Car Rental on 3V credit card

rolexeagle1

I dont have a credit card and the banks wont give me one....

wondering is it possible to rent a car in Spain with one of these type of top up style credit cards?

GoodisonPark

No it's not possible.
What part of Spain are you going to ? There are some companies there that do cash rentals.

rolexeagle1

actually going to Tenerife

bazz26

I'd doubt it very much. The whole idea behind booking through a credit card is that if there is any damage or traffic fines found after the rental period has expired they can recoup the money from your credit card. A top up credit card can easily be disposed of once the balance has been used leaving the rental company in the difficult position of trying to trace you down.

bazz26

You might have better luck with a local renter accepting a refundable security cash deposit rather than through the large rental companies. Deposit could be steep though.

Stheno

You could use the likes of an o2 or moneybookers card, and they can put a hold on the money once you have it there?

3v only goes up to something like e300 though so unlikely to work

meoklmrk91

Why not go into your local PTSB or Ulster bank, open up a current account, put the money for the rental into it and then use the visa debit card to pay for it. Simples. If you don't want an extra bank account just close it when your home, though in my experience visa debit cards are a lifesaver, I wouldn't give mine up for anything!

rolexeagle1

oh ok, didnt realise they would take a visa debit!

meoklmrk91

srumball wrote: »

oh ok, didnt realise they would take a visa debit!

No reason why they wouldn't, they are accepted by everywhere that accepts visa.

rolexeagle1

Laser card was the worst idea ever!

meoklmrk91

srumball wrote: »

Laser card was the worst idea ever!

'twas grand for the time but its just fecking archaic now, the fact that AIB and BOI still aren't visa debit is amazing to me, though I know that they are currently going through the switch.

Beagslife

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

No reason why they wouldn't, they are accepted by everywhere that accepts visa.

I'm not so sure. You might be able to book the rental online with a debit card. When it comes to collecting the car however, they may need a pre-authorisation on the card, which debit cards can't do.

I got caught in Dublin airport a few years back. I was lucky that I had a trusting friend nearby, who was able to put the rental on his card. Be very careful.

On the same issue, I can't believe that with things so bad in most economies, car hire companies cannot come up with some way to allow clients rent cars without credit cards.

Stheno

Beagslife wrote: »

I'm not so sure. You might be able to book the rental online with a debit card. When it comes to collecting the car however, they may need a pre-authorisation on the card, which debit cards can't do.

I got caught in Dublin airport a few years back. I was lucky that I had a trusting friend nearby, who was able to put the rental on his card. Be very careful.

On the same issue, I can't believe that with things so bad in most economies, car hire companies cannot come up with some way to allow clients rent cars without credit cards.

I've hired cars before using visa debit and they pre-authorised and then refunded the excess.

h3000

srumball wrote: »

actually going to Tenerife

Check out this crowd http://www.cicar.com/EN they do no excess rentals and (no I could be making this up) I think they done cash rentals too. I used them and found them very good, I got a Volvo C30 in good condition.

CiniO

I've got a debit card, but it's normal Mastercard. It's not indicated anywhere on the card that it's actually not a credit card.
I always used it for renting cars without any problems.

Only details is that it's issued by foreign bank. I don't know if any of the Irish banks issues such cards.
But maybe topup Mastercards work out like that.

Stheno

CiniO wrote: »

I've got a debit card, but it's normal Mastercard. It's not indicated anywhere on the card that it's actually not a credit card.
I always used it for renting cars without any problems.

Only details is that it's issued by foreign bank. I don't know if any of the Irish banks issues such cards.
But maybe topup Mastercards work out like that.

Our Visa Debits are exactly the same they use those instead of Mastercards.

The likes of Moneybookers mastercard looks the same as a normal Mastercard.

Beagslife

Stheno wrote: »

I've hired cars before using visa debit and they pre-authorised and then refunded the excess.

Good to know. It was a while back, so maybe things are changing for the better.

Just got an AIB Visa debit card, so I might be able to try it out in the New Year.

CiniO

Stheno wrote: »

Our Visa Debits are exactly the same they use those instead of Mastercards.

The likes of Moneybookers mastercard looks the same as a normal Mastercard.

So it should easily work then I suppose.
Just to make sure there is enough limit on the card, as rental company is going to block the deposit amount.
S.o. f.e. if someone has 2000euro on the card, and goes to rent a car. Rental costs 150. And deposit is 1600. So they take 150 off the card, and block 1600. That leaves card with only 250euro available on it.
Once car is returned in appropriate condition, then deposit is unblocked so it becomes available again on the card.

Stheno

CiniO wrote: »

So it should easily work then I suppose.
Just to make sure there is enough limit on the card, as rental company is going to block the deposit amount.
S.o. f.e. if someone has 2000euro on the card, and goes to rent a car. Rental costs 150. And deposit is 1600. So they take 150 off the card, and block 1600. That leaves card with only 250euro available on it.
Once car is returned in appropriate condition, then deposit is unblocked so it becomes available again on the card.

Yep exactly it should.

A 3v card though has a max limit of 300 so it would be useless.

R.O.R

Beagslife wrote: »

I'm not so sure. You might be able to book the rental online with a debit card. When it comes to collecting the car however, they may need a pre-authorisation on the card, which debit cards can't do.

I got caught in Dublin airport a few years back. I was lucky that I had a trusting friend nearby, who was able to put the rental on his card. Be very careful.

On the same issue, I can't believe that with things so bad in most economies, car hire companies cannot come up with some way to allow clients rent cars without credit cards.

I agree with most of the post, but for the bold part, how else do you suggest a business is satisfied it can recover costs on an asset with a value of €10,000 + ?

CiniO wrote: »

So it should easily work then I suppose.
Just to make sure there is enough limit on the card, as rental company is going to block the deposit amount.
S.o. f.e. if someone has 2000euro on the card, and goes to rent a car. Rental costs 150. And deposit is 1600. So they take 150 off the card, and block 1600. That leaves card with only 250euro available on it.
Once car is returned in appropriate condition, then deposit is unblocked so it becomes available again on the card.

If there is an option for damage waiver insurance through the rental company, they might not block the deposit amount. Possibly just charge the rental cost and block the cost of a tank of fuel. With the excess waiver, they wouldn't have anything else to charge even if the car came back piece by piece (except parking/speeding fines).

Elvis_Presley

The problem about renting with a debit card is that you're likely to have all your holiday money on it. Lets say you have €2000 budget for the holiday. The rental company holds say, 1k plus the rental fee. That leaves you with very little for the rest of your holiday. So, technically you could have enough for the holiday, but instead of the case with a credit card where they hold someone else's money, they're holding yours.

CiniO

R.O.R wrote: »

I agree with most of the post, but for the bold part, how else do you suggest a business is satisfied it can recover costs on an asset with a value of €10,000 + ?



If there is an option for damage waiver insurance through the rental company, they might not block the deposit amount. Possibly just charge the rental cost and block the cost of a tank of fuel. With the excess waiver, they wouldn't have anything else to charge even if the car came back piece by piece (except parking/speeding fines).

There's always exception.
F.e. most rental companies reserve the right to recover the whole value of the car in case if the person who rented it crashed while drunk.

CiniO

Elvis_Presley wrote: »

The problem about renting with a debit card is that you're likely to have all your holiday money on it. Lets say you have €2000 budget for the holiday. The rental company holds say, 1k plus the rental fee. That leaves you with very little for the rest of your holiday. So, technically you could have enough for the holiday, but instead of the case with a credit card where they hold someone else's money, they're holding yours.

So does that mean that if they block this over 1k for deposit on your credit card, than it doesn't affect your credit card limit?

September1

CiniO wrote: »

So does that mean that if they block this over 1k for deposit on your credit card, than it doesn't affect your credit card limit?

It decreases your credit limit sometimes, but not always.

Stheno

September1 wrote: »

It decreases your credit limit sometimes, but not always.

Always has on mine whether it was hotels or other pre-authorisations.
They take the money out on hold and you can't access it until it's released back to your card.

CiniO

Stheno wrote: »

Always has on mine whether it was hotels or other pre-authorisations.
They take the money out on hold and you can't access it until it's released back to your card.

Do you mean the case of credit card?

So does that mean if you have credit card with 3000 euro limit, and you rent a car, they preauthorise 1600 for deposit, take 300 for rental - does that leave you with only 1100 usable amount on your credit card?

Because if so, then Elvis_Presley's argument is not really valid, as no matter if you use credit card or debit card, you are limited to the amount of money you have left for use for other purposes.

The problem about renting with a debit card is that you're likely to have all your holiday money on it. Lets say you have €2000 budget for the holiday. The rental company holds say, 1k plus the rental fee. That leaves you with very little for the rest of your holiday. So, technically you could have enough for the holiday, but instead of the case with a credit card where they hold someone else's money, they're holding yours.

If I wrote something wrong, correct my ignorance, as I actually never had a credit card, so I know nothing about them, except they cost 30 euro per annum in levy which is way too much IMHO

Stheno

CiniO wrote: »

Do you mean the case of credit card?

So does that mean if you have credit card with 3000 euro limit, and you rent a car, they preauthorise 1600 for deposit, take 300 for rental - does that leave you with only 1100 usable amount on your credit card?

Because if so, then Elvis_Presley's argument is not really valid, as no matter if you use credit card or debit card, you are limited to the amount of money you have left for use for other purposes.




If I wrote something wrong, correct my ignorance, as I actually never had a credit card, so I know nothing about them, except they cost 30 euro per annum in levy which is way too much IMHO

Yeah exactly that CiNio they take the amount from your credit card.

I think the point the other poster is making is that that's money you don't have in your current account unlike a debit card which is, so you can essentially borrow it from your credit card company as a deposit without having lost access to your bank account funds.

_Kaiser_

Elvis_Presley wrote: »

The problem about renting with a debit card is that you're likely to have all your holiday money on it. Lets say you have €2000 budget for the holiday. The rental company holds say, 1k plus the rental fee. That leaves you with very little for the rest of your holiday. So, technically you could have enough for the holiday, but instead of the case with a credit card where they hold someone else's money, they're holding yours.

Any time I've purchased/rented anything that requires pre-authorisation, that money is unavailable to me until released again and the usable balance dropped accordingly.

As a side note.. if someone is going to be that strapped that they mightn't be able to afford the rest of their holiday then maybe they shouldn't have gone at all? The last part of that post in particular just smacks of "whee Free Celtic Tiger era money" to me - but maybe that's just me.

bmstuff

Last time I heard of 1000 euros reserve was to rent a Ferrari
Reserve on vans and cars I have rented over the years was about 200-250 euros. Which was unblocked once the car was returned in one piece.

Stheno

bmstuff wrote: »

Last time I heard of 1000 euros reserve was to rent a Ferrari
Reserve on vans and cars I have rented over the years was about 200-250 euros. Which was unblocked once the car was returned in one piece.

Mine has usually been about €300 a week for a smallish car, now that excludes the extra insurance you take out.

If you don't take out the extra insurance, I think the excess is usually at least €1000 and they will pre-authorise that.

bmstuff

Stheno wrote: »

Mine has usually been about €300 a week for a smallish car, now that excludes the extra insurance you take out.

If you don't take out the extra insurance, I think the excess is usually at least €1000 and they will pre-authorise that.

Yeah ok that must be because I took the extra insurance.
Cheers

CiniO

Stheno wrote: »

Mine has usually been about €300 a week for a smallish car, now that excludes the extra insurance you take out.

If you don't take out the extra insurance, I think the excess is usually at least €1000 and they will pre-authorise that.

This excess seem to vary a lot.
I took once a clio from budget and excess was about 350 euro.
Next year i booked kia ceed automatic from dollar/thrifty, and excess was around 700.
When I arrived there, they said they didn't have ceed automatic, but they said they could give me a prius. I was actually very happy about that, as I wanted to see how is it to drive a prius. However excess for prius was over 1500 euro.

This year I got a i30 from other rental company, and excess was only 125 euro.


Anyway - instead of paying extra charge for full insurance to take the risk of loosing this excess off you, it's usually way cheaper to purchase insurance from the likes of carhireexcess which would refund you in case your rental car get's damage and you have to pay the excess.

Savman

Both Ulster Bank and BoI Visa Debits work fine for Car Rental, speaking from experience in various countries.

Usual policy is Expected rental fee + €200 authorisation.

Stheno

CiniO wrote: »

This excess seem to vary a lot.
I took once a clio from budget and excess was about 350 euro.
Next year i booked kia ceed automatic from dollar/thrifty, and excess was around 700.
When I arrived there, they said they didn't have ceed automatic, but they said they could give me a prius. I was actually very happy about that, as I wanted to see how is it to drive a prius. However excess for prius was over 1500 euro.

This year I got a i30 from other rental company, and excess was only 125 euro.


Anyway - instead of paying extra charge for full insurance to take the risk of loosing this excess off you, it's usually way cheaper to purchase insurance from the likes of carhireexcess which would refund you in case your rental car get's damage and you have to pay the excess.

Some companies include the additional insurance which brings down the excess in their fees iirc

CiniO

Stheno wrote: »

Some companies include the additional insurance which brings down the excess in their fees iirc

I know, but this usually costs a fortune.
From what I recall this was usually about 15 euro a day.
Probably when you are renting for one day, it might be worth it.
But if I rent a car for 10 days, and pay 200 euro, then adding extra 150euro to fully insure it with 0 excess seems to be quite expensive (nearly doubling the rental price).

ninty9er

Easiest way to find out is:

Pick up the phone, ring the call centre and ask if they will accept debit card. Some do, some don't, but none will accept o2Money 3v etc.

Not all companies pre-authorise, some actually charge the deposit and refund it.

robot7080

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

Why not go into your local PTSB or Ulster bank, open up a current account, put the money for the rental into it and then use the visa debit card to pay for it. Simples. If you don't want an extra bank account just close it when your home, though in my experience visa debit cards are a lifesaver, I wouldn't give mine up for anything!

+1

GoodisonPark

Ok if you are going to Tenerife then you can rent without a credit card.
I have used www.cabreramedina.com several times and found them quite good. Book your car online and just pay cash on arrival , no security deposit but if there is petrol in the car then you pay for that and take the car back empty.

h3000

GoodisonPark wrote: »

Ok if you are going to Tenerife then you can rent without a credit card.
I have used www.cabreramedina.com several times and found them quite good. Book your car online and just pay cash on arrival , no security deposit but if there is petrol in the car then you pay for that and take the car back empty.

I'm nearly sure they are the same crowd I linked in the first page. I'd highly recommend them too.

h3000 wrote: »

Check out this crowd http://www.cicar.com/EN they do no excess rentals and (now I could be making this up) I think they done cash rentals too. I used them and found them very good, I got a Volvo C30 in good condition.

R.O.R

ninty9er wrote: »

Easiest way to find out is:

Pick up the phone, ring the call centre and ask if they will accept debit card. Some do, some don't, but none will accept o2Money 3v etc.

Not all companies pre-authorise, some actually charge the deposit and refund it.

You really think you'll get the correct answer from the reservation sales agent in the call centre? Possibly will for 1% of the time, but the rest - forgetaboutit.

unkel

Be very careful, OP.

I paid for car rental this year in Spain with my Visa debit card. Included was full CDW, zero excess. That means if I drove away and wrote the car off against the gate on the way out, they couldn't charge me a cent for it

Still had to pay €700 deposit on top of full rental fee which was refunded when I handed the car back. The reason they gave me: the only thing my CDW would not cover was damage to the clutch...

If you have plenty of money in your current account, this is of course no problem, but if your entire holiday budget is all that's there, then your holiday would be a bit spartan