Car Hire In Spain - No Credit Card - Help!!

woml · 2 May 2007 at 10:03AM

Hi there - does anyone out there know of any hire car companies at Valencia Airport that accept a VISA DEBIT card as the security deposit. We have no credit card and everwhere seems to need one.

Any help would be extremely gratefully received!

Many thanks.

cooder · 2 May 2007 at 10:06AM

I often hire cars abroad and use my visa debit card, never had aproblem yet!

skirt · 2 May 2007 at 12:59PM

We couldnt find one to hire at Murcia either - we dont have credit, just debit cards.

GlennTheBaker · 2 May 2007 at 3:05PM

I can't see why using a VISA debit card would cause any problems. On the outside it is, after all, just a card carrying the VISA symbol - how it works 'behind the scenes' is surely irrelevent.

LesD · 2 May 2007 at 6:37PM

woml wrote: »

Hi there - does anyone out there know of any hire car companies at Valencia Airport that accept a VISA DEBIT card as the security deposit.

Surely using a DEBIT card as a DEPOSIT would mean the cash being taken from your account there-and-then? Is that what you would want?

woml · 3 May 2007 at 7:35AM

Thanks everyone. I know, it seems daft them not accepting a debit card as security, but apparently it's because if you have a credit card, it means you have 'ticked the right boxes' ie you are a responsible person less likely to do a runner!!!! Don't jump down my throat, they're not my words, that was what a hire car company employee told me when I queried it!

Anyway, I did finally manage to track down a company that will accept debit cards upon collection. They are Sol-Mar (in Spain) but you HAVE to book through valuerentalcars.com and put a note on the addition info box that you only have a debit card, not a CREDIT card.

Of course, it actually remains to be seen if we turn up at Valencia with 2 kids in tow, and only a debit card, if they do actually hand over the car, but I will post and let you know. I'll also post a separately if it works, because I imagine there are loads of people out there in a similar position.

Thanks again.

LB1985 · 3 May 2007 at 11:21AM

My family have hired cars in the past and my parents have never had a credit card. I think the company took an 'imprint' of the Visa debit card and 'blocked' a certain amount of the funds available. This was booked through Holiday Autos (I think!)

woml · 15 June 2007 at 7:09PM

I promised to let you know how I got on hiring a car in spain without a credit card.

Well, yes, it did work, with Sol-mar with no problems. Hooray!!!!

Just to reiterate though, you have to book through valuerentalcars.com and specifically tell them you will only have a DEBIT card upon collection of the vehicle.

Hope this helps some of you out there!

karlsp · 20 June 2007 at 12:13PM

Im having the same trouble.....

but www.valuerentalcars.com just takes me to a search portal

any ideas.... i am currently trying Sol-mar as it says you can pre pay, and not have to make a credit card deposit, so heres hoping.

Heres what Sol-Mar small print says..... but it could mean that there is no credit card deposit against vehicle damage, but there could be a deposit required for something else

"
All Sol-Mar car rental insurances with NO excess value!
Our Sol-Mar car rental rates are inclusive of all required Sol-Mar car rental vehicle insurances like 3rd party responsibility, CDW (Collision Damage Waiver), TW (Theft Waiver) and Bail Bond (where applicable) at Granada Airport and have no Sol-Mar car rental insurance excess, this means that there is no credit card deposit on arrival at Granada Airport against damage to the Sol-Mar car rental vehicle's bodywork and in the event of bodywork damage to the Sol-Mar car rental vehicle (like dented panels, broken wing mirrors etc, not : tyres glass wheels etc see below) there is no renter responsibility."

woml · 23 June 2007 at 9:16AM

Hi Karlsp - I'm so sorry, that should have been valuecarrentals.com! I got them through travelsupermarket.com and went to the travel section and then hire car. The only extras we paid for to Sol-mar when we were in Spain was some extra insurance to cover tyres, wheels and glass and for a booster seat for our youngest, and we paid for these on our debit card.

Be careful when you're looking around though as even companies that say you don't need to actually pay a deposit, still require a credit card, not a debit card when you pick the car up though, as security and ID. You'll need to look carefully in the small print of their terms and conditions.

Hope that helps.

Nicky

Bromheads_Wallet · 15 July 2007 at 1:58PM

Hello,
After a week and a half of trying to sort out a similar problem, I thought of looking here. I am at the end of my tether, having booked the holiday and flights and realising that I can't get a hire car! The holiday is completely reliant on getting a car due to the location.
I have contacted all of the major firms, all responding with 'no credit card, no car' Hopefully this post will save me having to drive to Spain in order to get our holiday. The reasons for the credit card requirement is quoted 'people have hired cars for a few days and not returned them at all in the past so the policy is to have the card details as security' I find this a difficult statement to believe as the rise in credit card fraud would surely offer no deterrant to criminals wishing to steal cars.
My situation differs slightly from Woml's in the fact that I only have a Maestro debit card, which apparently is thought of less by these companies than the Visa debit card. I felt compelled to post as this could possibly help anyone faced with this horrible situation. I still can't believe it is happening to us after a bad year we just needed a break and this is causing a lot of stress.
I have contacted SolMar, (left a message, but will call again tomorrow) and let you know how I get on. If any of you know of any alternatives I would be grateful for a reply.

Thanks, BW

Car Hire In Spain - No Credit Card - Help!!

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