I'm about to embark on a trip with my brother-in-law and we are trying to figure out how to rent a car. Every rental car place we look at requires a credit card (rather than a debit card) for a deposit or whatever you wanna call it. Only problem is, neither of us have a credit card. His wife does, with her name on the card (same last name as him). Can we rent the car in his name with his wife's credit card without hassle? If not, is there any other way? I'm worried we are gonna get out west and not be able to get a car...

Also, what happens if you get caught driving a rental car that doesn't have your name on it as a driver?

7/28/2009 10:00:16 PM

I have rented with a debit card only before....... I want to say it was national???? either way, keep looking.

7/28/2009 10:02:06 PM

pretty sure it wouldnt be an issue. at worst i know she can add him as a second driver and he'd be able to drive

7/28/2009 10:02:51 PM

why wouldn't you just add the person as a driver?

7/28/2009 10:03:30 PM

Here's an idea

Ask the rental company

7/28/2009 10:11:20 PM

^^^The second driver is me, the wife isn't going on the trip, the main driver is my brother-in-law. We would be using his wife's credit card.

^^ I don't want to be added as a driver because A) I don't know that I can be, I'm only 21 and B) it costs more

7/28/2009 10:15:32 PM

get a damn credit card

7/28/2009 10:15:59 PM

^ Too late for that, we are leaving Friday.

7/28/2009 10:16:41 PM

I thought you had to be 25 to rent a car anyways

7/28/2009 10:18:24 PM

You do, my brother-in-law is 30. He's renting the car, using his wife's credit card.

7/28/2009 10:20:23 PM

enterprise you don't have to be 25

7/28/2009 10:25:56 PM

It depends on the company. They will probably let you use a debit card, but do a credit check.

7/29/2009 8:41:25 AM

Quote :

"I thought you had to be 25 to rent a car anyways "

no. at some places, maybe. under 25 = higher rate, though.

7/29/2009 8:46:59 AM

Both Alamo & Enterprise will let you rent w/ a debit card.

7/29/2009 9:07:08 AM

^Correct, but they will likely drop a $100-$200 deposit, plus the full cost of the rental, on the card immediately. Not as a hold either, but as a sale. Also if you are under 25 and do not have a credit card, they will need to verify full coverage, home address, and employment, in case you bolt on them.

Honestly the easiest way would be to rent the car with her card and have her there to sign for it. Then he can be an additional driver (should be no charge for a spouse), but she will have to be there to do it. They will only rent to a person with the cardholders name. And if you are not local when you rent this thing, like at an airport location, they will almost assuredly drop a fat deposit on your debit card.

Seriously the best thing to do is just call the Enterprise branch at the airport your flying into and ask them. They can give you this answer in 2 seconds. I'm trying to conjure up shit from 5 years ago now.

7/29/2009 9:42:27 AM

get a mastercard/visa debit card.

7/29/2009 10:41:36 AM

If it says Debit on it anywhere its treated as such. My SECU Visa card was treated as debit when I took it b/c it said "debit" on it.

7/29/2009 12:49:58 PM

Just don't post one of those dumb fucking threads about how this place ripped you off because you don't understand the concept of merchant holds with respect to check cards.

OH MY GOD WHERE DID MY $1000 GO THEY STOLE IT AND CAUSED ME TO OVERDRAFT !?!?!! CALL THE BBB, THIS BAR/RESTAURANT OVERCHARGED ME AHHHH!??!

7/29/2009 12:54:05 PM

Quote :

"If it says Debit on it anywhere its treated as such. My SECU Visa card was treated as debit when I took it b/c it said "debit" on it. "

the cashier can run it through as either if they support both. But if they only support credit they can still run it as credit and it works the same way.

[Edited on July 29, 2009 at 1:23 PM. Reason : y]

7/29/2009 1:08:29 PM

a lot of people will confuse the fact that they lose all use of their held funds with an actual sale. If it's a pin transaction then yes, the money is gone from your account and you can receive a cash refund. If it's a true CC hold on a Check Card, it will still fall off eventually if everything goes well.

7/29/2009 1:37:19 PM

Quote :

"the cashier can run it through as either if they support both. But if they only support credit they can still run it as credit and it works the same way. "

correct. a lot of people do not get this and it really pisses me off.

7/29/2009 1:48:22 PM

the other benefit of running your debit card as credit instead of debit is that the transaction detail on your account statements show up with more detail than if you did it as debit. (or atleast it used to be that way). This is pretty handy if you have software that can auto catogorize transactions based on the vendor name.

7/29/2009 1:53:40 PM

OK well I've found a way to use a debit card for the car, but now I have another question. I have unlimited mileage in the state that I'm renting the car in, but if I'm driving out of state I only have 250 miles, overages are $.25/mile. Is that on the honor system, do I tell them if I've been out of state or do they have transponders and know automatically?

7/30/2009 11:28:08 AM

Debit cards can be used at any rental car place, but the reason you want to shy away from that is that they put a reserve on the card of at least $300 and that isn't refunded until you return the car. If you have $$$$ in your account it won't matter, but if you are counting on that $300 to help finance your trip then a debit card is a bad idea.

Just don't get in a wreck across state lines and you're good to go! They don't put those tracking things on rental cars.

[Edited on July 30, 2009 at 11:31 AM. Reason : .]

7/30/2009 11:30:26 AM

^Thanks, we'll try that. Hopefully we won't get stuck with hundreds of dollars of extra out of state mileage charges when we get back.

Another question now though, about airlines. Can you leave the airport during a layover? It seems like you should be able to, all you need to get back through security is a boarding pass, right?

7/30/2009 11:55:17 AM

^ yes but check. security varies place to place.

7/30/2009 1:01:34 PM

you dont have to have a credit card


hell you can have cash, but if you are under 25 you have to have bring in a light bill and some other bill to your mailing address

(at least for enterprise)

they dont really fight you over it either.

7/30/2009 1:06:56 PM

Some places do use transponders, I've seen articles of people getting ridiculous bills because they did most of their traveling out of state.

Last time I rented from enterprise they didn't though, at least not around here. I totally just told them I was going to be driving all over NC and then drove to atlanta.

7/30/2009 1:39:52 PM