They don't charge your credit card when you make a car rental reservation?

[Pkdcoastrs]

Hello!

After all my families visits to WDW, I'm totally confused about renting a car. See, my sister in the past has always done the car rental part of our families trips so I'm not too familiar.

When making a reservation for our upcoming trip to California, I started the process of renting a car. Before I even knew it, I was at a page that said "your reservation has been made" without entering a credit card?

Now please don't laugh, is this how all car rental agencies go? Do they takes tons and tons of reservation and then hope that most people show up LOL?

Sorry if this is a really dumb question, I'm just severly baffled right now.

Mike

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

I don't know of any car rental companies that charge your credit card at the time you make your reservation. It's kind of like staying at a hotel - your card is charged when you use the service. (And in the case of a car rental, the day the car is returned.)

That being said, I am virtually always asked to providing my cc # at the time I make the car rental reservation, the same way I would when I reserve a hotel room. (I am also careful to cancel a reservation ahead of time if I won't need the car.) You might want to call the car rental company just to make sure they have you in their system, but as long as you have a printed confirmation with you when you pick up your car, you shouldn't have any problems anyway.

Have a good trip!

 

[Pkdcoastrs]

Well as a followup, the reservation we made was 9 days at $124 INCLUDING TAXES!!! I cannot believe I got this rate, by luck of checking out kayak.com and using their car rental search engine. I also used a Wal-Mart code to get an addition savings!! All other car rental companies are asking $250+ for the smallest car, our reservation is for a Mid-Size 4 door!

Wow I am REALLY excited about saving a lot of money! (and my parents will be too LOL)

Mike

 

[karylrocks]

They do not charge your credit card when you make your reservation. You will need to provide them with a credit (not debit) card when you pick up your car. Be prepared for them to run it through for an authorization for somewhere around $300 to $500 (the rental company should have their policy stated on their website) at that time as a security precaution against incidental damages; this will not actually be charged to your card but will reduce your available credit. After you return the car they will charge you the actual amount and it may take a few days to release the full amount back to your available credit.

 

[hugabearjo]

I can't remember which company it is now, I think ALAMO but don't quote me that doesn't ask for a CC to confirm. Most of the others do, they don't charge the card until you return the card but, do want it to secure the reservation.

Hope this helps. So don't worry about the lack of CC it should be fine.

What a great rate you were able to get. I have never heard of that website but, I will be checking it out.

 

[Pkdcoastrs]

I can't remember which company it is now, I think ALAMO but don't quote me that doesn't ask for a CC to confirm. Most of the others do, they don't charge the card until you return the card but, do want it to secure the reservation.

Hope this helps. So don't worry about the lack of CC it should be fine.

What a great rate you were able to get. I have never heard of that website but, I will be checking it out.

Kayak.com is the "google" of version of a search engine, in this case for travel websites! When it comes to car rentals, you enter your dates and then click the respective button (for whatever car rental agency). This doesn't save much time other then dates needed, but for hotels and airfare it does a COMPREHENSIVE search and usually gets GREAT rates!

The rate for the car rental came up when loaded Thrify by itself, so Kayak didn't make much of a difference in this case.

I found out about the website through the Consumer Report magazine my family gets in the mail, it had a section on the best websites for prices, etc...!

 

[Buckimion]

I think I ran into this with 'ACE' car rental listed at LAX. There's a complany that boasts of having a fleet of mostly PT cruisers. I noted when I made my reservation that they didn't ask me for a card #. I later read some pretty poor reviews for this place (bait/switch with people who thought they were also getting PT cruisers and got some POS dumped on them) and I also read some terms in their rental agreement I didn't like. I turned around and cancelled that reservation.

 

[LucyKate]

When I booked a car with Budget through their website it confirmed my booking without asking for a credt card - which also surprised me and I half suspected something had gone wrong.

But when I go to the airport they had the booking and the car - so it worked!

 

[Karalea]

I have never ever been asked for a credit card # to reserve a rental car and I rent one almost monthly when I travel on business. I always reserve it online through the company website. I don't use any small local services but stick with Avis, Hertz, or Alamo. I have never had any problems and certainly don't think it is anything to worry about.

As a matter of fact, I just reserved a car about Budget for our June trip and was also not required to give a credit card.

 

[only1mouse]

I rent regularly from Alamo at LAX and have never been asked for a CC number prior to actually getting to the counter. I thought it was strange at first, but have gotten used to it since.