carhire and prepaid mastercards

msampson

hope someone can help me as i am after some info on prepaid mastercards and which cards you can use for car hire in the uk only?
i was told that the cashplus gold card does but does anybody know any others as i cant seem to find any more?
also do they charge any extra fees and charges and how much do they charge for the authorisation of these kind of transactions?

thanks for any help any one can give me,

bakerfa

Hi

I'm about to use mine (hopefully!) in Spain for car hire on 18th March. You have to get them to authorise car hire, you have to have it activated for at least a month (that's why "hopefully" - mine will be 4 days shy when I beg!), you should have a reasonable amount of money on it when you ask.

(I've got a prime card as back up and their call centre says car hire is fine if you've got enough money on it - they don't have to do anything to get you ready for it, https://www.idtprime.com).

Will wait & see which one gets accepted when I get there!

pmcgurk

Guys: You do know that these cards are a complete rip-off, both for transaction fees and especially for use abroad?

Cards from Nationwide are far better value. I understand there may be reasons for your wanting/having a prepaid mastercard...

Also be warned - car hire companies typically authorise a HUGE amount from your card, far more than the cost of the hire, but only actually debit the hire cost. For example, a hire costing £200 may result in an authorisation request for £1200, so that they have some cover if you don't bring the car back, or bring it back wrecked.

Also, make sure you buy your top-up insurance before you go; www.insurance4carhire.com through quidco.com is the way to go.

bakerfa

Right: Even though I was supposed to have the card for a month before I went they still agreed to bend the rules a tiny bit and authorise the car hire anyway.

I KNOW Nationwide are better value but unfortunately I'm in a debt management plan and only have a basic Nationwide cash card; no Switch, Solo, Electron or any other credit card.

Actually Prime card was okay as a cash card while I was away. Cashplus WERE horrendously expensive for withdrawing cash so will only ever use it for purchases in future.

I had already paid the car hire in advance as I always do but the Spanish car hire cos don't take debit cards anyway. They insist on credit cards, although they didn't realise that my cashplus wasn't and took it anyway. The car hire co had 2 options for insurance; either a swipe of the card face in case of accident/etc. which could have taken 300/600 euros off me or secondly a 3,85 euros charge each day which is what I went for which covered every type of accident including windscreen & tyres...

Never seen the top up insurance - will go & check it out thanks!

calibrax

pmcgurk wrote: »

car hire companies typically authorise a HUGE amount from your card, far more than the cost of the hire, but only actually debit the hire cost. For example, a hire costing £200 may result in an authorisation request for £1200, so that they have some cover if you don't bring the car back, or bring it back wrecked.

Most car hire companies have an optional full waiver insurance (something like £6 a day in the UK) so that no matter what happens you don't pay anything for the repairs/loss. When I'm hiring a car for a just a few days I usually take this option for peace of mind. The bonus is that they only authorise the cost of rental plus the insurance on your card.