Vehicle Hire queries

10-01-2020 6:57pm

CelticRambler wrote: »

Well I regularly take payment by card from members of the public in France, and it's a rare day that I see a credit card presented, so I'm sorry to say that the two biggest economies in Europe are not exceptional. :P

See above. It took two months to get a credit card, which was 6 weeks too late to be useful; it took 2 minutes to sort out an alternative deposit.

so you didn't apply for a credit card in time? that proves nothing in relation to using it for rental!

Quackster · 10-01-2020 6:59pm

For those interested in car rental without a credit card, I would suggest getting a Curve card. It's basically a proxy debit card that you use instead of your regular cards (it passes each transaction on to your selected underlying card in real time, performing any required currency conversion in the process).

It has a specific feature where it detects car-rental or hotel deposits and doesn't pass them on (essentially acting like a credit card in these cases) so you don't end up with a hold on a chunk of funds in your current account for a period of time.

Also, on the specific case of the Canaries, avoid the majors. Autoreisen and Cicar are where it's at. No payment on reservation. Pay on collection by credit/debit card or cash. Most importantly, just one all-inclusive charge. No extra insurances required and ZERO excess.

wonski · 10-01-2020 7:03pm

Will give you a better example of why credit card is better for rentals - yacht charter in Croatia, Europe. If you pay deposit with debit card they can charge full amount and then refund it. Between currency conversion and charge and getting money back in your account you can be down several hundreds.

Use a credit card and they block it and release.

No charges. Most would get it refunded through their bank if they feel they can, but why bother.

Makes things easier for you long term.

If the op still doesn't want it there were many helpful posts explaining the costs.

If the op can't get one because he is here not long enough or whatever, been there done that, you can still rent a car but it is gonna be more expensive in most locations. Not all as some don't care. Never been to Malta so not sure what their rules are.

H8GHOTI · 10-01-2020 10:41pm

On rentalcars.com, after you put in your location & dates, if you click on “rental terms” it’ll show the deposit amount and whether a debit card is accepted or not for each of the available cars.
There’s also a filter so you can choose to include only companies that allow debit cards in your results.

Dodge · 11-01-2020 12:47pm

wonski wrote: »

Will give you a better example of why credit card is better for rentals - yacht charter in Croatia, Europe.

OP asked how he can rent a car without a credit card and you use yacht rentals with a credit card? Ha ha

He didn’t ask ‘what’s the best way...’

He asked how was it possible. And he’s been told some companies that accept debit cards

The rest of the stuff trying to tell him how to manage his own financial affairs is just waffle

Yacht rentals. Ha

yellow hen · 11-01-2020 1:57pm

I put my hands up, car hire is defeating me right now. I don't have a credit card but I do have a debit card which I can ensure is happily in debit for the purposes of car hire. So, i just found an ok deal with the following small print:

Excess
The car has a damage excess of EUR 1800.0 (Includes tax) and a theft excess of EUR 2300.0 (Includes tax). Please ensure that you have the excess amount available on your card when you pick up the car.

Deposit
The supplier will require a deposit amount of EUR 800.0 at pick-up. It is a guarantee held on the credit card in the event of damage or theft of the vehicle. It will be automatically released if there is no damage or theft during the rental period.

So does that mean, I need to be able to take 1800+2300+800 to my card which is all completely refundable? Is this a crazy amount of money?

Dodge · 11-01-2020 2:05pm

Yes. Look at other companies.

For all the people who’ll say ‘get a credit card!’, the majority of people would not have that credit available with their first card so that won’t be helpful

yellow hen · 11-01-2020 2:08pm

Dodge wrote: »

Yes. Look at other companies.

For all the people who’ll say ‘get a credit card!’, the majority of people would not have that credit available with their first card so that won’t be helpful

Thanks Dodge. So what is the norm? Just the damage excess? Is the theft excess and deposit not standard?

mickdw · 11-01-2020 2:16pm

yellow hen wrote: »

I put my hands up, car hire is defeating me right now. I don't have a credit card but I do have a debit card which I can ensure is happily in debit for the purposes of car hire. So, i just found an ok deal with the following small print:

Excess
The car has a damage excess of EUR 1800.0 (Includes tax) and a theft excess of EUR 2300.0 (Includes tax). Please ensure that you have the excess amount available on your card when you pick up the car.

Deposit
The supplier will require a deposit amount of EUR 800.0 at pick-up. It is a guarantee held on the credit card in the event of damage or theft of the vehicle. It will be automatically released if there is no damage or theft during the rental period.

So does that mean, I need to be able to take 1800+2300+800 to my card which is all completely refundable? Is this a crazy amount of money?

2300 is for theft so that should cover worst case scenario. If they attempt to charge the damage excess as well as theft excess, well that it just taking the piss.

11-01-2020 2:19pm

Mr.S wrote: »

Yes that's what they are saying, and the main reason why it's a pain to rent on debit :pac:

Try Sixt.com - they are debit friendly but I think you are limited to basic cars.

Worth trying what the above poster said as well using Curve seems to be anice solution if you really don't want to get a credit card. (https://support.imaginecurve.com/hc/en-gb/articles/115005776885-Can-I-use-Curve-to-pay-a-hotel-or-rental-deposit-?mobile_site=false)

If you have a decent credit report and secure employment with an average salary, there is no why reason why the bank won't approve a credit limit of a couple of thousand. Common sense applies here, just ask the bank for a higher limit.

exactly. you'd easily get enough of a limit for the purposes of rental.

the whole argument here is that it's just way more hassle (and probably cost) not having a credit card when you're renting a car as is borne out from people's experiences.

yellow hen · 11-01-2020 2:24pm

I'm on a career break so we're a one income family. Credit card really isn't an option.
Currently chatting online to indigo to see what companies we can use. Thought this was an odd question about my debit card:

Cherie - Are the numbers on the card embossed or flat?
You — Embossed

TimeToShine · 11-01-2020 2:34pm

It's fine being 25 chancing your arm with debit cards but if you want to be an adult and regularly rent cars/ stay in hotels hassle free the 30 a year for a credit card is a no brainer. You'll end up getting one down the line anyway so just be smart with it and don't treat it as free money.

Caranica · 11-01-2020 2:54pm

yellow hen wrote: »

Currently chatting online to indigo to see what companies we can use. Thought this was an odd question about my debit card:

Cherie - Are the numbers on the card embossed or flat?
You — Embossed

Prepay cards like Revolut are flat. Bank issued cards are embossed. Probably thinking more likely to get money from you with a bank issued card

yellow hen · 11-01-2020 2:59pm

So after a very long online chat with Indigo, I have a quote for a ford focus or similar (collecting/returning from different places) in peak summer for €367. Excess is €1000 and deposit is €300. And I can use my debit card. They can't tell me the name of rental company now but have assured it's one of large multinationals. Pretty happy with this. She's emailing me details of quote now. Thank you to BoxcarWilly for the recommendation.

Quackster · 11-01-2020 4:38pm

yellow hen wrote: »

I put my hands up, car hire is defeating me right now. I don't have a credit card but I do have a debit card which I can ensure is happily in debit for the purposes of car hire. So, i just found an ok deal with the following small print:

Excess
The car has a damage excess of EUR 1800.0 (Includes tax) and a theft excess of EUR 2300.0 (Includes tax). Please ensure that you have the excess amount available on your card when you pick up the car.

Deposit
The supplier will require a deposit amount of EUR 800.0 at pick-up. It is a guarantee held on the credit card in the event of damage or theft of the vehicle. It will be automatically released if there is no damage or theft during the rental period.

So does that mean, I need to be able to take 1800+2300+800 to my card which is all completely refundable? Is this a crazy amount of money?

Potentially, yes. Which is why if you're going down the debit card route, seriously consider getting a Curve card to avoid having to have that sum available.

yellow hen · 11-01-2020 4:39pm

I'm getting it booked without the credit card so no need to go down that road.

Quackster · 11-01-2020 4:47pm

Caranica wrote: »

Prepay cards like Revolut are flat. Bank issued cards are embossed. Probably thinking more likely to get money from you with a bank issued card

No, Revolut uses embossed numbers. It's only relevant in the rare circumstance that a transaction has to be put through on those old-fashioned slider gizmos that make an image of your embossed card on carbon paper which you then sign.

Quackster · 11-01-2020 4:51pm

yellow hen wrote: »

I'm getting it booked without the credit card so no need to go down that road.

Still, check out Curve for future reference. It works with your debit card but means avoiding having a deposit taken from your current account's available funds. And there's no credit check required.

coylemj · 11-01-2020 5:31pm

Quackster wrote: »

No, Revolut uses embossed numbers. It's only relevant in the rare circumstance that a transaction has to be put through on those old-fashioned slider gizmos that make an image of your embossed card on carbon paper which you then sign.

Surely no payment processing company accepts that format any more? There is no authorisation possible, unless the retailer phones the credit card company before accepting it. And even then, it bypasses the security of the PIN - the card could have been picked from somebody's pocket a few minutes earlier and not yet reported as lost or stolen. Which is the whole point of chip & pin.

They probably still emboss the numbers as it makes them resistant to fading or being wiped or smudged by wear.

Boxcar_Willie · 11-01-2020 5:57pm

yellow hen wrote: »

So after a very long online chat with Indigo, I have a quote for a ford focus or similar (collecting/returning from different places) in peak summer for €367. Excess is €1000 and deposit is €300. And I can use my debit card. They can't tell me the name of rental company now but have assured it's one of large multinationals. Pretty happy with this. She's emailing me details of quote now. Thank you to BoxcarWilly for the recommendation.

I'd also look at reducing the excess .
Can be done cheaply on http://carhireexcess.ie

By purchasing your own excess cover it eliminates the excess so no matter what the damage/loss it won't cost you anything. You don't have to take it and they will try to upsell it on pickup , it's much much cheaper to buy your own for complete peace of mind .

Quackster · 11-01-2020 6:50pm

coylemj wrote: »

Surely no payment processing company accepts that format any more? There is no authorisation possible, unless the retailer phones the credit card company before accepting it. And even then, it bypasses the security of the PIN - the card could have been picked from somebody's pocket a few minutes earlier and not yet reported as lost or stolen. Which is the whole point of chip & pin.

They probably still emboss the numbers as it makes them resistant to fading or being wiped or smudged by wear.

Yep, they're still in use, mainly as a fallback option in the event of power-failure etc. There is obviously a greater risk which a business must carry if they choose to accept manual transactions and payment processors generally have higher fees for processing such transactions.

Generally speaking, a card will have non-embossed details if it doesn't support offline transactions.

12-01-2020 12:19am

another situation that you may be put in using a debit card is effectively being forced to buy the rental company excess insurance.

Boxcar_Willie · 12-01-2020 11:44am

glasso wrote: »

another situation that you may be put in using a debit card is effectively being forced to buy the rental company excess insurance.

I've rented on a debit card with Indigo many times , almost always an Enterprise car , and they had no issues accepting my own excess cover .

They do try to upsell , but when told that I had my own cover they accepted that.

coylemj · 12-01-2020 4:15pm

Boxcar_Willie wrote: »

I've rented on a debit card with Indigo many times , almost always an Enterprise car , and they had no issues accepting my own excess cover .

They do try to upsell , but when told that I had my own cover they accepted that.

I've had the same experience with Hertz and Europcar over the years - no hassle at all when I declined their insurance.

But there have been lots of instances reported in other threads about car rental where the cowboys make up all sorts of lies stories about why your excess policy won't cover their car.

In the most extreme cases (it does happen), they simply refuse to hand over the keys until you buy their insurance. It's the classic 'bait and switch' tactic - they snare the unsuspecting with rock-bottom rates quoted on their website, then they screw them when they get to the rental desk.

yellow hen · 14-01-2020 11:19am

Boxcar_Willie wrote: »

I'd also look at reducing the excess .
Can be done cheaply on http://carhireexcess.ie

By purchasing your own excess cover it eliminates the excess so no matter what the damage/loss it won't cost you anything. You don't have to take it and they will try to upsell it on pickup , it's much much cheaper to buy your own for complete peace of mind .

Thanks for this, I just looked it up for a single trip and I think it was ~€30. I don't understand how exactly do you know what the hire company charge?So, for example, they charge €1000 to my card for the duration of my rental but how much do they actually charge as non-refundable?

coylemj · 14-01-2020 1:26pm

yellow hen wrote: »

Thanks for this, I just looked it up for a single trip and I think it was ~€30. I don't understand how exactly do you know what the hire company charge?So, for example, they charge €1000 to my card for the duration of my rental but how much do they actually charge as non-refundable?

It varies, depending on the rental company and the car you're renting. The 'excess' as quoted is what matters, an AIG excess policy will cover you for up to €4,000 per rental. So as long as the excess doesn't exceed 4K, you're fully covered and can decline the rental company's insurance.

Some companies may not take the full excess as a charge. I rented from Europcar last year in Lanzarote, the excess on an Opel Corsa was €870 but they only held €300 on my credit card. Had I severely damaged the car, they would have charged me the full €870 which I would have claimed back from AIG.

redcup342 · 14-01-2020 1:37pm

Mr.S wrote: »

I'd try Curve if I was you, no personal experience using it but it seems to work fine for a lot of people and will appear as a credit card to the car rental place when in reality, it's a pre-paid debit.

Plus, then you wouldn't need to reserve hundreds / thousands on your debit in holding charges.

My Credit Card is Flat and doesn't have raised numbers on it .

Don't think it's a be all and end all indicator.

Boxcar_Willie · 14-01-2020 3:15pm

yellow hen wrote: »

Thanks for this, I just looked it up for a single trip and I think it was ~€30. I don't understand how exactly do you know what the hire company charge?So, for example, they charge €1000 to my card for the duration of my rental but how much do they actually charge as non-refundable?

yellow hen - when you pick up the car you will be charged the rate quoted in your booking and the amount of deposit quoted .
On returning the car your card will be refunded the deposit , provided its refilled with fuel to the same level that was on the gauge and rental agreement that you took the car out on ( they'll give you the transaction receipt ) and the deposit will be back on your card in a day or two.

They will offer to sell you CDW ( collision damage waiver ) on pick-up , which will indemnify you against any excess whatsoever . It's a lot cheaper to purchase your own , and with that you have no liability whatsoever for any damage to the vehicle . ie it underwrites the excess . Just print off and bring with you .

coylemj · 14-01-2020 3:39pm

Boxcar_Willie wrote: »

They will offer to sell you CDW ( collision damage waiver ) on pick-up , which will indemnify you against any excess whatsoever . It's a lot cheaper to purchase your own , and with that you have no liability whatsoever for any damage to the vehicle . ie it underwrites the excess . Just print off and bring with you .

There is no point in printing off the excess policy details. The purpose of offering you insurance at the rental desk is for them to make lots of commission, they don't care about damage to the car. If you decline their insurance, they're still covered by your deposit.

If there's damage to the car, you pay the rental company (up to the excess) and claim it back from your excess insurance. So the rental company has no direct dealing with your excess policy.

If you decline their insurance, they will not ask you to prove that you have excess insurance. Unless you're dealing with the cowboys, in which case even if they look at your paperwork, they will claim that it doesn't cover this car and you must buy their insurance.

redcup342 · 14-01-2020 5:09pm

Just thought I'd drop this in here as I haven't heard of someone having to do a claim with excess insurance

https://www.insurance4carhire.com/

Was driving a rental in Sri Lanka and came back, had a few dents and scratches and sent off the relevant bits to the the crowd above (I have the worldwide policy)

They paid out in 10 days and also even paid for the exchange fees on my credit card.

Was a bit skeptical but the whole process was pretty smooth

** Vehicle Hire queries **

Comments

Vehicle Hire queries