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Points and miles enable air travel and hotel stays across a wide variety of programs. However, a trip often includes other aspects beyond a set of flights and a hotel stay. Often, a rental car becomes a necessity for those traveling. Among the major car rental companies, National Car Rental stands out for a few reasons.
Multiple credit cards offer status with National — offering enhanced member benefits. National's Emerald Club rewards program delivers straightforward and potentially outsized value. Read on for more information about National Car Rental and its loyalty program, Emerald Club.
Page Contents
National Car Rental Basics
National maintains a global presence within the car rental space. Its 1,500+ locations include operations in 90 countries across all inhabited continents. From Albania to Uruguay, the opportunity to choose National exists.
Anyone who has booked flights or hotels directly with an airline or hotel company will be comforted by a familiar booking setup. Users must enter basic details, including location, pickup dates and times, and renter age. One-way rental cars are also available using the “Different Return” option. Those with corporate or other discount codes may enter them in the “Account Number/Coupon” section along the bottom panels.
On the next screen, options for each vehicle type appear, along with per-day and total rental pricing. An indicator appears at the top of the page for locations that offer Emerald Aisle. Emerald Aisle allows renters to bypass the counter and proceed directly to a selection of vehicles.
Once a vehicle type is selected, another menu for possible add-ons appears, split up into two sections: Protection Products and Extras.
Then, a final reservation review screen appears with a complete itemized summary of charges. Additionally, all ancillary information, including contact and flight info and payment details, appears at the bottom of the screen.
National's Emerald Club Details
Points and miles enthusiasts will enjoy the fact that National has its own loyalty program called Emerald Club. Free to join, Emerald Club tiers its members into three distinct levels: Emerald Club, Executive, and Executive Elite.
Emerald Club (Base Member Level)
Even at the base (free) level, Emerald Club members enjoy a long list of benefits:
- Choose Rewards: You can choose to earn Free Rental Days, frequent flyer miles, or hotel rewards. You can redeem your free days around the globe.
- Priority Service: Get expedited services when renting in Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
- Earn With Enterprise: Rent at participating Enterprise Rent-A-Car locations to earn Free Rental Days and higher status with Emerald Club.
- Emerald Alerts: Receive helpful email reminders to give you the rental information you need exactly when you need it.
- Drop & Go: With convenient email receipts, just drop off your car and go (if your car has not been damaged during the rental).
- Emerald Aisle Access: You can choose any car (mid-size and above) on the Emerald Aisle lot and pay only the mid-size rate in the U.S. and Canada.
- Faster Free Rental Days: Earn one rental credit for every qualified car rental. One Free Rental Day requires seven credits.
- No Second Driver Fees: Never pay extra when family members and business associates do the driving.
- Upgrades in Europe: Enjoy a free one-class upgrade (subject to availability at the time of rental) at participating locations in the U.K., Ireland, France, Spain, and Germany.
- Special Offers: Receive exclusive members-only discounts and offers through our seasonal emails.
Related: Do National Car Rental Credits or Free Days Expire?
Executive
Meanwhile, Emerald Club Executive status, which requires 12 paid rentals or 40 paid rental days in a calendar year, comes with the following additional perks:
- Executive Area Access: Choose any car (full-size and above) in the Executive Area and only pay the mid-size rate (in the U.S. and Canada).
- Faster Free Rental Days: Earn one rental credit for every qualified car rental. One Free Rental Day requires six credits.
- Guaranteed Upgrades: When you reserve a full-size luxury vehicle (in the U.S. and Canada), you're always guaranteed a free upgrade.
- Special Pricing on Premier Selection: Enjoy exclusive pricing when you upgrade to Premier Selection at the rental lot (in the U.S. and Canada).
Executive Elite
For travelers who hit top-tier Emerald Club Executive Elite status, which requires 25 paid rentals or 85 paid rental days in a calendar year, expect the following additional benefits:
- Fastest Free Rental Days: Earn one rental credit for every qualified car rental. One Free Rental Day requires five credits.
- Guaranteed Vehicle: A guaranteed car (up to a full-size) with a 24-hour notice (in the U.S. and Canada).
- Private Airport Delivery: Have a car waiting at most private airports within 50 miles of locations (in the U.S. and Canada).
Shortcuts to Emerald Club Elite Status
Thankfully, award travelers have multiple ways to obtain Executive status (or higher) with National that don't require getting behind the wheel for 12 paid rentals or 40 paid rental days.
National offers a formal status match for those with status in other loyalty programs. Even better, you can leverage your status with airlines and hotel programs, not just other rental car agencies. Unlike many airline status match programs, National does not limit the frequency with which members complete status matches.
Those without other status to match can leverage card perks offering Emerald Club status as a benefit. National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive tier status comes as a perk of the following cards:
- The Platinum Card® from American Express
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
- The American Express Corporate Platinum Card®
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
- The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card
Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits.
- Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
- Get up to $50 in statement credits each quarter for purchases made directly with a property in the Hilton portfolio on your Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card. That's up to $200 in statement credits annually.
- Earn 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio.
- Earn 6X Points for each dollar of purchases on your Card at U.S. restaurants, at U.S. supermarkets, and at U.S. gas stations.
- Earn 4X Points for each dollar on U.S. Online Retail Purchases.
- Earn 3X Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.
- Earn a Free Night Reward from Hilton Honors after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year.
- Enjoy complimentary Hilton Honors ™ Gold Status with your Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card.
- Spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year and you can earn Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status through the end of the next calendar year.
- As a Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card Member, you can enroll to receive complimentary National Car Rental® Emerald Club Executive® status through the link on your American Express online account. After you're enrolled, you can reserve a rental car by calling National Car Rental directly, using your travel service, or by booking online or through the National Car Rental mobile app. Terms apply.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees. Enjoy international travel without additional fees on purchases made abroad.
- $150 annual fee.
- Apply with confidence. Know if you're approved for a Card with no impact to your credit score. If you're approved and you choose to accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
- Terms Apply.
- Rates & Fees
- 12X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio
- 6X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your card at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations
- 4X bonus points on U.S online retail purchases
- 3X bonus points for all other eligible purchases on your card
Related: How To Get Rental Car Elite Status for Free
Visa Infinite benefits
Holders of other credit cards may still find opportunities for Emerald Club status. Visa Infinite cards come with a slew of benefits, including National Rental Car Executive membership. Even better, cardholders can book with up to a 25% discount (although a commenter below only found it was 5% in practice) when using the promo code “5030849.”
Note that several popular points and miles credit cards are branded as Visa Infinite cards, including the following:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- The New United Club℠ Card
- U.S. Bank Altitude™ Reserve Visa Infinite® Card
- Crystal® Visa Infinite® Credit Card
- Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Elite Credit Card
- J.P. Morgan Reserve card
- UBS Visa Infinite credit card
- The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit Card
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per $1 on flights when booking via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on vacation rentals booked via Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on all other eligible purchases
Plus, Visa Infinite cards carry the distinct benefit of primary rental car insurance. When cardholders reserve and pay for a rental car with their Visa Infinite card and decline the rental agency’s collision or loss damage waiver (CDW or LDW) coverage, they receive coverage for theft, damage, and loss of use. Primary coverage means that a claim need not be filed with any other applicable insurance first.
Maximizing Emerald Club Rewards
When earning rewards through Emerald Club, members decide between two different types of rewards: rental credits or partner rewards. Partner rewards are earned on a per-day or per-rental basis.
No matter which partner you earn with, rewards effectively cap out at roughly $10 per rental in value. Earning points or miles for each qualifying rental with partner airlines, hotels, and others might appeal to those who rent infrequently or place little value on free rental car days.
Meanwhile, Emerald Club issues rental credits based on the length of each rental car reservation. Rentals of up to seven consecutive days earn just one rental credit, regardless of length. For rentals longer than seven consecutive days, members receive one additional rental credit for every additional four consecutive rental days. Essentially, rentals of anywhere from one to seven days earn one rental credit, eight to 11-day rentals earn two rental credits, 12 – 15-day rentals earn three rental credits, and so on.
Members then receive a Free Day, depending on their Emerald Club status. Status determines not only the number of rental credits needed for a Free Day but also the type of vehicle eligible for the Free Day.
- Emerald Club: Seven rental credits earn a Free Day for up to a mid-size rental.
- Emerald Club Executive: Six rental credits earn a Free Day for up to a full-size rental.
- Emerald Club Executive Elite: Five rental credits earn a Free Day for any car class except trucks and exotics.
When applied appropriately, Free Days can save members a substantial amount. A couple of examples may help illustrate that point.
Holidays and other peak dates
Emerald Club Free Days do not have any blackout dates. Therefore, using Free Days at the costliest of times — around peak travel dates and holidays — returns the most value. For example, take a look at this hypothetical rental for around New Year's Eve in Los Angeles. Note that I am not applying any special codes beyond the Executive tier status I hold.
The corresponding pricing starts at $442.89 for this rental. The cost would be marginally higher if you choose a vehicle from the Executive Area, at $469.65 total.
To test the impact of using a Free Day, use the “Reward Days” dropdown at the initial reservation menu.
Corresponding vehicle choices come back over $100 cheaper! This goes for an economy or mid-size rental. Even for base-level Emerald Club members, earning the rough $10 maximum per rental in partner rewards for the necessary seven rental credits would still come short of the savings of a Free Day in this example.
Note that the rental cars show up as only $80 or $85 per day in the screenshots above, though the total savings exceed that amount. Applying a Free Day saves on the base cost of the rental plus any fees assessed as a percentage of the total.
One-way rentals
While not all travelers will find a proper use for one-way rentals, these are often much costlier arrangements. As a result, they provide fantastic value when applying a Free Day.
From the previous example, what happens when the rental begins from San Francisco and ends in Los Angeles over the same set timeframe? An economy vehicle costs $641.84, while a mid-size car costs $652.87.
As one might expect, applying a Free Day once again dramatically reduces the total rental cost. In this scenario, a Free Day saves over $150!
Final Thoughts
While National might not always be the lowest-cost option for rental cars, the combination of a rewarding loyalty program and card-derived Emerald Club status make it a standout rental option.
Many award travel enthusiasts already hold one or more credit card options offering Emerald Club Executive level status. As a result, Free Days come quicker, allowing members to recognize rewards that much quicker. And when Free Days can save members as much as $150 (or more) on rentals, National Car Rental has the potential to deliver undeniable value.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (Rates & Fees)
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
