Update 5/27/25: Offer is back and valid through 7/25/25
Contents
The Offer
No direct link, targeted offer
- Get a one-time $50 statement credit by using your enrolled eligible Card to make a single purchase of $250 or more online at Budget Car Rental by 7/24/24
Our Verdict
Useful deal if you’re planning to book with Budget anyway.
View more Amex offers here & if you have any questions about American Express offers then read this post.
- AmEx Offers: An Introduction & Profitable Examples
- How To Sign Up For Multiple American Express Sync Offers
- Amex Offer Credit Not Posting, What to Do?
- How Does American Express Decide Who Receives What AmEx Sync Offer?
- Do I Need To Make A Single Purchase For AmEx Offers, Or Is It Cumulative?
- What Happens When You Have Two Active AmEx Offers For The Same Store?
- Amex Offers: Do Electronic Wallets Trigger the Offer Credit?
Perfect timing for me. I was just about to return a Budget rental car when I saw this on Tuesday (5/27) and easily changed my payment method at the return desk
The only issue is that you won’t be able to utilize Fastbreak to pick up your car unless the Amex is already the default card in your profile. If you rent on a new card you WILL need to go to the rental desk and stand in line to get the car so they can scan the card.
Budget has very low ratings. Hope amex has an offer for Alamo.
I’ve rented from Budget three times in the past 90 days with ZERO problems. In addition I got an Amazon gift card equal to 10% of the base rental charge (before all the lousy fees) for each rental. Their prices were equal to other discount rental companies, the service was fine, and the free Amazon gift card was icing on the cake.
Perfect timing! Have to rent on 5/31, so always happy to save $50!
Is it possible to book a rental, get the credit, and then cancel the booking?
You could try to book the type that actually combines the credit card charge with refundability. Just make sure it’s actually being booked on Budget and not some OTA like Booking.
Plus let us know how it goes. 🙂
Odds they claw this back if we book and refund?
100% amex will claw back.
Question for everyone: is there any way to rent a car with one credit card (to get CSR insurance) and then pay with AmEx to get this offer? In other words, has anyone been able to change the credit card when they return the car? Thank you in advance!
I have tried and been told that this is impossible. That being said, AmEx offers primary rental car insurance for like $15 p/rental which, by all accounts, is far superior to that offered by CSR.
I thought it was generally possible to change your choice of credit card upon returning the car. But maybe that’s just certain rental companies.
Anyway, the suggestion by @rose is good too. I think the price for the AMEX Premium car rental coverage varies by state, up to $25 per rental. I am enrolled in it on one of my AMEX cards but haven’t used it yet.
You’re right about that option possibly varying from company to company. I have swapped the charged card on rentals with Enterprise many times (reserve with CSP, switch at the desk to the USB Alt. Res. when returning). It has required going inside to the main desk (versus dealing with the agents outside holding the portable devices), but takes almost no time.
With Budget, I’d think that they could also do so since that’s how certain debit/prepaid rentals are handled:
“At some locations, debit and prepaid charge cards are not accepted at rental pickup time, but are accepted for payment at time of car return. See required credentials for information on required rental pick-up holds.”
https://www.budget.com/en/help/usa-faqs/rent-with-debit-card
I have done this – used my Ritz card to book and then paid with something I needed to add spend to or a card with an offer attached, for instance. You have to tell them immediately when you step out of the car and they’re scanning the code through the windshield. Then you have to go stand in line and get your receipt there. My experiences have almost always been at airports. The one time (Hertz) I tried it at a non-airport place they initially said they could but no one there could get it to work.