Can You Get Free Car Rental Upgrades Using a Discover Card?

iEditorial Note: These blog posts represent the opinion of DoNotPay’s Writers, but each person’s situation and circumstances vary greatly. As a result, you should make sure to do your own independent research. Because everyone is unique, our self-help tools are never guaranteed to help with any specific situation. DoNotPay is not a law firm, is not licensed to practice law, and is not equivalent to the services of a licensed lawyer. DoNotPay provides a platform for legal information and self-help, and does not offer legal services. Third party news articles mentioned on our website do not necessarily reflect the views of the company, or the current services that we offer.

Can You Get Free Car Rental Upgrades Using a Discover Card?

The Discover card is a reliable tool in many people's financial arsenal. Well-known for its many perks and benefits available to cardholders, finding new ways to save with it is always a gratifying experience. With DoNotPay's help, you can use your virtually with no hassle. Keep reading to find out how.

How to Get an Upgrade on Your Rental Car

Getting a free upgrade on your car rental is possible. While it's not a guarantee, people use many methods to receive extra perks when they use a rental car service. Some of the more common ways include:

Coupons

Various rental car services have coupons or discount codes to add upgrades to your rental or reduce the price. If you can find some, it's an easy way to get a little extra on your rental.

Reserve the Cheapest

Reserving the cheapest rental option (usually called "economy") is one way to potentially upgrade to a better car. As the most affordable option for a particular business, it's the one that most people will be renting. In certain situations, when lots of people start renting cars, a specific lot might run out of this type of rental vehicle. When this happens, those with that type of rental on the books will usually be given a better car for no extra charge to make up for not having the specific vehicle they requested available.

Ask

While it might seem like a long shot, it's entirely possible to get an upgrade just by asking. If you're polite and direct with what you want, you'd be surprised at what you can get. This is an excellent strategy to employ in times of high business because of what we said before, since offering customers an upgrade on a vehicle for a reduced fee or even for free keeps already reserved cars on the lot for later. Sometimes, it's not even that complicated; maybe the person helping you just likes your style and might feel generous that day.

Discover Card Membership Perks

One method of getting free car rental upgrades that we didn't mention before is credit card rewards. In this instance, it's the Discover card. Cardholders have a lot of to upgrade to a better car potentially. Some of the best ones you might be using are:

  • Cashback on purchases.
  • Frequent flyer miles.
  • Charitable contributions from your points.

Those are just the available perks, though. The Discover card also has some benefits in terms of rental cars. One of the more unique features of the card is exchanging your points directly for gift cards or cash. However, if you redeem your points specifically for cards related to car rental companies like Alamo, Enterprise Rent A Car, and National, they'll double your rebate value. That means more money for more free rides for no extra effort.

How to Get an Upgrade Using Your Discover Card

As stated before, Discover's biggest perk for rental cars is the ability to double your rebate when you transfer your points into specific gift cards for rental car services. If every moment were to be worth $1, you'd be able to turn 1 point into $2 as long as you're using it for a rental car gift card.

To take advantage of this great deal, you're going to have to jump through a few hoops. While it's not a complicated process, it can be kind of lengthy if you want to see any real return on your investment. In many cases, getting DoNotPay to ask your car rental company directly for upgrades is the quicker and more straightforward option. If you already have a Discover card, though, here's how you can use it:

  1. Save up your points by earning cashback on your purchases. January through March each year is a great time to do so, as you get a complete 5% back on travel-related purchases.
  2. Select the option to receive gift cards when you cash out your points.
  3. Find the cards related to the rental car service you want to use.
  4. Cash-out your points for that gift card.

How to Get Rental Car Upgrades With DoNotPay

If you don't have a Discover card or don't have the points to spare, that doesn't mean you can't get upgrades on your rental cars. By using DoNotPay, all it takes is these four quick steps to start driving in style:

  1. Choose which rental company you booked with.

  2. Enter your reservation confirmation number.

  3. Tell us the details of your reservation, such as the pick-up date, pick-up location, car model, etc.

  4. Indicate whether you are a rewards member or special credit card holder.

And that's it. DoNotPay will call the rental company on your behalf and request a free upgrade on your reservation. The promotion will most likely be applied when you arrive at the car pick-up site, and if you don't like the new vehicle you've been upgraded to, you can always request to be switched back.

DoNotPay Can Get Car Rental Upgrades From Many Companies

DoNotPay can get you car rental upgrades for many different companies, including ones that Discover doesn't give you bonuses on. Here are some of them:

Avis Car Rental Upgrade GuideBudget Car Rental Upgrade Guide
Alamo Car Rental Upgrade GuideEnterprise Car Rental Upgrade Guide
Dollar Car Rental Upgrade GuideHertz Car Rental Upgrade Guide
Thrifty Car Rental Upgrade GuideNational Car Rental Upgrade Guide

We can also request other upgrades, like allowing additional drivers behind the wheel for no extra charge, including spouses.

What Else Can DoNotPay Do For You?

When you use DoNotPay, you aren't limited to just upgrading your rental cars. We offer our users a ton of services, with some of our best taking on the burden of:

If you have a problem in life, let DoNotPay handle it for you. Start using the app today to let us take care of your most annoying problems for you.

Want your issue solved now?