Hire Car with low deposit

MobileJim

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice.

I am going to Mallorca on 5th June 2017 and need to hire a car for 2 weeks. Not a problem doing that but I am getting stuck on the deposit, most companies are looking for a large deposit on a credit card. I only have a small available balance on my card, and that is not enough to cover the deposit which in some cases is as high as £2000, but most commonly £1000 to £1200.

There are companies that will take a lower deposit of £200 but that is at the expense of paying an extra insurance at the rental desk, this normally adds about £250 to £300 to the overall cost.

So I am looking for ideas on how to minimise the deposit required on the credit card but at a reasonable cost. I don't mind trying to find this myself but it takes so long to trawl through all the companies and comparison sites, and they hide the details about the deposit away in the small print, and sometimes you can only access it on the booking page.

Thanks
Jim

richardw

Hire a car from a local company who has older less perfect cars.

MobileJim

Hi Richardw,

Thanks for the quick reply, I'd love to do that, but I haven't found a single company on the interwebs that offers older less perfect cars. Can you recommend any? I'd love to get an old beat up Jeep, I had one of those in Greece the last time I was there, it was fantastic.

Thanks
Jim

richardw

Some ideas on trip advisor

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187463-i183-k10281751-Car_rental_Palma_Mallorca_Alquiler_de_coche_en_Palma-Palma_de_Mallorca_Majorca_Balearic_Isl.html

MobileJim

Hi Richardw,

Thanks for that, a lot of good information. However nothing really about companies hiring older cars or at least if they are their prices don't reflect it.

Thanks anyway

Jim

richardw

There are local car hire companies mentioned, did you google for their websites and then see what the deposits were?

TripAdvisor forums have a lot of good information and they're searchable, have a good search and see what you can find.

Avoid goldcar and their ilk.

WAYT

Try

https://
avis.co.uk/drive-avis/car-hire-extras/pre-authorisation

in the first instance. £200 pre-authorisation.

Otherwise

https://
carhiremarket-mobile.carhire-solutions.com

will show you some options with a 150€ deposit.

Of course it is also dependent on how much you expect to pay.

peachyprice

+ 1 for Avis. You'll get a decent car and only £200 deposit.

richardw

This avis £200 pre-authorisation is to cover them incase of extra days or fuel, it doesn't seem to be a £200 insurance excess.

WAYT

richardw wrote: »

This avis £200 pre-authorisation is to cover them incase of extra days or fuel, it doesn't seem to be a £200 insurance excess.

Are you just guessing?

No one stated it was an excess. AVIS just take a smaller pre-authorisation than others.

peachyprice

richardw wrote: »

This avis £200 pre-authorisation is to cover them incase of extra days or fuel, it doesn't seem to be a £200 insurance excess.

OP wasn't asking about insurance excess, he was asking about a deposit taken on his credit card. With Avis it's not dependent on taking out extra excess insurance.