Planning ahead for your Emerald Club free days
Lifetime transfer options and steps to take now for National Car Rental free days
Emerald Club Member Services
National Car Rental, Member Services, 8421 St. John Industrial Way, St. Louis, MO 63144
Emerald Club Member Services
National Car Rental, Member Services, 8421 St. John Industrial Way, St. Louis, MO 63144
(General customer service)
Because Emerald Club free days are forfeited at death under National Car Rental's terms, the only way to preserve their value is through action taken while the account is active.
Emerald Club allows members to transfer free days to other program members during their lifetime. Fees may apply, but this is a direct way to move free days to family members while you are alive.
How to protect your Emerald Club free days
6 steps for managing your Emerald Club free days during your lifetime:
Family sharing
Rental credits are non-transferable. Free Days are transferable to immediate family members: Section B.5.3 of the 2026 Terms describes them as "immediate family members of Member (e.g., a spouse or domestic partner, child who is age 21 or over, and parent) irrespective of their Membership," and a member may transfer up to three Free Days per calendar year. National's FAQ pages describe the same allowance differently, as three free days per year to "an immediate family member" where "immediate family members include any family member that has your same address" — the Terms impose no same-address condition and the FAQ adds one, so a member asking for a transfer should expect Member Services to apply the FAQ wording. Once transferred, Free Days cannot be returned to the transferring member's account; no paper certificate is issued, the recipient receives an email with a coupon code, and transferred Free Days are valid for one year from the original month of transfer and may be redeemed for no longer than three Free Days per rental transaction (against seven for Free Days that stay with the earning member). Free Days received by a transferee likewise "do not constitute property of such transferee." The membership itself is personal: National's FAQ states Emerald Club memberships are for individual use and the member must be present at the time of rental. Transfers are requested through Member Services rather than self-served online.
Should you save your passwords for your family?
Some people store account passwords so a family member can sign in later. The practice has three practical limits:
- Two-factor authentication often blocks it. Most accounts require a second factor — a code sent to a phone, an authenticator app, a passkey, or a physical key. A saved password alone frequently does not grant access, and the recovery codes that would are easy to lose or let go stale.
- It usually conflicts with the platform's terms. Most operators prohibit account sharing and signing in as another person, including after a death. Stored credentials are not the operator's recognized access path, and using them can violate the terms of service.
- Operators provide other paths. Where an operator offers a designation tool — Apple's Legacy Contact, Google's Inactive Account Manager, a beneficiary designation — that mechanism grants access the operator recognizes. A password manager's own emergency-access or legacy feature passes credentials through a controlled process. Digital assets named in a will or trust give a fiduciary authority under each state's Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA).
Frequently asked questions
Yes, while alive. Section B.5.3 of the Terms allows up to three Free Days per calendar year to an immediate family member, described in the Terms as "a spouse or domestic partner, child who is age 21 or over, and parent" and in National's FAQ as a family member who has your same address. Rental credits, as distinct from Free Days, are non-transferable. Transfers are requested through Member Services at 1-800-962-7070.
The two published answers differ. The 2026 Terms (Section B.5.3) enumerate examples — a spouse or domestic partner, a child aged 21 or over, and a parent — and add that the allowance applies "irrespective of their Membership," with no condition about shared address. National's FAQ pages say immediate family members "include any family member that has your same address." Member Services applies the policy in practice, so it is worth asking which reading it is using before relying on either.
Yes. Under Section B.6.2, for members in the United States a Free Day expires and is forfeited on the earlier of December 31 of the year following the year in which it was earned, or termination of membership for any reason. A Free Day that has been transferred to a family member is valid for one year from the original month of transfer and cannot be returned to the transferring account. Different rules apply to members resident in Canada and in several European countries.
No. National's FAQ states that Emerald Club memberships are for individual use and the member must be present at the time of rental, and Section B.8 of the Terms treats sharing a membership number so someone else can complete a rental in the member's name as a violation. Because membership is free, the practical answer is for family members to enrol in their own accounts.
Use them or move them while alive. Redeem Free Days before the December 31 expiry that follows the year they were earned, and use the annual allowance of up to three Free Days to an immediate family member. Because the Terms classify credits and Free Days as non-property and forfeit them on termination of membership, there is nothing an estate plan can do to preserve a balance after death beyond leaving the membership number and Member Services contact details where an executor can find them.
An inventory listing the Emerald Club account lets a fiduciary identify it and act on it through the operator's official channels.
There is no beneficiary designation option for Emerald Club. This account type does not support naming a recipient the way bank or investment accounts do.
Sources
Data sourced from National Car Rental primary sources (8 pages reviewed). How we research.
Emerald Club Member Services
National Car Rental, Member Services, 8421 St. John Industrial Way, St. Louis, MO 63144
Emerald Club Member Services
National Car Rental, Member Services, 8421 St. John Industrial Way, St. Louis, MO 63144
(General customer service)
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