Timeline for Renting car without owning credit card
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Mar 25, 2016 at 8:28 | comment | added | Peter Taylor | Note that sometimes the repayment to debit card can take two or three weeks, so you need to be confident that in that case you wouldn't have problems paying the rent. | |
| Mar 23, 2016 at 11:50 | comment | added | JBentley | @gerrit I can't speak for Vanquis specifically, but in my experience most card issuers "do not permit it" but in practice if you overpay them, they will apply it as a positive balance instead of returning the money. I've checked/done this with at least 5 issuers. One that I spoke to told me that the reason they have to say they don't permit it is to prevent money laundering, but don't mind if it's a one-off. Obviously your mileage may vary, so I won't incorporate this as part of my answer. I can say however that for me it's never been a problem, and I have overpaid by as much as £30k before. | |
| Mar 23, 2016 at 11:47 | comment | added | gerrit | @JBentley I don't know if most credit cards do not prevent over-paying, but Vanquis (who issue my credit card) do not permit it. So I have a somewhat different problem to the OP: I have a debit card and a credit card. I intend to pay with the debit card, but my credit card limit may be too little for the deposit. I was told I could do the deposit with my debit card too, so I hope it's true. I'll know soon enough. | |
| Mar 23, 2016 at 11:42 | comment | added | JBentley | @gerrit True. However, most credit cards do not prevent you from over-paying in my experience (I do this often for cash flow reasons). If you had such a card, you could pay enough to give it a suitable balance to cover the deposit amount. Of course if you do that then you need to plan for getting the money back again (probably by spending it later). | |
| Mar 23, 2016 at 11:40 | comment | added | gerrit | Credit cards for people with no or bad credit history not only have high interest, but also low limits. As a new UK resident, I have such a credit card. It has 60% APR and a credit limit of £250. That doesn't do for a longish car rental in Iceland or elsewhere. | |
| Mar 23, 2016 at 11:15 | history | edited | JBentley | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 23, 2016 at 11:13 | comment | added | simbabque | Ah. Well, I just thought I'd add a bit more technical detail about how that whole CC stuff works. The bold debit card makes sense. And maybe also add that with the prepaid card, you should make sure that it has a way to transfer the money back, or you will need to actually spend it using that card later. | |
| Mar 23, 2016 at 11:12 | comment | added | JBentley | @simbabque The reason I made the distinction around the word present is to highlight that the card you use when you show up does not have to be the same card you used to pay for the car. | |
| Mar 23, 2016 at 11:11 | history | edited | JBentley | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 23, 2016 at 11:10 | comment | added | JBentley | @simbabque Yes, I'm aware of that, and that is part of my answer (see point 1 about pre-authorisations). In point 2 I was talking about doing it with a debit card. With debit cards the system you describe is not possible (at least in the UK), which is why they do indeed have to take the money and refund it later, if you use a debit card (and assuming they accept debit cards, which is why I advised asking them advance). I will bold that part to make it clearer that I'm talking about debit cards. | |
| Mar 23, 2016 at 10:48 | comment | added | simbabque | It's not so much about presenting the card, but really what it says in your quote. They will authorize a deposit sum on the credit card and release the authorization once you give the car back. At no point have they taken the money. Only if you break the car, they capture the authorized amount and your card gets charged, which leads to your CC company paying them the deposit. | |
| Mar 23, 2016 at 8:16 | history | answered | JBentley | CC BY-SA 3.0 |