Rental car w/debit card

[Carrieannew]

Hello awesome Transportation peeps!

Early stages of planing for May and looking at doing a rental car. But I only have a debit card, no major credit card. Which places are ok with that? Without crazy fees or whichever?

Thanks

 

[mom2mikel]

Hello awesome Transportation peeps!

Early stages of planing for May and looking at doing a rental car. But I only have a debit card, no major credit card. Which places are ok with that? Without crazy fees or whichever?

Thanks

We used debit and have no issues with Alamo. They only put a hold on the estimated amount of the total rental.

Highly recommend them.

 

[Carrieannew]

We used debit and have no issues with Alamo. They only put a hold on the estimated amount of the total rental.

Highly recommend them.

Great thanks! Will start there. I know I can find all this info on the car rental websites but was hoping someone would just know off the top of their head.

 

[msjprincess]

FYI- Alamo requires proof of a return flight. So make sure you have a printed itinerary on you when you pick up the car.

 

[Carrieannew]

FYI- Alamo requires proof of a return flight. So make sure you have a printed itinerary on you when you pick up the car.

Thanks

Just found a rate for a ford fusion with Dollar for $236 for a week. Seems good. But Dollar says something about debit card check or whatever no idea what that means.

 

[msjprincess]

Dollar does a credit check on the spot.

 

[Carrieannew]

Dollar does a credit check on the spot.

Just saw that. So that is only for a debit card? See this is my beef with this they must put a certain amount as a pre auth on a major credit card, why judge people because its a debit and not major. You can still pre auth a debit for higher.

 

[sj24]

I am in the same boat as the OP, I have a reservation with Dollar at a really good rate but not sure how the on the spot credit check is going to pan out. Does anybody know if you enroll in their Dollar Express program you can be pre-approved? In other words get the credit check out of the way before going to the counter. I also have a reservation with Enterprise, they only require a roundtrip flight itinery, no credit check with debit card, the same with E Z Rent a Car, but the rates are alot higher

 

[Carrieannew]

I am in the same boat as the OP, I have a reservation with Dollar at a really good rate but not sure how the on the spot credit check is going to pan out. Does anybody know if you enroll in their Dollar Express program you can be pre-approved? In other words get the credit check out of the way before going to the counter. I also have a reservation with Enterprise, they only require a roundtrip flight itinery, no credit check with debit card, the same with E Z Rent a Car, but the rates are alot higher

Another dis'r suggested doing the dollar express program but it states even in that they will look at the card when you get there and a license. She suggested calling dollar to see what they say.

I was wondering about enterprise. So ez rent and enterprise do not do a check?

 

[NYDisneyKid]

how do they check your credit? do they ask for your ss#?

 

[Carrieannew]

how do they check your credit? do they ask for your ss#?

Not sure. But dollar says they do a credit check for any debit card users

 

[sj24]

I was wondering about enterprise. So ez rent and enterprise do not do a check?[/QUOTE]



I spoke with both of them directly, Enterprise said you nee proof of a roundtrip flight, and EZ will add approx $200 to the estimated rental cost, in other words if the rental is $550 then they will charge $750, when you return they will credit back the $200. Going to look into Alamo to see what their rates are.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I'd highly recommend getting a credit card if you're going to rent a car. If there are any problems, such as an accident, the company can charge your debit card on file and if anything happens would you want your primary source of funds (this of course doesn't apply to those that have a debit card linked to a non-primary source of funds) locked out for days while the issue is resolved?

My sister-in-law just rented a car while we were on our family vacation and used her debit card to secure the rental (Hertz). Something happened to the Hertz system and instead of placing a single $550 hold (rental plus $300) it placed three holds of $550 and locked out over $1,650 dollars. Now she had a credit card and she has more then enough in her account, but if it was someone who lived closer to pay check to pay check or had limited funds in their account, I could see where this could have turned into a big issue. After about 3 hours of calling Hertz and her bank Hertz realized the issued and processed a correction, but that took 2 days to process.

 

[lynn_s]

Our local Enterprise only charges a $100 security deposit, and does take info for a credit check but has never run anything. The $100 deposit was back in my account the next business day after the return...

 

[AlexDurrani]

A lot of the companies that have these frequent car rental programs like QS from Alamo and so forth require you to have a credit card to join. you need to read the fine print before joining them. The only way you can be sure of any of the policies is to contact the companies and ask.

 

[NYDisneyKid]

Our local Enterprise only charges a $100 security deposit, and does take info for a credit check but has never run anything. The $100 deposit was back in my account the next business day after the return...

way too easy for identity theft