points per rental day. Your IHG One Rewards number will need to be provided at booking. | Marriott Bonvoy: 250 points per qualify rental. Members Marriott Bonvoy will need to be included to receive points. |
Partnership Discount Rates
- AAA members: Earn 15% car discount. This also include 10% off prepaid fuel and free child seat. AAA code will need to be entered to receive these discounts.
- BJ’s members: Up to 25% off rentals. Reservations can be complete at travel.bjs.com to receive this discount.
- Union Privilege members: Union members will earn a 25% discount on rentals. Reservation will aslo need to include (CDP) code# 205666 at reservation to receive this discount.
- AICPA members: 7% discount on rentals. CDP# 3041065 will need to be included with your reservation to receive this benefit.
Earning Additional Points on Rentals
One of the easiest ways to maximize your points and rewards on car rental purchases is by using a credit card that offers additional points for this type of transaction. Venture X Business credit card holders will earn 10X points on car rentals booked through the Capital One Travel portal. Also, Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders will earn 10X on car rentals after spending $300 on travel purchases annually. Some credit card options will provide automatic collision insurance such as the Ink Business Premier card (total value of vehicle) or the American Express Business Gold credit card (typical coverage capped at $50,000). And while those are secondary coverage, meaning that your personal car insurance is the primary insurer, the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve both provide primary rental car insurance for rentals paid for entirely on the card.
Final Thoughts
The Dollar rental rewards program “Dollar Express” offers a way for frequent Dollar customers to earn points and save money on their car rentals. The ability to earn airline miles instead of car rental points with a descent amount of airline partners is an attractive feature to this rewards program. Overall, Dollar Express is as basic as it gets in regards to rewards programs, but should be valuable for travelers who often rent with them.
Editorial Note: Information and opinions articulated in this article are solely those of the author’s, not those of a credit card company, bank, airline or hotel chain. This article has not been reviewed or approved by or otherwise endorsed by any of these companies or organizations.
