car hire and credit cards imprints !!!!

[kgarrigos]

Hi all

I want to book car hire and buy a fully inclusive insurance policy with it but, when I have looked at choiceair which is the cheapest it says you need to leave a credit card imprint so I phoned and the girl said if you didn't you need to leave a deposit of about $200.00
I don't have a credit card only a solo card and wonder

1 do any companies not require a card imprint ?

2 do any companies accept a solo card as deposit ?

I hope someone can help as things were going great on the booking front until this and as I am taking my 2 DDs on my own I need to save as much as possible and not leave $200.00 behind a car hire counter when I would like it in my pocket.
Hope some of you can help PLEASE .

 

[Scottish_Maleficent]

when we travelled earlier this year we had alamo gold insurance cover and we were not asked for a credit card.

I have seen other posts on this boeard which say that with Virgin Platinum insurance you shouldn;t need to give a credit card imprint either

hope this helps

 

[kgarrigos]

How were you so quick , wow

Cheers

 

[Janice]

Hi Kev

when we have gone in the past we have always booked and paid for the Car and Insurance at the time of the initial booking and only once have we been asked to leave an imprint of our CC.

To be on the safe side, have you thought of just getting a CC solely for this purpose? It might be useful to have as a back-up kind of emergency facility, and when you come home you can just pay off any bill, and then ditch it? I know a lot of people that have done this and it works fine for them?

Just a suggestion

 

[pt415999]

I've had a car from Dollar four times and have never been asked to leave a credit card imprint, because I've taken their full insurance I believe.

 

[athurstance]

If you've paid for full insurance in advance - like with Virgin Platinum - they won't ask for a credit card. It's because there won't be any further charges because you're fully covered so no need.
Anything less than full insurance and you do risk being asked for one.
If you get a new CC just for this make sure you tell them that you're going to use it in the US for probably the first time otherwise it may get refused due to 'unusual activity'.
Just generally for going to the US I would recommend you carry a credit card as they are often asked for as a 'security' when hiring things.

Angela

 

[neilybealy]

we hired thru holiday autos with alamo and had "the max" package which was the full insurance and had to leave a credit card imprint