Budget Question

[nikkisun]

I have booked (and prepaid in full) my car with Budget (via a UK rental agency) and taken out the gold insurance package.

I understand I need a credit card when I collect the car but previously when I've rented with Dollar my card has been maxed out but it hasn't made any difference. Someone has said that Budget need an available amount of $500 which is a problem as my card has a very low limit and half of it has already been used!!

Can anyone tell me if Budget will actually take/hold any money (ie I need available credit) or if they just take a security swipe?

[Barbucks]

I would have thought that they would need some available credit, otherwise where's the security?

[Mo Green]

We picked up a Budget car last night and just had to produce a credit card as a security. I am not sure how they would know what your credit limit is without trying to take a payment. They certainly did not take one with ours.

Mo

[Katys Grandad]

Although it's never happened to me with car rental (probably because I've always had sufficient credit on my cards) I have been asked for an alternative card at check-in in hotels where the available credit didn't cover the amount.

It seems pretty clear to me that the vendor does know if there's sufficient credit when they swipe your card at the rental desk and that it reduces the available amount accordingly (even though it won't show as a debit on your account). Otherwise, as has been pointed out, what would be the point of it?

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:It seems pretty clear to me that the vendor does know if there's sufficient credit when they swipe your card at the rental desk and that it reduces the available amount accordingly (even though it won't show as a debit on your account). Otherwise, as has been pointed out, what would be the point of it?[/quote]That is my understanding also.

If you have a card limit of, say, £800, and Budget swipe your card for a £500 deposit, then you only have £300 available credit on your card for other purchases.

If you don't have £500 credit left on your card, you will have problems.

[blott]

We have a credit card facility and can take an authorisation only 'payment'.

This isn't a 'payment', just a check that a credit card has a sufficient amount of credit available to cover whatever amount we're trying to authorise only process.

The amount is blocked on the credit card and remains blocked for however long the credit card transactor has arranged but no actual payment is taken at that time. This could be for any length of time.

This usually doesn't appear on your credit card statement so you may not be aware it has occurred. I have, however, seen this sort of authorisation for payment when I have used our US debit card and checked with our online banking facility. The authorisation then shows up but there's no difference to the balance amount so before and after authorisation transaction bank balances remain the same.

If there's not enough credit available on the card, the transaction is not authorised by the credit card processing and we would receive an error transaction report.

I'm assuming that this is also what happens with car rental companies.

[nikkisun]

Thanks everyone - looks like I'm going to have to plead with the CC company to up my limit!! Does anyone know how much Budget will want to 'hold'?

[martek]

Can anybody please let me know how long the credit block is held for.
I have a limited amount on my credit card for car hire only.
But i am hiring 3 different cars over a 3 week period, all with different rental companies.
I could have 3 differing amounts adding up.
Or hopefully the hold is lifted as soon as you return the car??
Can anybody please enlighten me.
David.

[Andrena]

I would be terrified to go to Florida without a reasonable amount available on my credit card. What if you had an emergency. If the car hire company had maxed out the card then you would be really stuck. Could you not put some funds into your credit card account before you go?

Andrena

[martek]

Andrena
It's ok, that's exactly what we did, i was more curious than anything.
But so far this is what has happened, we picked up our first hire car from Dollar, a Chrysler 300c, Hemi 5.7 litre V8, they took a security card swipe, but it did not affect the card balance, they never held any money.
We took the Chrysler back and picked up our second car fron Budget, a convertible, they also took a credit card swipe and they have actually held $100.
We take the convertible back on Saturday and change it to a 7-Seater 4x4, i'll let you know what happens then as that is with Alamo.
Dave.