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Avis has introduced a new one-way car rental promo from airports to cities across the US for as little as $9.99 per rental. With this promotion, you can pick up a car from the airport and drop it off downtown, or pick it up downtown and drop it off at the airport. Although this does have some limitations, including restrictions on travel days and locations, if the stars align, you could save a significant amount of money with a rental versus Uber/Lyft or a Taxi. This promotion is clearly targeted at the leisure/weekend traveler, and we like it!
Key Terms of Avis One-Way Airport Rentals
- Promo is valid for a 12-hour one-way rental
- Full tank of gas included in the rental price
- Each rental comes with 150 miles for free; additional miles are $.10 per mile
- Airport to downtown discounts are valid for pickups on Thursday/Friday
- Downtown to airport discounts are valid for pickups on Sunday/Monday
- There may be blackout periods during holiday periods, with additional surcharges
The rentals are paired, so you will be able to pick up a car from an airport location, and then you will have to return it to a participating downtown location. If going from downtown to the airport, you'll grab your car from a participating downtown location, and then drop it off at a paired airport.
Rental Pricing
The lowest pricing of $9.99 per rental is available on Economy cars; however, the prices are still reasonable for larger vehicles. Pricing for the one-way rentals are:
- Economy, Compact, Intermediate, Standard, Full-Size – $9.99
- Premium & Intermedia SUV – $14.99
- Standard SUV – $17.99
- Minivan – $19.99
Participating Cities
The list of participating cities is quite extensive, and some cities have multiple airports. The following cities are taking part in the promotion:
- Atlanta ATL
- Baltimore
- Bentonville
- Boston
- Charleston
- Charlotte
- Chicago
- Cincinnati
- Cleveland
- Columbus
- Dallas
- Dayton
- Detroit
- Houston
- Kansas City
- Knoxville
- Lincoln
- Memphis
- Milwaukee
- Minneapolis
- Nashville
- New Orleans
- New York
- Oklahoma City
- Omaha
- Philadelphia
- Pittsburgh
- Portland
- Providence
- Raleigh
- San Antonio
- Savannah
- Louis
- Tulsa
- Washington
- Wichita
Our Take
Rental car agencies are fighting back against Uber/Lyft and taxi's; competition is a win for us! With business travelers returning on Thursday/Friday and picking up on Sunday/Monday, this is a great way for Avis to look for better overall fleet utilization. The question remains if people actually will want to drive in a potentially new city, or if they want the convenience of a service.
Remember to use a credit card that not only earns you 2x or 3x points on rental cars but one that provides primary collision damage waiver protection.
Source: Avis
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.
This is a great deal. No more uber, taxi and parking in city.
I’m planning on a trip next week. I was looking for Chevy Malibu.
I am going to look closer into this. The rent one ways to from airport all of the time
Sadly I don’t think we will see this in Europe anytime soon
You should bring this idea to Europe also, because sometimes bus or train ride from airport is more expensive than airline ticket.
This is a really smart idea. Great alternative to Lyft/Uber.
This is awesome! This is a really creative thing to do, and definitely fills a void for airport transit in some major cities.
This is a great deal. Hope to make it work for my winter trip.
Any reason why 5 mile per comment?
I assume there are two type of people who leave comment.
One is just to enjoy the communication regardless of the mile.
The other is just to extend AAdvantage mileage expiration.
In this sense, 1 mile is enough from both point of views?
AwardWallet can reduce the expense (cost of maintenance), more people can enjoy benefit from this system for longer period based on sustainable model.
Great deal! But in reality, it’s a bit difficult for me to use this deal as pick-up date is limited for two days in a week…
This is an awesome deal! Thanks for posting.
It’s a deal, however takes more time to pick up the car than cal a uber.
That’s a screamin’ deal
This is awesome, highly competitive!
I’ve been trying to figure out how to alleviate an Uber cost in Atlanta – I hope this will work for me!
Cool tip. Thanks.
great idea!
Good stuff. Fighting back. Competition wins.
It looks too good to be true , I guess somewhere there are some hidden taxes/fees you because I cant see where they make money out of this. Or maybe it is just for cars in fleet that were returned at another location.
You’ll see the final price at checkout. Like all rental cars there are added taxes/fees, but the base rates start at $9.99
This is awesome, thanks for the heads up!
Hope this comes to Germany too!
Thanks for the info. This could be used as a fast track to earn Avis Preferred Plus status.
the minivan deal is really great for bigger families like ours. we cant fit in a regular taxi anymore.
Oh if only they would offer this in L.A.
This is terrific! Thanks.
thanks for the tip !
I think they just need free drivers. Try to book one for Chicago. Found many available dates from downtown to ORD and none for reverse 🙁
this could be introduced in Europe!
great deal but nothing in California 🙁
Phooey. My city is not on the list. Still, I am bookmarking this article in case I can use this offer while traveling to other cities.
Great idea! Good to know.
nice deal. i often rent a car to get into the city.
Bet Uber isn’t happy
Great idea, would be nice to see it in Europe too.
This is an interesting idea and I definitely see where Avis benefits. They get some money for people moving their cars whereas otherwise they would have to do it themselves. It will make sense for some people,but it would have to be a very specific case. Unfortunately, I can’t use this interesting deal.
this is cheaper than a taxi in most cases, especially cities like New York
And maybe this come with some extra points?
No, there are no additional points promotions associated with this promotion.
You have the car for a cheap price and the car rental company move their cars where it is necessary.
A win-win.
Finally car rental getting creative. I assume those annoying average 30 dollar airport pick up/garage surcharges are still going to be there though and make the true cost of the rental over closer to 50 with other taxes, or are they getting rid of these too?
You’ll still have those taxes — I just priced it out for a rental here in Savannah and it came to just under $18. An uber from the airport to my house is typically around $22. Not something that makes sense for me but for a larger city with more drop off locations this could be a huge win, especially if the airport isn’t close to your destination.
Yea any city where uber is under 30 to get to your destination I can’t see this making sense, since you also have the hassle of getting to/from the rental car location (uber from rental car to hotel after returning the car???) vs being dropped off and picked up from the terminal and hotel. But for places where it’s a long drive then it could work as long as the taxes and fees are reasonable.
Wow what a deal for under $10. Not very many miles but great for short hops around town.
The tank of gas is going to cost more than $10!
I see this more for residents of a city with decent public transport to/from the airport. Rent a car, run some errands, return it to the airport…