Amount of credit needed on credit card for car hire?

[arieliwish]

Hi all,

Just wondered if you could tell me how much the car hire companies block off on the credit card you secure the hire with?

I have a Nationwide card with £1500 limit and hadn't really thought if that was enough up until now. I planned to use this to pay the bill at the end of the holiday at OKW as well, mainly for tips and a bit of shopping in the parks, I reckon this would be £500 - £850 (ish! - I work a lot with ish!)

So my main query is, would I have enough on that one card to secure the hire car and pay the bill at WDW at the end of the two weeks - I should point out the car goes back the day before we check out, but not sure when Alamo would release the money back to the card??

Also, I got the Nationwide card as I remembered years ago they had low or zero rates for foreign purchases - does anyone know if this is still the case??

Cheers!

 

[wilma-bride]

Not sure how much the deposit would be -it varies from company to company. For some, it is only to cover any 'extras', such as fuel charges etc. But I have also heard that it is to cover the equivalent of our insurance excess, in case you have an accident. Either way, there should be enough on your card to cover both.

As far as the Nationwide card, it is no longer fee free. Try the Post Office for a reasonable alternative.

 

[orangetiggs]

We alwyas go for the package that includes extra driver and tank of fuel, i give them a visa debt card from an empty account and never had problems

 

[arieliwish]

Thanks guys, it's 8 years since we've been and I'm sure then you had to have $1500 available, but maybe that figured morphed over the years in my head!

Can't tell you how excited we are to be going back - my then 10 year old DD and 7 year old DS are now 18 and 15 and more involved in the planning this time so about a million times more excited than last time!

 

[chmurf]

Thanks guys, it's 8 years since we've been and I'm sure then you had to have $1500 available, but maybe that figured morphed over the years in my head!

there is a hold when you don't prepay.
To make a quick summary :
with alamo you can't book with a debit card unless you prepay.
In case you don't prepay, and want to use a debit card, you can only pay when you return the car, not when you pick it up. So Alamo will hold the total amount of your booking, plus provisionnal extras, plus, plus, plus ... which can range from $200 to $300 per week

when you prepay, the hold should not exceed the value of the extras (booster seat, fuel, satnav, upgrade, ...)

Seems like the policy is that there is no hold (and debit card is accepted) when you book from an "international" counter (e.g. Orlando International Airport) and have a return ticket.

as PP said, you should not have any problem with your card.
But TBH I always ask my bank to raise my limit when I travel to the US. Our bank does it for free for a 30 days period (raise from 4000¬ to 7500¬ on both our debit cards, it just feels safer, and the best part is that it's free) your bank may provide such a free service, (just for peace of mind) it they want to charge you for this, don't bother with this precaution, you'll be fine without

 

[wayneg]

Nationwide is more complicated now, still free if you have a current account with them. If not then they charge 2% (less credit for UK spend, you would have to read their site for more details)

Personally I stopped using mine when they introduced fees, I now use Post Office & Halifax Clarity, both no fees.
Post Office give £26.50 cashback if you get a new card http://www.quidco.com/post-office-credit-cards/?ac

I got the Halifax Clarity card a few month back, when I applied it said new cards would get a low limit to start (£1,200 rings a bell) I must be in their good books as they gave me £8,000 limit immediately although we have banked with them for almost 30 years.

 

[orangetiggs]

Ive never had them hold anything alamo, dollar or thrifty as my account with my visa debit is empty. I pay for everything upfront amd dont take extras at the desk

 

[arieliwish]

I've prepaid with my debit card through the Alamo site and ordered a sat nav which is to be paid at the desk, $140 / £92, and included is the CDW, fees, taxes, etc.

The other times we've been the cars were booked as a package through Travel City/First Choice and they were Dollar rentals and I'm sure there was a hold put on my card for some reason!

Thanks for all your input!

 

[bazzanoid]

I've prepaid with my debit card through the Alamo site and ordered a sat nav which is to be paid at the desk, $140 / £92, and included is the CDW, fees, taxes, etc.

The other times we've been the cars were booked as a package through Travel City/First Choice and they were Dollar rentals and I'm sure there was a hold put on my card for some reason!

Thanks for all your input!

Now conversely to that, I've rented with dollar through TCD (rest in peace, budget carrier!) and they put no hold on my card but did take a swipe of it.

Not sure on their US policy, but Hertz here in the UK will always hold around £200 for both pre-paid and pay-at-counter bookings. I have emailed the MCO desk today as I need to know, hopefully being internal email i'll get a reasonably quick reply!

 

[MichelinMan]

Hertz put a hold of $200 on our card when we picked up the car. We didn`t prepay for the fuel.

 

[orangetiggs]

Yes they swiped mine but no hold as no oney to hold ;-)

 

[Minniesgal]

I would ask for a higher limit to cover your holiday or take out a second card. The reasons I say this is the first time we went to Orlando our daughter was ill and we had to call out a doctor, the first question they ask is what is your credit card number without one they wouldn't have come out. The charge wasn't huge and it was refunded in full when we got home by our insurance but it is always a good idea to have extra credit for emergencies. We travel with £5000 limit on two cards one to use and one solely for emergencies.

If you prepay your car you shouldn't need a lot of credit on your card to pick it up. I think UK companies are actually worse for hold in credit cards for hire cars than the USA.

 

[orangetiggs]

We must be minority as we dont have credit cards and only take spending money

 

[wayneg]

We must be minority as we dont have credit cards and only take spending money

I would say its about 50/50, doubt you are in the minority.

There are a few reasons I use credit card:
Once lost my wallet with £500 of cash going to Amsterdam.
Prefer to pay by card and pay on return so I don't have to consider how much to take.
Most transactions are easier than cash, just swipe and get receipt, no signing or PIN.
Interest rate on a fee free card better than exchanging to cash or travellers cheques.
Travel insurance usually only covers £100-300pp, I know at least 3 people who have had their villas broken into, relatives had £2000 taken from theirs recently.

But there are reasons not to use them:
Anyone with poor credit history
Can't budget their money
Really good interest rate & worth exchanging.
If you simply prefer cash.

For us credit cards work very well but not for others.

 

[Minniesgal]

Credit cards work great for us to budget and it means we don't have to pay the bill for our August holiday until mid October so Disney spending can come out of our September Salary. If we lose a credit card we can get it cancelled immediately and you only convert the exact amount you need to dollars no left over money at the end. Disney is great but in other parts of the USA or the world it is getting more and more difficult to check into hotels with a credit card even if prepaid but for me the real value in credit card is for emergencies particularly ones covered by insurance where you know you will get the money back as putting it on a card doesn't affect your spending money. However I am one of those people who hates cash and almost never ever carry any.

 

[Julia Ann]

We must be minority as we dont have credit cards and only take spending money

Same here but recently had to get one for work as had to travel long distance by train and claim expenses back. other than that I only get one for when we go to florida.

Haven't been since 2006 so I know they swiped my card or whatever they did but I didn't need to use it after that...worth knowing about taking a spare card though in case of emergency.

Also make sure you tell your credit card company the dates you are travelling in case they have a fraud alert and stop your cards on the first spend in USA.

 

[scoobydooby]

I rarely use my CC but would never enter any foreign country without one in case there was some sort of crisis which meant we needed additional and unplanned for money. I think that leaves you quite vulnerable come a worse case scenario. I view mine as a comfort blanket.

 

[MrRomance]

I always pre-pay, last year in July Dollar held $750 on my card (it was a mini van) they also charged extras that I told them I didn't want and claimed it was compulsory (because I'd prepaid I couldn't really argue it) but I won't use them again. Alamo didn't hold anything last year in Feb.

 

[wayneg]

I always pre-pay, last year in July Dollar held $750 on my card (it was a mini van) they also charged extras that I told them I didn't want and claimed it was compulsory (because I'd prepaid I couldn't really argue it) but I won't use them again. .

What extras? you really have to stand your ground if they try adding anything.
Unfortunately they are all as bad, I have found Alamo to be the worst for hard sell. Its all down to the agent you get on the day and how many lies he/she is prepard to give you. If you prepay and know you have everything you have to refuse anything they try add on.
I once collected a car and the agent whipsered, " I shouldn't tell you this but our small cars do not come upto the safety standards you are used to in Europe, you really need a larger car for your safety"
Another spent 10 mins trying to get me to spend $490 to upgrade(price dropped over the 10 mins) eventually after giving up he gave me the keys to the car, the exact model he was trying to get me to upgrade to, I was getting it anyway.
Don't believe a word they say, if you are not happy speak to the supervisor, rented around 50 cars in US now, every one prepaid and never paid anything locally except fuel.

 

[arieliwish]

Thanks for all that info.

As I've booked a standard SUV which should be fairly new, will it have a sat nav fitted? I've booked a sat nav as an extra which is to be paid at the collection point, but if the cars have one I won't need it? Or does the fact that I've been able to add it on mean that they don't have them fitted?