Car rental with a visa debit card ?

OU812

Just a quick thought that occurred to me. I don't have a credit card. Got rid of it a while back with no immediate need for one.

HOWEVER... I'm possibly going to be going to & from a couple of times in the next year & will need to rent a car.

Is it possible with a visa debit card ?

darragh o meara

I've not tried the US yet but I've used one to rent in Europe with no problems. They usually put a hold on a sum of money which provided you have it, then you should be fine.

DaisyD2

afaik they only take Credit Card. I hired car in Florida last year & they insisted on credit card, luckily another member of party had one so they had to go on as named driver! It was Prepaid Avis hire with max insurance but they still insist on copy of credit card (presumably in case of theft).

InTheTrees

Unfortunately its a state by state thing. And there is a lot of discretion available too because I was refused in Minneapolis (not at the airport), but then they had pity and called my place of work, insurance company and then finally rented to me.

Definitely not to be relied on.

So if you're going to be renting at all, get a cc card. Pay off the balance each month and it doesnt cost too much.

ProudDUB

Yes, you will need a credit card.

Avis and Hertz will rent to debit card holders, but they do a credit check on you before hand. As a person visiting from Ireland will not have a social security number, they can not run the credit check on you, so they won't rent a car to you. As far as a I know, Enterprise are the only large car hire firm who take a debit card & who don't run a credit check first.

However, to rent a car with Enterprise using my debit card, I had to have a US drivers license with a US address, two proofs of my US address (such as a utility bill or bank statement) and two personal references. The references were not a party to the car rental, but they were used to vouch for me being who I said I was. I was still living in the US at the times, so coming up with all of that was a problem for me. It would be for an Irish person that was just visiting the US. That was 18 months ago, so they may have changed their policy since then.

wardy2

I'd rented a car from Alamo in Orlando only problems I had my cc was max out so the guy told me to head back to the their head office in the airport..

So at the airport I manage to rent a car only have to leave an deposit of $300 ,which I'd got back they even upgrade me to a full size car for free

iusedtoknow

I don't think it is worth the hassle - we tried to rent a car in CA with a debit card once, not only was it refused but our european bank blocked our card for the rest of the holiday. Fortunately my company were ok with me putting it on my work credit card but we would have been stuck.

Get a credit card, it'll make life a lot less hassle here for renting/deposits on services and hotels.

Bannerman7

The following is from Alamo under Debit Card policy on
https://www.alamo.com/en_US/car-rental/reservation/startReservation.html


Debit Card Policy

Debit/check cards are considered to be any non-credit card bearing the VISA, MasterCard or Discover Card logo. Any other non-credit card without one of these logos is not accepted. Please review the following guidelines:

· For pick-ups in the United States, without proof of round-trip ticket, debit or check cards are accepted only when returning the vehicle. A credit card in the name of the renter must be presented at the time of pick-up.

· Puerto Rico, a credit card in the name of the renter must be presented at the time of pick-up. Debit/check cards are accepted only for payment at time of return.

clairefontaine

It depends on the branch too. Budget will in some locations.
http://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/html/en/deals/prepaybeatscompetition.html

Budget Welcomes Your Debit Card.
Want to use your debit card to prepay your rental? Budget lets you use a debit card to pay toward your rental online. Alamo and Hertz don’t.

Many Budget locations are also happy to accept a debit card for your rental hold. Whenever renters pick up vehicles, all rental car companies (including Budget) must place a hold on a debit or credit card to cover the estimated cost of the rental. For Budget locations that allow a debit card to be used for this hold, the hold amount is usually $400-500 if you have not prepaid. However, if you prepay your rental on budget.com, the debit hold is reduced to just $100. While these funds are held, they are not available to you to spend. And since your bank may take up to two weeks to release hold funds after your rental is complete, paying online for your rental makes sense when you use a debit card for your transaction.

ProudDUB

I'd be curious to know if Budgets debit card policy only applies to renters presenting with a US name & address & US drivers license, or if they let over seas renters do it too.