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Car Rental in the USA and Canada - Payment Complications if The Main Driver Doesn't Have a Credit Card

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If you don't have a credit card then I believe the car rental company will require a very considerable cash deposit (I have seen figures of $500 plus the cost of the rental, and $100 per week plus the cost of the rental) which will be refunded (less the cost of the rental of course) when you return the car.

If two or more people are travelling together, one of whom will be the driver and another the credit card holder, you may well have a very serious problem, even if it is a husband and wife who are travelling. To rent a car, you must have a driver's license in your own name which is valid in the USA and/or Canada as appropriate and also a credit card (with available credit) in your own name as well. Here are some possible solutions to this problem (but be sure to check this important question with the individual car rental company as these are only generalised suggestions and companies may differ in their policies):

• If possible, authorise the driver as a secondary card holder and get the credit card organisation to issue the driver with a card in their own name. This solution will be most appropriate within a family group of course. This solution, if possible, is by far the simplest and most convenient.

• If the person holding the credit card has a driving licence valid in the appropriate country (USA and/or Canada) then they could take out the rental and add the actual driver as an additional driver, but there would be a charge (so much per day) for this as there is with all additional drivers. A serious potential problem with this suggestion is that some car rental companies require additional drivers to have a credit card as well - their reasoning being that they don't want any extra drivers who can't rent on their own - in which case this suggestion will not work.

• Obtain a prepaid voucher for the car rental which includes all cost elements (basic rental, CDW/LDW and sales tax). Some car rental companies don't require a credit card if the customer has an all-inclusive voucher; however some companies, including Alamo, do. There may also be complications if any additional payments are required for additional drivers, under-age drivers, infant seats, etc. In addition, all-inclusive vouchers can sometimes work out more expensive than buying a voucher which only covers the basic rental cost and then paying the other costs directly to the car rental company in the USA.

• Payment by cash. This is tedious and confusing. The cash deposit required is usually $500 plus the cost of the rental. I would imagine that this deposit would have to be paid with physical cash - a traveller's cheque would probably not be acceptable due to the complications of whether it would need to be signed or not. Perhaps a company would be prepared to accept a signed traveller's cheque and then make the refund in physical cash, but this would need to be checked carefully in advance.

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EMail me Please note that I am not in the car rental business or the travel trade and I cannot provide any more information on car rental other than that presented here. Nor can I process any requests for quotations or reservations for car rental - these should be directed to car rental companies or travel agents.

Most recently modified 9-Jul-99; minor revisions 10-Jan-00