Hire Car with low deposit

peachyprice

eDicky wrote: »

So the Avis CDW excess is never more than £200?

That is not what I said and that is not what the OP is asking about.

A deposit and CDW are two different things.

Avis DO NOT ringfence the excess amount on your credit card, Avis DO NOT require you have a balance on your credit/debit card equivalent of the excess.

You can either take the rental without CDW cover or you can pay an additional amount for CDW cover, either way Avis will still only ringfence £200, they WILL NOT ringfence £1000+ excess, which is what OP is trying to avoid.

PeacefulWaters

peachyprice wrote: »

That is not what I said and that is not what the OP is asking about.

A deposit and CDW are two different things.

Avis DO NOT ringfence the excess amount on your credit card, Avis DO NOT require you have a balance on your credit/debit card equivalent of the excess.

You can either take the rental without CDW cover or you can pay an additional amount for CDW cover, either way Avis will still only ringfence £200, they WILL NOT ringfence £1000+ excess, which is what OP is trying to avoid.

Make sure it's booked in that way then. My last half a dozen Avis hires have had €1,000 ring fenced.

peachyprice

MobileJim wrote: »

Hi all,

You guys seem to be talking at cross purposes, as I understand it with Avis when I hire the car I will have a pre-authorisation of £200 on my card. However if I prang the car (or scratch etc) I could be charged up to the insurance excess and I guess if the card can't handle that I would be invoiced for it.

My issue is getting a car that I don't need to pay a huge deposit (pre-auth, etc) on my card, as it just doesn't have the capacity (it has a small limit in the first place and it also has a balance).

Yes, that's right, and what eDicky can't understand. As you've found, most car hire companies take the excess as a deposit, Avis don't.

So far i'm looking at Avis, a compact car (Fiat 500) @ £368.28 + £200 pre-aut
or
Hiper for a Fiat Panda @ £170.50 + no deposit as far as I can tell (I have asked for confirmation of this.) I had originally dismissed Hiper as they are not on the Airport and I would need a shuttle bus. As I understand it Hiper's price includes their extra insurance.

The rest seem to be really cheap (£35 ish) with big deposits, or expensive (£450ish) with low/no deposit as the extra insurance is bundled in.

Hopefully it works out OK with Hiper as it seems like a good deal.

Many Thanks
Jim

Just make sure you get it confirmed in writing that Hiper don't take a deposit or that they're not just a broker for other companies who might. Seems like a good deal otherwise.

peachyprice

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Make sure it's booked in that way then. My last half a dozen Avis hires have had €1,000 ring fenced.

Mine haven't. I use a separate bank account for business travel expenses, there's only ever a small balance on it, usually just enough to cover the £200 and some incidentals. Never been a problem. Never use a credit card either.

WAYT

MobileJim wrote: »

Hi all,

You guys seem to be talking at cross purposes, as I understand it with Avis when I hire the car I will have a pre-authorisation of £200 on my card. However if I prang the car (or scratch etc) I could be charged up to the insurance excess and I guess if the card can't handle that I would be invoiced for it.

My issue is getting a car that I don't need to pay a huge deposit (pre-auth, etc) on my card, as it just doesn't have the capacity (it has a small limit in the first place and it also has a balance).

So far i'm looking at Avis, a compact car (Fiat 500) @ £368.28 + £200 pre-aut
or
Hiper for a Fiat Panda @ £170.50 + no deposit as far as I can tell (I have asked for confirmation of this.) I had originally dismissed Hiper as they are not on the Airport and I would need a shuttle bus. As I understand it Hiper's price includes their extra insurance.

The rest seem to be really cheap (£35 ish) with big deposits, or expensive (£450ish) with low/no deposit as the extra insurance is bundled in.

Hopefully it works out OK with Hiper as it seems like a good deal.

Many Thanks
Jim

Bank on there being some kind of deposit with Hiper or OK, perhaps 150€.
I would also buy standalone car hire excess insurance, regardless of what is written and not depend on full/full actually meaning full/full in the way that we understand.

It might all be fine, but I always prefer to use one of the major names. I can only imagine the hassle of getting a final invoice from smaller companies based in Spain.

On the other hand, you can take a rental for which you can pay in cash; http://
euromaxcars.com

eDicky

peachyprice wrote: »

Avis DO NOT ringfence the excess amount on your credit card, Avis DO NOT require you have a balance on your credit/debit card equivalent of the excess.

I understand very well what you have been saying, and I have no reason to doubt that in your case at least it's true.

I also understand what the OP's objective is, and the difference between CDW, CDW excess, and the usual requirement of a deposit or card preauthorisation to cover that excess.

What's not clear to me is why Avis don't have that kind of requirement, in your case at least, but in others' experience they do have it. How do they secure any damage excess charge scenario? Perhaps in your case, as a regular and trusted customer they don't feel the need, which would not apply to a first time hirer such as the OP?

As I say, I'm not doubting you, but to clarify this may be useful to many.

peachyprice

I'm not sure why the do it, but it's not just me, it's standard policy, google it if you want clarification, it's a widely discussed fact. I think they may do a credit check when you first hire, maybe if you don't pass that they then take a larger deposit. But the £1000 quoted above is the exception not the norm.

And it's not just because I am a regular customer, it's always been the same from my very first hire, I have never, ever, paid more than £200, anywhere.

If it were that I was a loyal customer then Peacefulwaters, having hired at least half a dozen cars would be the same. In fact if I were Peacefulwaters I'd want to know why I was being charged a higher security deposit than their stated policy.


From the horses mouth
https://www.avis.co.uk/drive-avis/car-hire-extras/pre-authorisation

PeacefulWaters

peachyprice wrote: »

I'm not sure why the do it, but it's not just me, it's standard policy, google it if you want clarification, it's a widely discussed fact. I think they may do a credit check when you first hire, maybe if you don't pass that they then take a larger deposit. But the £1000 quoted above is the exception not the norm.

And it's not just because I am a regular customer, it's always been the same from my very first hire, I have never, ever, paid more than £200, anywhere.

If it were that I was a loyal customer then Peacefulwaters, having hired at least half a dozen cars would be the same. In fact if I were Peacefulwaters I'd want to know why I was being charged a higher security deposit than their stated policy.


From the horses mouth
https://www.avis.co.uk/drive-avis/car-hire-extras/pre-authorisation

I wonder if it's because I tend to book via BA?

peachyprice

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

I wonder if it's because I tend to book via BA?

Maybe, that would make sense, I always go direct and give them my driving licence/address info at the time of booking.

PeacefulWaters

peachyprice wrote: »

Maybe, that would make sense, I always go direct and give them my driving licence/address info at the time of booking.

Worth signing up for Avis Preferrd if you haven't already.

Excellent for queue jumping!