10 Biggest Military & Veteran Car Rental Discounts

Active-duty military doing a salute while in uniform

Several car rental agencies offer military discounts for active-duty service members and veterans. Some also extend these discounts to immediate family members.

In general, you can expect to save between 5% and 25% on the vehicle’s base rate. There may be additional perks available, such as free upgrades or GPS rental.

Below, we list the rental agencies that have military and veteran discounts — plus those that don’t.

What We Recommend

The highest available military discounts for car rentals are at Avis Rent a Car and Budget.

Both rental agencies partner with Veterans Advantage to offer up to 25% off base rates.[1][2]

Veterans Advantage is free to join, but to access the highest discounts, you’ll need a VetRewards subscription, which costs about $5 for a 30-day trial or $60 to $200 for an annual plan.[3]

It’s best to weigh the amount you’ll save against the cost of the VetRewards plan before signing up. If you rent cars frequently or can make use of other discounts available through VetRewards, the cost of the plan may be worthwhile.

If you don’t have a Veterans Advantage account and would prefer not to create one, Hertz also offers up to 25% off, though some of its discounts are exclusive to USAA members.[4][5]

Fox Rent A Car offers 10% off and doesn’t require any additional memberships.[6]

Comparison Table

Use the table below to quickly compare your car rental military discount options.

Note that you can sort the table using the arrows at the top of each column, and you can select the company name to find more information in our list below.

Rental Agency Eligibility Discount
Alamo Rent a CarActive-duty and veterans Around 5% off
Avis Rent a CarActive-duty, veterans, and their families Up to 25% off
BudgetActive-duty, veterans, and their families Up to 25% off
Dollar Car Rental Active-duty, veterans, and "next of kin" family members About 5% off
Enterprise Rent-A-CarActive-duty and veterans About 5% off
Fox Rent A CarActive-duty,veterans, Gold Star families, and cadets Around 10% off
HertzActive-duty and veterans Up to 25% off
SIXTActive-duty and veterans Around 5% off
Thrifty Car RentalActive-duty, veterans, military academy students, and immediate family members Up to 5% off, free upgrade, and free GPS unit
ZipcarActive-duty, veterans, military academy students, and immediate family Up to 50% off annual membership and no application fee

The List

Avis Rent a Car

  • Available to: Active-duty and veteran military, National Guard, Reservists, and their families[1]
  • Discount amount: Up to 25% off base rates[1]
  • Requirements:
    • Must sign up for a Veterans Advantage account
    • Must use the discount code on Avis’ military discount page
    • Cannot combine with any other promotion or offer
    • Excludes certain vehicle classes[1]
  • Find a rental

Budget logo

Budget

  • Available to: Active-duty and veteran military, National Guard, and reservists, as well as their immediate families[2]
  • Discount amount: Up to 25% off base rates[2]
  • Requirements:
  • Find a rental

Hertz logo

Hertz

  • Available to: Veteran and active-duty military; some of the available discounts require USAA membership.[7][7][8]
  • Discount amount: Varies depending on the details of your rental; up to 25% off[9][4][5]
  • Requirements:
    • Must use the USAA or government CDP code when you make your reservation[8][5]
    • Must provide ID to verify your eligibility for the discount[10]
  • Find a rental

Fox Rent A Car Logo

Fox Rent A Car

  • Available to: Active-duty, veteran, and reserve members of the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy, and National Guard; Gold Star families and cadets; commissioned officers of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and United States Public Health Service[6]
  • Discount amount: 10% off all cars[6]
  • Requirements:
    • Must rent from a corporate-owned U.S. location
    • Must use the discount code MILITARY1 when making your reservation
    • Cannot combine with other discounts or Fox Bucks rewards[6]
  • Find a rental

Zipcar logo

Zipcar

  • Available to: Active-duty military, students of U.S. military academies, veteran/retired military, current or former National Guard or Reservists, and immediate family[11]
  • Discount amount: Up to 50% off your annual membership and an application fee waiver[11]
  • Requirements:
    • Must enroll as a VetRewards member on Veterans Advantage[11]
  • Find a rental

Dollar Car Rental logo

Dollar Car Rental

  • Available to: Active and retired military members;[12] “next of kin” family members can also get the discount if using Veterans Advantage[13]
  • Discount amount: 5% off retail rates; also offers a free upgrade and unlimited mileage if using the Leisure Government Travel discount, or waived additional and underage driver fees if using Veterans Advantage[12][13]
  • Requirements:
  • Find a rental

Thrifty Car Rental logo

Thrifty Car Rental

  • Available to: Veterans, retirees, active-duty service members, National Guard members, Reservists, and their immediate families, plus students of U.S. military academies[15][16]
  • Discount amount: 5%, plus coupons for free upgrades and GPS unit rental[15]
  • Requirements:
    • Must sign in with your Veterans Advantage VetRewards account or create an account and verify your identity
    • Must have a valid driver’s license; active-duty military can show their military ID along with an expired license[15][17][16]
  • Find a rental

Enterprise logo

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

  • Available to: Active-duty service members and veterans[18]
  • Discount amount: 5% off base rates;[18] USAA members get additional benefits like unlimited mileage on some rentals and waived additional driver or young driver surcharges[19]
  • Requirements:
    • May need to show your military ID at pick-up
    • Must have a valid driver’s license that you’ve held for at least one year
    • Must have a valid photo ID and credit card
    • Must be at least 21 years old for leisure travel and 18 if traveling on official government business[18]
  • Find a rental

SIXT logo

SIXT

  • Available to: Veteran, retired, and active-duty military members[20][21]
  • Discount amount: Up to 5% off premium fleet base rates[21]
  • Requirements:
    • Valid on prepaid and pay-on-arrival rentals
    • Must book through the SIXT military discount page
    • Cannot combine with other discounts
    • Must have a valid, unexpired driver’s license[21][22]
  • Find a rental

Alamo Rent a Car

  • Available to: Active-duty military and veterans[23]
  • Discount amount: Varies depending on the details of your rental; usually around 5% off[24][25]
  • Requirements:
    • Must specify that your rental is a government/military rental when booking[23]
    • May need to show your military ID at pickup[25]
  • Find a rental

Car Rental Companies That Don’t Offer Military Discounts

In the course of our research, we found that the following rental agencies don’t offer active-duty or veteran military discounts at the time of writing:

  1. https://www.avis.com/en/offers/partners/veterans-advantage[][][][]
  2. https://www.budget.com/en/offers/partner-offers/25-off-car-rentals-for-military-veterans[][][][]
  3. https://www.veteransadvantage.com/plans[]
  4. Hertz location customer service representatives[][]
  5. https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/rental-car-deals/usaa-members-25-off-base-rates[][][]
  6. https://www.foxrentacar.com/en/deals/military.html[][][][]
  7. https://hertz.force.com/care/htz_faqsearchwebform?searchTerm=military%20discount&page=0&lang=en_US&pos=us#[][]
  8. https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/misc/index.jsp?targetPage=governmentandmilitary.xml[][]
  9. Hertz.com test bookings[]
  10. https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/reservation/?id=31472&refererUrl=https://www.hertz.com&LinkType=HZLK[]
  11. https://www.veteransadvantage.com/offers/zipcar-offers-vetrewards-members-35-annual-savings-25-application-fee-waiver[][][]
  12. https://www.dollar.com/business/government.aspx[][][]
  13. https://www.dollar.com/TravelCenter/TravelPartner/Other/VeteransAdvantage.aspx[][][]
  14. https://www.dollar.com/AboutUs/GeneralPolicies.aspx[]
  15. https://www.thrifty.com/programs/government/veteransadvantage.aspx[][][]
  16. https://www.veteransadvantage.com/offers/get-5-your-next-thrifty-car-rental[][]
  17. https://www.thrifty.com/AboutUs/content/GeneralPolicies.aspx[]
  18. https://www.enterprise.com/en/car-rental/deals/military-government-rental-discounts.html[][][]
  19. https://www.enterprise.com/en/corporate-accounts/usaa/faqs.html[]
  20. https://www.sixt.com/military-car-rental/#/[]
  21. https://www.sixt.com/funnel/#/deals?campaign=5-en-us-mil05-us-sixtrent[][][]
  22. https://www.sixt.com/rental-information/#/[]
  23. https://www.alamo.com/en/car-rental-deals/government-military-leisure-travel.html[][]
  24. Alamo.com test bookings[]
  25. Alamo Rent a Car location customer service representatives[][]
  26. ACE Rent a Car customer service via live chat[]
  27. Getaround customer service via mobile app[]
  28. https://www.nationalcar.com/en/car-rental/specials/military-government.html[]
  29. https://www.paylesscar.com/en/deals/partners[]
  30. Payless Car Rental location customer service representatives[]
  31. https://help.turo.com/en_us/promotions-and-discounts-or-guests-SkjNVElN5[]

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