Update: The Avis First hack will also work with MasterCard DEBIT cards as well!
There is a new travel hack out that allows you to get elite status with two major car rentals companies, Avis and National Car Rental, for FREE! The Avis elite status offer is intended for MasterCard World Elite cardholders, but it seems that as long as you have any Mastercard, you can still register to get Avis First. For National Car Rentals, there appears to be no requirements since there is a link in which anyone can signup for Emerald Club Executive status without any restrictions! I doubt this is intentional since Executive status requires 12 paid rentals or 40 rental days so I highly recommend taking advantage of this deal before they pull the link! Here is a summary of how to get the two offers.
Avis First Elite Status
1. Go to this link – Avis First Elite Status
2. Have your driver’s license and MasterCard (credit or debit) ready and register for an Avis account. It will look like you are signing up for Avis Preferred, which is correct. Once you get to the part where you input your MasterCard, it will recognize the elite status to be Avis First which is a tier higher.
3. If you already have Avis Preferred status (which you get if you have an American Express Platinum card and you registered it with Avis), click the small link on the bottom of the page and email Avis a request to be bumped up to Avis First.
Avis First will get you free upgrades of at least 1 category, free weekend rental after every 4 rentals of 2+ days, skip the line and go straight to your car access (Preferred status has this as well) and a special 1-800 number for assistance and reservations. In short, signing up for this is definitely worth doing especially if you are not already a Preferred member so you can skip the lines to pickup your car at the bare minimum.
I did this for Andrea and this is the confirmation page when you finish
National Emerald Executive Club Elite Status
1. Go to this link – National Emerald Club Executive Elite Status
2. Have your driver’s license and MasterCard ready and register for a National Emerald Club account. It is a direct link to Executive Club status so upon completion you should instantly be an Executive member.
3. If you have an American Express Platinum card, you are entitled to this same status.
Executive Status will get you the ability to pick any car in the Executive aisle if you pay at least a midsize rate, skip the line and go straight to your car (or aisle) access, and a special 1-800 number for assistance and reservations.
The confirmation page for the National signup
Again, I highly recommend signing up for these offers now in case they are pulled which they could be at any moment. Good luck!
(H/T to View From the Wing)
PointsCentric 
[…] week I blogged about two elite status offers for car rental companies, Avis & National, that simply for signing up with a MasterCard, you could get elite status! Well one thing I […]
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The http://www.avis.com/car-rental/html/bridge/preferred/cwt/index.html link is no longer working
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The link does seem to be taken down but you can still get Avis First status with a World Elite MasterCard. Per the MasterCard website, go to this link for details:
http://www.mastercard.us/travel/world-elite-benefit-detail.html?id=1290614
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no application link? just call the number on the page the link takes you to? do you know if that still gives you the free 2 day weekend rental?
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called the number. they said to enroll first with avis and get a wizard number, then call back and give them the wiz no, which they will then forward to avis for an upgrade to first (which will take 4-5 business days). Looks like that will get me the first, but not the 2 wkend days? what do you think? I’m assuming you applied via the link, not the number?
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I can’t confirm this personally but with the recent change to the Avis rewards program, I have a feeling that offer of 2 free weekend days for upgrading to Avis First may not be available anymore. And I did apply via the link so I had no issues. If I were you, call back with your new wizard number and get the upgrade to Avis First. If you don’t see your free weekend days hit, you can always try to call and push for it but this is a huge YMMV situation.
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the avis preferred enrollment did not at any point acknowledge for Avis First.. it still said “AVIS PREFERRED® ENROLLMENT – STEP 4 of 4
Please review all fields below to ensure information is correct. To complete your Avis Preferred enrollment, click on the “Enroll Now” button below.”
even after entering my arrival+ EMC (step 3 of 4), and on to the next page (step 4 of 4 – data verification/review) on the page after i entered my MC details.
Also, i did not see the “small link on the bottom of the page” to “email Avis a request to be bumped up to Avis First”.
Do i have to click the “enroll now” button, after the review page (and thus enroll for Preferred), before i see the small link???
** i do not currently have an account with avis.
*** The link for national worked great. thanks for that!!!! (i was already a national menber, with 2 free days, it upgraded me up to executive with no hassle, and retained my 2 free days.. whew..!)
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