Hertz grace period now 4 hours with Amex Platinum card

Longtime American Express Platinum card holders remember a particularly helpful benefit was a 4 hour grace period on returns with Hertz rental cars. That compares to the 29 minute grace period normally offered to Hertz renters. Well, the benefit is back as of early 2011.

With this benefit, if you were scheduled to return your car to the airport at say 12 Noon, you can now do so at 3:59pm with no additional charges. Simply use your American Express Platinum Card to make and pay for the reservation, and use the ‘CDP’ code American Express provides all Platinum cardholders in your Hertz profile.

This benefit was taken away from American Express Platinum cardholders in 2004, but is now back as American Express aggressively seeks to add value to the card in anticipation of the September 2011 loss of Continental Airlines as an airline mile and lounge access partner.

This adds to another new car rental benefit for Platinum cardholders — Executive status with National Car Rental and the elimination of foreign transaction fees.