![Top 5 Credit Cards Offering Car Rental Elite Status [Year 2025]](/en/content/images/size/w1280/format/webp/20250803065544_best-credit-cards-offering.jpeg)
Top 5 Credit Cards Offering Complimentary Car Rental Elite Status [2025 Edition]
In the realm of premium travel credit cards, several notable options offer significant benefits for car rental enthusiasts. Let's delve into the details of four popular cards: The Platinum Card® from American Express, The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.
The Platinum Card® from American Express (Personal)
This card offers complimentary elite status with rental partners Avis, National, and Hertz (through enrollment). This status typically includes benefits like priority service, vehicle upgrades, and expedited rental procedures. Additionally, the card provides strong travel perks including high rewards on travel, airport lounge access, and airline/hotel credits. Secondary rental car insurance coverage is included as a standard benefit, while statement credits often help offset travel costs but may not be directly applied to car rentals.
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Similar to the personal Platinum card, this card grants rental car privileges with Avis, National, and Hertz, including upgraded status benefits that enable faster checkouts and potential car upgrades. The card comes with enhanced insurance options, including the ability to purchase primary rental car insurance (useful if your personal auto insurance doesn’t cover rentals). Moreover, it includes generous statement credits towards various expenses including some related to travel.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
While it is renowned for all-around travel benefits like priority airport lounge access and strong travel protection, it does not typically include automatic rental car elite status with major rental companies as a card benefit. However, the card offers primary rental car insurance coverage—a very valuable perk for travelers. Some rental car benefits may come through partnerships or promotional offers, but elite status is usually not guaranteed.
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Known for excellent travel savings and allowing free authorized users, this card does not inherently provide automatic car rental elite status. It provides secondary rental car insurance coverage and broad travel rewards. However, it typically lacks specific elite status benefits with rental firms.
In summary, for direct rental car elite status benefits, The Platinum Card® from Amex and the Business Platinum Card® from Amex stand out by offering complimentary elite status with top rental car companies (Avis, National, Hertz). Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Capital One Venture X offer valuable rental car insurance but generally do not include automatic rental elite status. For elite rental benefits such as priority service, free upgrades, and skipping long lines, the Amex Platinum cards are the most comprehensive among these four.
[1] The Platinum Card® from American Express: https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/credit-cards/travel/platinum/
[2] The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/credit-cards/business/platinum/
[3] Chase Sapphire Reserve®: https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/chasesapphirereserve
[4] Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/venturex/
- The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, among the four cards, offer complimentary rental car elite status with partners Avis, National, and Hertz.
- For travelers seeking primary rental car insurance coverage, both the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card provide this valuable perk.
- By obtaining the Platinum Card® from American Express, cardholders may expect priority service, vehicle upgrades, and expedited rental procedures as part of their complimentary elite status with rental partners.
- While the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card offers excellent travel savings and free authorized users, it typically lacks specific elite status benefits with rental firms.
