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Already earning frequent flyer points in the air? Why not maximise your rewards on the ground by pocketing Qantas Points with car hire!
You could drive away with up to eight Qantas Points per dollar spent with Avis and Budget. And that’s before counting the points you could also earn by pulling out a points-earning credit card for the rental.
Here’s what you need to do to turbocharge your Qantas Points on your next rental.
Book Avis car hire and earn Qantas Points
As one of Qantas’ two key car hire partners, book Avis on your next trip and drive away with great rewards. Throughout the year, you can earn at least:
- Four Qantas Points per $1 spent on car hire in Australia.
- For Qantas Business Rewards members, an additional four Qantas Points per $1 spent for the business on Australian rentals.
- A flat 700 Qantas Points per rental overseas.
Sometimes, those earning rates go even higher. For example, travellers can currently earn a higher six Qantas Points per $1 spent through the Qantas website. Just book car hire in Australia by 31 January 2022, for travel throughout 2022. Yes, you can book now, pay later, but earn Qantas Points at that higher rate!
Alternatively, use the Avis website to make your reservation and earn the same rewards. That’s
So which path should you take? After 31 January, we suggest holidaymakers use the Avis website. That’s because you can find exclusive, discounted rates when you enter the discount code P469100 in the AWD or Discount Code fields.
That code is available for all Qantas Frequent Flyer members – which means you’ll still earn Qantas Points with each hire. You’ll just be paying less!
For Qantas Business Rewards members, it’s best to book via the Qantas website instead. This allows you to list both the traveller’s frequent flyer number and the business’ ABN to double-dip on points.
Spend Qantas Points on Avis car hire
Qantas’ partnership with Avis doesn’t only allow you to earn points on car hire – you can spend points, too.
You have two options here. One is to book your car as a Classic Reward, much like a flight. The alternative is to ‘pay with points’, which uses your points to buy the rental based on the cash price.
If you can find a rental to match, you’ll usually find the best value by taking the Classic Reward path.
As you’ll see above, Classic Rewards normally command fewer Qantas Points. And the value unlocked per Qantas Point for Classic Reward redemptions is almost double that of Pay with points.
| Spending Qantas Points with Avis | Qantas Points required | Cash price | Value unlocked per Qantas Point |
| Classic Reward | 38,300 Qantas Points | $388.06 | 1.013 cents |
| Pay with points | 59,750 Qantas Points | $388.06 | 0.649 cents |
You may not always find Classic Reward rates available when you book. It’s really quite hit and miss.
Book Budget car hire and earn Qantas Points
Over at Budget, you can also earn Qantas Points when hiring a car.
Qantas’ earning rates with Budget mirror Avis, which means:
- On car hire in Australia, net four Qantas Points per $1 spent.
- If you’re a business owner, earn four Qantas Points per $1 spent for the business on Australian rentals. That’s in addition to the Qantas Points earned by the traveller.
- Overseas, bring home a flat 700 Qantas Points per rental.
Also matching Avis, you can choose to book either direct with Budget or via the Qantas website.
If booking a holiday, it makes little difference which site you choose. That’s because you can enter your Qantas Frequent Flyer number on either one.
Businesses booking car hire for staff, however, should use the Qantas website. This allows you to enter your ABN – which doubles as your Qantas Business Rewards membership number – alongside the traveller’s own frequent flyer number.
That way, both the traveller and the company can earn Qantas Points.
Spend Qantas Points on Budget car hire
You’re able to spend your Qantas Points on car rentals with Budget, too.
But unlike Avis, Classic Reward bookings aren’t available with Budget in Australia. This is a pure ‘pay with points’ play, similar to booking a flight as an ‘any seat’ reservation.
When booking through the Qantas website, you’ll see the price in points available next to the price in dollars.
Here’s how far your points can stretch with Budget, based on the two quotes above.
| Spending Qantas Points with Budget | Cash price | Qantas Points required | Value derived per Qantas Point |
| Pay with points | $115.51 | 18,000 Qantas Points | 0.641 cents |
| Pay with points | $119.89 | 18,500 Qantas Points | 0.648 cents |
This places Budget roughly on par with Avis when it comes to ‘pay with points’ bookings. But Classic Rewards on Avis still provide the best bang for your Qantas Points… as far as car hire is concerned, anyway!
Should you spend frequent flyer points on the road?
Whether it’s a Classic Reward or a ‘pay with points’ on car hire, neither is excellent value. Here at Point Hacks, we value each Qantas Point at _v(1, qff). These options don’t come close – meaning it’s generally better to save your points for something else.
Despite that, there are times where using Qantas Points on car hire isn’t an entirely terrible idea.
One scenario? The traveller has far too many Qantas Points than they could otherwise spend, even on flights. It’s the same type of member that has 1.2 million Qantas Points to burn on a 60-minute Qantas flight simulator session!
Had they spent those on car hire Classic Rewards, they’d have saved a cool $12,156 on the road.
Another good time to use Qantas Points is if you could really use the cash savings. Sure, you could get more ‘value’ by using them to fly upfront. But for many, cash saved can make a big difference to the family budget.
Summing up
If you’re tied to earning Qantas Points, then your choice is between Avis and Budget. Both companies offer the same rewards, so consider comparing the two for price and convenience.
But if you belong to other frequent flyer programs, you may be able to earn more points elsewhere.
Let’s say you’re also a Virgin Australia Velocity Platinum member. You could be earning six Velocity Points per dollar spent by booking with Europcar, Hertz or Thrifty instead. That’s 50% more points than you’d earn through Qantas with Avis and Budget.
However, business owners may prefer the Qantas approach of double-dipping. That means four Qantas Points per dollar spent with Avis and Budget, plus four Qantas Points per dollar spent for the business. All up, that’s a haul of eight Qantas Points per dollar spent, which is hard to beat.
Curious about those other options? Read our comprehensive guide to earning points with six of Australia’s largest car hire companies. Don’t forget to pay for your rentals using a points-earning credit card as well, to truly maximise your rewards.
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Hi Betsi,
I use a credit card that offers rental car insurance such as the American Express Platinum. You can also check with your car insurance company- most cover rental cars as well.
Sounds good in theory so I logged into Qantas and tried to book cars in USA and Canada for an upcoming trip in July but search resulted in no cars available for the dates. Then I then went to Budget directly and found fulll range of cars available for the same dates. Small allocation to Qantas?
Hi Smity
Thanks for your feedback. I only did a dummy search for a Sydney Airport car rental and found the availability for both Avis and Budget booked through the Qantas site to mirror that of their own websites, albeit with the Qantas site being a couple of dollars cheaper.
From your experience, it sounds that the availability may be limited for overseas rentals. By any chance, did you just try Budget, or was thing occurring for Avis too?