Car Rental, no Credit Card

[gaz.l]

I seem to be getting conflicting stories and we are getting concerned.

This will be our first trip and do not own a credit card. i have booked everything so far without a credit card but this car rental is one major concern i have.

I understand that we wish to loan an expensive item, so can see why companies want to protect their assets.

Surley i am not the first person to travel to the USA without a credit card.

We do own debit cards, and will be taking cash with us, but again another concern is that we do not want to leave half our spending money behind as deposit.

Can any of you kind people explain how to go about this, what we can do to prevent being ripped off, charged over the odds, or expected to leave an extortionate amount behind as deposit.

I have had some say "take your chance, dont mention its a debit card and just try it". But due to the amount of money we have spent already i do not want to leave anything to chance. someone please help. i dont want to have to explain to my kids at the airport that due to dad being stubbon and not putting temptation to blow money like no tomorrow he refuses to use credit cards thus cannot rent a car, so we might have to walk the 20 or so miles!!!!

[roger]

Welcome to the forum. This link should answer your question: http://www.uscarhire.co.uk/faq-collecting-car.aspx#89

[clairemca]

Hi gaz.l,

I also had this problem, which is why I chose Dollar because if you have the gold option at MCO then they don't swipe your card. Which airport are you flying into?

Claire

[gaz.l]

Claire

We are flying into and out of MCO.

Did you order your rental on the dollar website or of a broker?

The Dollar would cost me an extra £50 but if it saves me having to hand over $500 from our holiday spending money i would welcome at and take the hit.

Is this no swipe of your card 100% garuntee or were yopu lucky. I am so getting worked up about this. WHY WHY did i cut up all my cards (so i didnt over sepend, but thats another sorry)

[FraserLynn]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by gaz.l

Is this no swipe of your card 100% garuntee or were yopu lucky. I am so getting worked up about this. WHY WHY did i cut up all my cards (so i didnt over sepend, but thats another sorry)[/quote]Can't you just get another credit card?[msnsmile2]

[gaz.l]

Well not now, we go in 11 days but TBH i dont ever want one, up until recently we had a couple and we used the limit as a target not a budget so it took us a long time and some long months of staying in and no niceities. we are both rubbish at saving and as we now do not owe a penny to anyone its the most well off we have been in years and never ever want to risk the temptation again.

I can see it now, ok lets just use it for the car deposit swipe, then, ok shall we treat ourselves to Discovery cove, then it will be something else and before you know it back to square one again. TBH i would rather walk from the airport than be in that same position again

[christhear]

Book your car thorugh the car hire link above and with the Gold option on dollar you are gauranteed no credit card swipe - Its written in black and white on the FAQ's

[clairemca]

Hi Gaz.l,

I booked mine through Roger - uscarhire.co.uk. I wouldn't use anywhere else.

Hope you get sorted and have a great holiday!

Claire

[gaz.l]

i have just checked the prices, to use Dollar it would cost an extra £130 on top of Alamo, that is quite a big differece.

Why is this so difficult?

[sparkymarky]

Why not get yourself a Nationwide debit card as alot of people on this site use them anyway.
You don't get charge to use it and you have to have money in your account to use it so you can't spend what you don't have.