Citi quietly devalues $120 Avis-Budget car rental credit on the Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard
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What is with card issuers quietly sneaking in devaluations of key card benefits without clearly letting their customers know ahead of time? (See: Bilt's recent Rent Day devaluation.)
As reported by Frequent Miler, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (see rates and fees) benefit of an up to $120 statement credit on eligible Avis or Budget car rentals every calendar year has been devalued.
When logging into my Citi account and navigating to "Card Benefits," I noticed the following wording:
"Earn up to $120 in statement credits every calendar year when eligible prepaid car rentals are booked directly on avis.com or budget.com. Note: Cardmembers who applied for their accounts prior to July 15, 2024, can earn up to $120 in statement credits every calendar year on other eligible Avis® or Budget car rentals in addition to prepaid car rentals directly booked on avis.com or budget.com through December 31, 2025."
This means that if you applied for the card before July 15, 2024, you can still use this year's and next year's credits for both prepaid and postpaid rentals. However, if you applied for the card from July 15, 2024, onward, you'll need to prepay your reservation to access the credit.
While prepaid reservations can be cheaper at the time of booking, they do carry a $50 cancellation fee if you cancel more than 24 hours before pickup or $150 within 24 hours of that time. So, you'll want to be quite sure you will actually move forward with the booking if you choose to go this route.
I am planning to use this credit on a car rental in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, later this month. Luckily, I applied for the card in July 2023, just after it was refreshed and this statement credit was added. I'll use the credit on a postpaid rental next year, too. I probably won't risk the cancellation fee by using it from 2026 onward, though, and I'll likely book car rentals with my Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees) instead.
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