USING A CREDIT OR DEBIT CARD when renting a vehicle.

You may think twice about using your debit card when renting a vehicle. Depending on the car rental agency, around $100-400 of your money is taken as ‘put on hold’ and unavailable to you to use, and then when you return the rental…whatever amount you don’t use towards the rental is put back into your account.

Plus, agencies will require more from you if you use a debit card. You have to qualify to be able to use your card with them.  Areas looked into are employment verification, insurance, your credit history and credit score.  Avis requires a score of 565 or higher.

You will want to call and find out on your own, but when I called a Hertz location, they told me they put a hold on $140 of your available credit if you use a credit card and $140 of your debit card account balance.  On top of the $140 (for either card) there is added the amount of rental quote for the estimated duration of the rental.

The Enterprise location I called charges you $200 as an actual sale if you use a debit card, and it puts on hold $200 if you use a credit card.  Or, they will ‘take’ 120% of the quoted rental amount, whichever is greater.

For Avis, one location in Gresham takes $100 plus the amount of the quoted rental amount if you use a credit card, and another Avis takes $200.  If you use a debit card, it’s $400 plus the amount of the quoted rental amount.  Yikes.

So, be sure to call ahead and ask not just for rates, but what their policy is on what amount of funds are locked out of your use as well. It could mean the difference between overdraft charges to the account your debit card is tied to or overlimit charges on your credit card.  Either way, if you simply want to have money or credit to buy groceries with or pay a bill with, it may not be there for you if your account balances are at the bottom.