A Great Start to the New Year with Hertz

I'm in love with Hertz and USAA. This Friday I had an interview appointment with an employer for my first Co-op. My original plan was to take public transportation to the site. However, on Thursday night I realized SEPTA changed their schedule and that means I'd have to leave the house at 5:30AM for the 30-minute 10AM interview and wouldn't be back home til 3PM. I also had a MR at 6PM that evening so this wouldn't work for me. I was going to cancel the appointment all together since I was tired after 12hrs of flying on Thursday. However, Hertz came and save my day :)

Most car rental companies have a minimum age requirement of 25 and a surcharge for those who are 21-24. In general, 18-20 are SOL when it comes to renting a car. However, Hertz has a deal with USAA to allow their members to rent without surcharge at 18+ years old. The little known thing is everyone is eligible for USAA limited membership without any military affiliation. Not only that, setting up Hertz account through USAA will also get free Gold membership and good discount too. It's the best of both world if you ask me.

One thing I learned from taking advantage of deals are to prepare for the worst. I printed out the screenshot of the USAA age requirements, my AMEX primary coverage and the phone number of the employer in case I couldn't rent the car. I don't have car insurance either which could make the matter worse. I was super nervous and set appropriate expectation (or the lack thereof). Much to my surprise, I was in and out the office for less than a minute. Even though this is my first rental, everything was pre-printed; the agent verified my driver license and credit card, got my signature to save on file and I was on my way in no time. She didn't even attempted to sell me LDW nor question my age! Starting the next rental I don't even need to sign anything except for showing my ID. Way to go Hertz Club Gold!

For my car rental I used my Chase Sapphire Preferred instead of my AMEX PRG. The reason is Visa Signature has better coverage than AMEX in which Visa would pay loss of use without fleet utilization log while AMEX wouldn't and car rental companies never release the log. I also earn double points on the rental since it's classified as "travel" category. Gonna love Chase!

I hope this will help young travelers to overcome one of the biggest challenges. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Happy New Year!