What Amex Gold (US) unlocks

The fastest way to build rental-car status with the Amex Gold (US) is automatic: card membership confers Hertz Five Star status outright, a perk Amex added to the Gold Card in April 2026. From there, two free routes fork off toward top-tier status at rival companies.

One branch runs Five Star through Sixt Platinum and on to Avis's top tier, President's Club — the reference below maps both matches. The other runs Five Star into Avis Preferred Plus, loops back through Hertz's own top tier, President's Circle, and ends at Enterprise Plus's top tier, Platinum; the crossing between rival brands looks odd, but each leg is a legitimate match, since Hertz, Avis, and Enterprise all match each other's status.

That second route isn't effortless. Moving from Avis Preferred Plus up to Hertz President's Circle requires having logged 25+ rentals in the year as Preferred Plus, and holding onto the Enterprise Plus Platinum you land at afterward takes 24 rentals or 85 rental days a year to renew. If you don't already rent that much, the Sixt-to-Avis branch gets you to a top tier with far less upkeep.