Car Rental Question

[walkthaplank]

I am 2 months into my CH13 and I need to travel out of town next month on some family business. I booked my trip through a major online "price negotiator" company. Included in that trip was a car rental. I informed them that I was paying using a debit card. Now that I am looking over the website for the company that is handling the car rental, if you use a debit card they run a credit check, naturally my credit is in the dumper right now. I can't get any straight answers out of the rental company as to whether or not I am going to have any issues and be stranded in the Windy City without wheels. If it helps, this is a large rental car company that used to employ a murderous football star as their spokesman.

Does anybody have any experience with this situation?

[viking64]

My understanding is that it's very much up to each branch of the franchise as to how to handle it. You might try calling the branch directly, explain your situation and ask if there is other documentation that could be helpful (such as your insurance policy, showing you are insured).

I've heard Alamo is supposed to be pretty easy to work with. I have a friend who hasn't filed but whose credit is in the dumper and must use debit cards, and she's always been successful.

You do need to be prepared to have a hold on funds for what could be significantly more than the actual charge, and it could take several days for those funds to be released. Enterprise is supposed to be particularly bad about this. Alamo, Hertz, Avis, would probably do the estimated charged plus an excess of $100 - $200. Again, your best bet is to call the local franchiser and ask. Better to know in advance than get stuck on the trip.

Let us know - it's an issue that many of us have to deal with. I've negotiated a pre-paid rental with a local company specializing in debit card rentals for an upcoming business trip to South Africa, and I hope to have a secured Visa by the September when I'll need my next US rental.

[walkthaplank]

I have tried calling the local branch and after waiting on hold, it goes to voicemail. I'll try calling again, I imagine right now they are very busy...

[tigergem]

Well. I can't help you with the company you are already booked with, but here is some information IN CASE they won't do the debit card thing ... if you are stuck. If you are flying in to O'Hare, ACE Rent A Car will rent to you with a debit card.

What they say on their web site is:

Debit Card Renters Must be 21 years of age; Card must be bank-issued with a Visa or Mastercard Logo; Proof of insurance on renters own vehicle (insurance card) or Airline ticket that brackets rental car dates; Customer must complete a "Walk Up/Debit Card User Info Sheet"; Must process payment for est amount of rental plus 200.00; May rent any vehicle except Full Size SUV. Illinois residents must also present a utility bill (gas, elec, phone) no more than 60 days old with no past-due amount owed with the same address as the renter drivers license. We do not accept any form of pre-paid debit cards.

Good luck!

[walkthaplank]

I decided to go with a back up reservation with ACE. If OJ's brand decides to stiff me, I will just go with ACE, if OJ's brand rents to me, I'll call ACE and cancel. They let you cancel up to the point of your reservation without penalty.

[viking64]

Cool - let us know how it works out. This is something many of us face, yet there are very few posts of actual results!

[JustFileSuit]

Off-brand outfits.

Here's a thought: try some off-brand outfit like rent-a-wreck and just go with some old car; you hand over some cash deposit of say $500 and I rather suspect the owner will be happy to rent it to you. He'll just hand you the cash back when you bring it in, without dents. What you need (as a contingency plan) is a small company that is owner-operated. If you look respectable they are happy to have you as a customer. Remember, the used cars they rent out are not worth much, and their customer base typically does not have credit cards. (Of course, I don't live in Chicago...)

[SunshineGal]

We had friends that reserved with either Dollar or Budget (sorry, can't remember which one.) Sure enough, while at the counter they ran their credit and denied the car rental! Luckily, they were able to get another company to rent to them.

[tigergem]

Good luck walkthaplank. I hope it all works out ok for you.

[tigergem]

We had friends that reserved with either Dollar or Budget (sorry, can't remember which one.) Sure enough, while at the counter they ran their credit and denied the car rental! Luckily, they were able to get another company to rent to them.

That just stinks. If they are going to run your credit, they should tell you up front before you make the reservation.

[JustFileSuit]

[QUOTE=SunshineGal;363425]

We had friends that reserved with either Dollar or Budget (sorry, can't remember which one.) Sure enough, while at the counter they ran their credit and denied the car rental!

Note that in some States, it is no longer legal for the clerk to deny the rental; the State Atty general now requires them to just take a cash deposit (might be $500). the AG office has the ability to do that as they get a permit for consumer trade from the State. Up to the State, of course. Just that the clerks at the counter don't know better, so they do the Nancy Reagan: "Just say No."

It gets interesting when the would-be renter is a visitor from say Germany and he carries no C.C. that the rental outfit recognizes. Could be a millionaire but hey he has no Mastercard!

[junker]

i asked a very similar question here a while back on rental cars..the consensus then seemed to be that alamo was the best with using a debit card..since then i have been using a off the wall rental co..not too far from lax in southern california ..they will pick you up at the airport.. rent using debit OR cash..250 bucks..deposit and take you back to airport...the only drawback is they arent open around the clock and close at 6pm so if you are checking in after that you have to take a cab which is about 10 bucks...but still well worth it..AND...they way i found out about them..i reserved with enterprise..and through a mistake on my part...didnt have enough room on credit card at the counter for the deposit....they refused me and gave me a list of off the wall rentals in the area that they said i could probably rent from...so far working great..used them twice already..in LA the list of rental co,s was pretty large..so i am guessing most other major cities also have some off the wall rental co,s that would be glad to rent using debit or cash.....

[tigergem]

I just really hope I don't really need to rent a car anytime soon.

[walkthaplank]

The murderer's car rental agency didn't give me any grief. Didn't run my credit, I guess as long as I had my airline info, had prepaid and had the $200 room on my debit card they didn't have any issues. Canceled the ACE reservation without issue. Good times all around in the windy city!

[tigergem]

Cool!