My experience: renting with a debit card.

[chocovrdmicears]

Just back from a fabulous 11 day stay. Just wanted to share my rental experience with a debit card.
We rented through Alamo.

We could not use the kiosk when checking in for our car.
The folks working at the desk need to see your return flight info.
Once we showed them the paperwork, (they have to type in your return flight info into the system), we had no problems and were off and running.
I will add that the line wasn't super long but it did take an additional 30-40 minutes waiting and getting the paperwork settled before we were off.
Just wanted to let folks know that it is not a problem but do add a little extra time to your planning for it.

 

[Tinkerbell53]

Thank you for taking the time to post your experience. Just to clarify, you needed to go to the counter and provide round trip tickets. Did you have to do a credit check or have a large hold placed on your debit card? My friend and I are going in November. She uses no credit cards by choice and is worried about her credit score not being high enough or having a huge hold placed on her debit. We may just do a minivan but trying to decide between that and renting 2 cars. Thank you!

 

[chocovrdmicears]

Thank you for taking the time to post your experience. Just to clarify, you needed to go to the counter and provide round trip tickets. Did you have to do a credit check or have a large hold placed on your debit card? My friend and I are going in November. She uses no credit cards by choice and is worried about her credit score not being high enough or having a huge hold placed on her debit. We may just do a minivan but trying to decide between that and renting 2 cars. Thank you!

You are welcome.
No credit check or any hold on our debit card. We just needed to show our return flight information.

 

[seashoreCM]

Thank you for taking ... Did you have to do a credit check or have a large hold placed on your debit card? My friend and I are going in November. She uses no credit cards by choice and is worried about her credit score not being high enough or having a huge hold placed on her debit. !

Even a mistake can be made that puts a huge hold on your checking account from a debit card.

In addition, particularly with car rentals, the company can put a delayed charge against your checking account for something you don't agree with, such as some kinds of car damage, and it is a huge hassle to get it resolved.

Better to stop and get a credit card now and use that for rentals.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

The rental process is not the biggest issue with using debit cards, it's if something goes wrong.

For instance, my sister-in-law used her debit card (she didn't ask me and didn't know better) and their system had difficulty with processing it and placed three holds on her card for the rental amount over three days, by the third day she had a total of $1,800 on hold on her account. Now with a credit card this wouldn't be an issue because there's no cash locked up, but with her debit card, her cash was locked down, fortunately she had no auto drafts or outstanding checks.

Second issue is if there is damage to the car, minor usually, the car rental company can immediately withdraw the funds, or if there is an issue and the mark the car unfilled or needing gas they can auto debit.

Credit cards almost always offer secondary insurance coverage as well.

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

No hold at Alamo and Enterprise charged when I returned he car to he car care center.