Hiring a car without a CC. Use pre-pay CC?

mumzcuddles

Hi
I'm looking at going on holiday and need to hire a car. I ditched the credit cards about three years ago as I was struggling to repay. Credit score will not be great as I had a ccj back in November.
I've been told I need a credit card to leave a deposit. Anybody managed to hire without one or with a prepaid credit card?

Thanks

zaax

I've hired in spain with a Debit card, they don't' take any money just reserve an amount.

MisterBaxter

In Tenerife I managed to hire a car with just a debit card but they insisted I had the most expensive insurance package they had, it could have been a 'try on' but for 3 days the costs weren't massive.

In the US it was a straight out No to car hire without a CC, I tried booking before I left and at the airport but didn't get anywhere with it.

Suggest you check with the car hire company before you leave, particularly if you were hoping to pick the car up on arrival as you may need to make alternative travel arrangements.

reclusive46

It very much depends on where your going. You won't be able to rent in the US or Italy without a credit card. Some rental companies even want two Visa/MC credit cards or one Amex (Jersey comes to mind).

Prepaid cards normally have the rental merchant category disabled. So any transaction will be declined.

zagfles

I've hired cars loads of times without a credit card, in places like Spain and Greece. But not pre-booked - just using a local car hire comapny in the resort. Last time was maybe 6 years ago, not sure if policies have changed since then.

I always try to pay cash for car hire if possible so there are no nasty surprises when you get home...

reclusive46

zagfles wrote: »

I've hired cars loads of times without a credit card, in places like Spain and Greece. But not pre-booked - just using a local car hire comapny in the resort. Last time was maybe 6 years ago, not sure if policies have changed since then.

I always try to pay cash for car hire if possible so there are no nasty surprises when you get home...

Its mainly changed because Visa and MasterCard lowered the amount rental companies can overcharge over the authorisation to 120% on their debit cards. This means they can authorise £100 for your rental but if you damaged the car they could only get £20 of that back.

This has meant rental companies need to have bigger authorisations on debit cards, better insurance or just accept credit cards. In Spain they will apparently just have a big authorisations on debit cards (So I'm told, I've never used a debit card for a rental car).

For some countries a credit card is a travel necessity. Some hotels in the US won't accept debit cards (I've had people turned away in the queue in front of me before).

vikingaero

The key is to ask at the time of booking. Most car rental places have local discretion. If you ask the manager beforehand they are far more likely to agree.

For instance: I lost my wallet, but had a debit card for a little used account. I had a car booked with Enterprise two days later. So I called them up and the manager said that they would reserve the funds on my debit card as usual but asked me to bring in one extra form of ID.

zagfles

reclusive46 wrote: »

Its mainly changed because Visa and MasterCard lowered the amount rental companies can overcharge over the authorisation to 120% on their debit cards. This means they can authorise £100 for your rental but if you damaged the car they could only get £20 of that back.

This has meant rental companies need to have bigger authorisations on debit cards, better insurance or just accept credit cards. In Spain they will apparently just have a big authorisations on debit cards (So I'm told, I've never used a debit card for a rental car).

I was talking about paying in cash, not using a debit card.

For some countries a credit card is a travel necessity. Some hotels in the US won't accept debit cards (I've had people turned away in the queue in front of me before).

It is. But I always prefer to pay for car hire in cash if possible.

reclusive46

zagfles wrote: »

I was talking about paying in cash, not using a debit card.

It is. But I always prefer to pay for car hire in cash if possible.

Oh I was aware of that. I was more referring to credit/debit cards. Paying for cash with rentals can be difficult with the major companies, although I think Hertz offer some kind of cash deposit card system but you need to have something ridiculous like 2000 dollars (or its equivalent) + the cost of the rental. I don't really have any experience with smaller companies. Most of my corporate rentals are with Hertz or Avis. I see plenty of people refused rentals for various reasons to do with them not having a credit card or the right type of debit card though.

If you have rental insurance/CDW or card coverage (Some old MasterCards have rental protection and the Amex Platinum does as well) theres not really any reason not to pay for a car rental with a card.

I think a lot people are asking for trouble not having insurance, I noticed on the bottom of my last rental that it said the replacement cost of the car would be 32000 USD, I wouldn't want to be paying that if I totalled the car!

redmalc

Last year we hired two cars in Tenerife and Lanzarote with Cicar Rentals,very good company,both rentals were pre booked online without any deposit taken.
On arrival i had to pay in cash ,no deposit taken either

da_rule

I got around this by getting a credit card, paying it off in full after hiring the car (therefore no interest) and then cancelling the card.