Credit card key to car rentals

As the peak summer season enters into its busiest period, travel advisors cannot stress enough the importance of having a credit card when arranging a car rental. Too many people still believe that they will be able to rent a vehicle by simply bringing an adequate amount of cash or by paying with their debit card. This, however, is usually not possible, as the majority of car rental firms in the United States, Britain and continental Europe insist that renters pay for the full cost of their car hire with a credit card.

Too many renters still believe that having an adequate amount of money on a checking or savings account, and arriving at the car hire location with cash on hand, is enough to rent a vehicle. Jane Squires, however, recently wrote about the ordeal that members of her family experienced when they tried just this. Squires’ daughter, for example, even had a debit card which was backed by MasterCard, yet when she attempted to collect her hired vehicle in Missouri, the client was unable to complete this process, despite having reserved well in advance.

In a few cases in the past, it had been possible to rent a vehicle, even without a credit card, but the requirement was that clients leave a massive deposit for an otherwise inexpensive rental. In many cases, the deposit would be well over $1,000, for a rental that cost no more than a couple of hundred dollars.

The bottom line, however, is that nothing replaces a credit card when it comes to renting a vehicle. While Visa, MasterCard and American Express are usually all accepted by car hire firms, debit cards are generally not.

www.mastercard.com/index.html