Europcar’s Privilege Loyalty Program is a fully-fledged loyalty program for the car hire company. You can earn points with Velocity Frequent Flyer while clocking up rentals or rental days to reach a higher membership tier.
Sounds simple enough? Here is what you need to know about the Europcar Privilege Club program.
How do I earn points with Europcar?
Europcar is partners with a few frequent flyer and hotel programs worldwide, including Velocity Frequent Flyer and Accor Live Limitless (ALL).
With Velocity Frequent Flyer
Earning Velocity Points is by far the best option for any Europcar rentals in Australia and New Zealand, with 3-6 Velocity Points per dollar on offer. For Europcar rentals across the rest of the world, all members will earn a flat rate as show below.
| Velocity Red | Velocity Silver | Velocity Gold | Velocity Platinum | |
| Points earned (Australia and NZ) | 3 points per dollar | 4.5 points per dollar | 5.25 points per dollar | 6 points per dollar |
| Points earned (Rest of world) | 800 points | 1,200 points | 1,400 points | 1,600 points |
So if you took your family out for a road trip in Australia and rented a car at $200/day over 7 days, you would pocket an easy 4,200 Velocity Points as a Red member. Hold Platinum status instead? That’s 8,400 Velocity Points for you to enjoy – enough for a short Economy reward flight!
With Accor Live Limitless
ALL cardholders can earn a fixed number of Accor Rewards points with Europcar rentals:
- 250 Rewards points for 1-4 days rental (worth €5/A$8)
- 500 Rewards points for 5-7 days rental (worth €10/A$16)
- 1,000 Rewards points for 8+ days rental (worth €20/A$32)
In addition, ALL Classic, Silver and Gold cardmembers enjoy 15% off Europcar rentals. ALL Platinum and Diamond can claim a 20% and 25% discount on car hire, respectively.
Using the Velocity car rental example above (7 days at $200/day), you’d still only earn a flat 500 Rewards points worth A$16 through ALL. That’s a steep drop from the value you could earn from Velocity Points and free flights.
What about Europcar elite status?
Including the base ‘Club’ level, Europcar Privilege Club has four status tiers. As you clock up more rentals and rental days, you have the chance to jump tiers and enjoy a great set of benefits. Upgraded tiers are valid for 24 months.
Important: ‘Privilege Credits’, your count of eligible rentals and rental days, are only earned on direct bookings with Europcar. Third-party bookings will not count, nor will those made in the US, Canada, China, Japan and Cuba.
Privilege Club
Achieve/Maintain: Just enrolment in the program
Privilege Club is the entry-level tier. You start off with a handy set of perks:
- Priority service at most airport locations
- Secured booking with your car reserved even if you are delayed
- $15-off coupon after two rentals
- Free weekend hire after three rentals
- 15% discount at participating Accor Hotels
- 10% off Europcar public rate
Privilege Executive
Achieve/Maintain: 10 rentals or 40 rental days within 24 months
Velocity Gold: Free one-off status upgrade to this level for Velocity Gold members
Privilege Executive members are rewarded more with upgrades:
- A free weekend hire as soon as you attain this level
- Free one-car category upgrade on eligible rentals (subject to availability)
- $30-off coupon after your 5th rental
- Additional free weekend hire after three rentals
Privilege Elite
Achieve/Maintain: 25 rentals or 85 rental days within 24 months
Velocity Platinum: Free one-off status upgrade to this level for Velocity Platinum members
In addition to Executive benefits, you also get:
- A free weekend hire as soon as you attain this level
- Free double-car upgrade on eligible rentals (subject to availability)
- $45-off coupon after your 5th rental
- Additional free weekend hire after three rentals
- Free additional driver
Privilege VIP
Achieve/Maintain: 40 rentals or 130 rental days within 24 months
Privilege VIP status is for the cream of the crop:
- Free Priority Pass Standard membership (one-off benefit, includes 1 free visit)
- A free weekend hire as soon as you attain this level
- Free double-car upgrade on eligible rentals (subject to availability)
- $45-off coupon after your 4th rental
- Additional free weekend hire after three rentals
How do I join Europcar Privilege?
Signing up to the Privilege Club loyalty program is free. You can sign up using this link.
- Go to the Europcar Privilege enrolment page
- Enter your Europcar ID (if known) if you’ve rented with them before, or click ‘No’
- If you clicked ‘No’, then enter your name and other personal details
- Click ‘Create an account’ to finalise your registration
How do I contact Europcar Privilege?
To get in touch with Europcar Privilege about a membership enquiry or free car hire redemption, try:
- emailing the contact centre via this direct link. Choose ‘Loyalty program’.
- sending them a direct message on Twitter or Facebook
Summing up
You’ll have to be a pretty fierce road warrior to be able to benefit from Europcar Privilege elite status. The most interesting perk is the one-off standard Priority Pass membership for first-time Elite VIP members (worth US$99 at retail prices, including a free lounge visit).
Privilege Executive, the mid-level ‘Silver’ tier is probably the one to aim for. It gives you access to car upgrades and a bonus free weekend car hire straight away. Plus, you can also enjoy a discount voucher after your 5th rental – the value of which increases as you go further up the ranks.
I fully understand if there is no availability but it HAPPENS very often which puts you in doubt if this really is a benefit. I get almost the same number of upgrades in other companies by not being a member with them.
Europcar staff comes up with all sort of excuses for not providing an upgrade:
– Season too busy
– Rental period longer than 6-7 days so they cannot provide an upgrade (YES I heard that too)
– no availability etc etc
– Ah sorry, in city centres we don’t do upgrades frequently, only airports. Airports then say the same. 😀
The “strange” thing is that these excuses appear throughout the year, even during the lowest of seasons. All in all, the company is trying to save money everywhere and the program is not really worth the “loyalty”. Many times I can find more competitive prices for the same car, with other big rental companies.
With the one off Velocity upgrade, do you get it twice? Once when reaching Gold and then once when reaching Platinum? Or if you take it up when Gold can you not take it up when Platinum.
Thanks. Love your work BTW!