How much can a National Discount Code save you?

Posted on November 12, 2016 by Selina H. in Avis / Hertz Car Rentals, Corporate Codes

What’s a National Discount Code?

National Car Rental assigns Contract ID numbers so that certain customers can get specific discounts. Contract ID numbers can be negotiated for corporate employees (as well as for other National partners) and with regards corporate rates, with National they do tend to be cheaper than public ones. If your organization is affiliated with this car rental company, you may be able to save on your advance rental by adding the relevant ID number to your booking and it can even be stacked with discounts such as coupon codes when booking online.

Major businesses and discount programs, from American Airlines to MasterCard to Siemens, not only get cheaper rates with a particular National Car Rental discount code, but also sometimes get value-added promotions and special rental benefits. Plus in the travel world, it’s handy to know that you can earn miles or points by attaching your Frequent Travel Program number to a new or existing National reservation.

A Contract ID is usually a numerical code, though there are odd alphabetical exceptions. There doesn’t seem to be a comprehensive list of codes online, so we scoured the internet to find as many as possible, to see how much you can save.

As expected, you can only generally use a Contract ID number if you have ID to prove that you’re entitled to the rate when picking up your rental, or you could be charged the full daily rate.

How do I use a National Discount Code?

During your reservation, simply click on ‘Contract ID’ and then enter the relevant code in the box:

Testing the National Discount Code list…

For our tests, we chose a rental picking up at and returning to Boston Logan International, November 28th to 30th, 2016. The normal price for a Midsize, without using a code and including taxes and fees, came up at an estimated $135.61:

We tried adding a corporate code to the booking to compare prices, and these Contract ID numbers found a cheaper estimated rate:

• 5666666 IBM $101.38 – 25% cheaper ($34.23)
• 5201735 Siemens $106.58 – 21% cheaper ($29.03)
• 5000226 General Motors $112 – 17% cheaper ($23.61)
• 5001514 MSU $121.45 – 10% cheaper ($14.16)
• 5760339 Carlson Travel $124.99 – 8% cheaper ($10.62)
• 5028137 Wyndham $124.99 – 8% cheaper ($10.62)
• 5282921 IEEE $124.99 – 8% cheaper ($10.62)
• 5030270 Club Carlson $124.99 – 8% cheaper ($10.62)
• 5005467 UTU $130.30 – 4% cheaper ($5.31)
• 5710068 AVMA $130.30 – 4% cheaper ($5.31)
• 5282865 NAB $130.30 – 4% cheaper ($5.31)
• 5601333 APA $130.30 – 4% cheaper ($5.31)
• 5450173 AMS Users Group $130.30 – 4% cheaper ($5.31)
• 2700075 United Airlines $130.30 – 4% cheaper ($5.31)
• 5000302 Delta $130.30 – 4% cheaper ($5.31)
• 5028121 Alaska Airlines $130.30 – 4% cheaper ($5.31)
• 5028695 Amex Platinum $130.30 – 4% cheaper ($5.31)
• 5028772 Hawaiian Airlines $130.30 – 4% cheaper ($5.31)

Using these Contract ID numbers, the estimated price was the same as booking without a code:

• 5160502 Rutgers $135.61
• 5036929 American Airlines $135.61
• 6100497 Illinois State Bar $135.61
• 5003447 Caltech $135.61
• 5001856 UPenn $135.61
• 5904196 Breezenet $135.61
• 5282905 MasterCard $135.61
• 3717102 WestJet $135.61
• 5001760 Enterra $135.61
• 5004606 Entertainment $135.61
• 5028035 PFCU $135.61
• 5028785 Frontier $135.61
• 6600135 Dreamworks $135.61

These Contract ID numbers came up as invalid or inactive:

• 75796 Alamo
• 1103455 Safeway Inc

Using this Contract ID number, the price was much more expensive than booking without a code:

• 5001216 NWA $348.58 (!)

While most codes gave us just 4% off, it seems it pays to be employees of General Motors, Siemens or IBM, with a respective 17%, 21% or 25% discount:

However, using the NWA code cost a whopping 157% more!

What else do I need to know about using a National Discount Code?

You may be able to find your company’s Contract ID on this handy Travel Codex thread or here on FatWallet. If you can’t find your code, you could ask HR if there is a Contract ID for you to use with National or contact National directly.