Car hire, Credit card questions

[Guest]

Firstly, I apologise I know this has been asked before but I'm still struggling with this one.

We are going to Florida in a few weeks and I was all set to book a car (after reading a CC is not always required) but have come up against it. Every place I look at, state within their terms, that a Credit Card is required on arrival.

I do have a credit card but with a very low (£200) limit which I doubt could be increased, and my OH does not have one and wouldn't get one (I won't bore you with the details).

What are my options ? Has anyone recently been in this position and if so, what did you do ?. Who did you use ?.
I have read that Avis don't require one, but their prices are way more. I also read that Thrifty don't either, but I can't get a clear answer about this anywhere.

This is starting to stress me out a bit so I would really really appreciate any response ASAP.

[Guest]

I believe that you can used a debit card. I think that in the US they don't really know the difference so if it states VISA or Mastercard you should be ok.

[Guest]

You can use your debit card as they all have a visa / MasterCard logo now.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by ELPIEFACE

I believe that you can used a debit card. I think that in the US they don't really know the difference so if it states VISA or Mastercard you should be ok.

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The terms and conditions explicitly state no debit cards, that it must be a credit card. I dare not risk booking something without knowing for sure

[moshman10]

I've used my Fair FX card the last couple of times.

[lori84]

I have a credit card with a £200 limit and I used this at budget and it was fine. It then dropped off when we were there so had access to the funds.

[becky2203]

I think your best bet may be to contact the rental agencies directly. We went a couple of years ago, OH was the only driver and didn't have a CC in his name. We spoke to the office directly (Dollar, in San Diego) and they confirmed we were ok to use his Visa Debit Card. They held $250 on it but this was released a couple of days after returning the car. It really can vary depending not only on what car hire company you use but also the office location you rent from

[cartoonp]

Debit card is fine all so even though they don't state you can pay a cash deposit but you not get this straight back .

[wanye]

alamo *definitely* accept visa debit cards for swiping, but just be prepared to have a chunk of money blocked off that you cant spend until you get back home!

back when i had bad credit, my mum got me a card on her account with my name on it that i used to swipe for car/hotel/etc deposits. eventually though, i got my own high interest rate/low credit limit card from capital one and used that until i eventually built my score up enough to get a decent card of my own.

hth

[jellie]

When I forgot to take dh's credit card, Alamo allowed us to pay a $200 deposit which we then had to collect when we returned the car. I know I have previously read posts on here where people use their fairfx card.