Diners Club Club Rewards - Warning: Diners club cards no longer acceptable for car rental in ireland

Just received call at 4.00am from wife picking up car in DUB, that had been reserved only 2 days ago on Budget.ie web site.

Apparenty a few week ago they stoped accepting Diners Club cards and I am not talking about using the Diners club card to cover the CDW.

They flat out refused to accept the card ( with mastercard logo).

Of course budgt.ie accepted the card # when guaranteeing the car.

It sounds as if Budget in Ireland no long accepts Diners Club International cards, and doesn't understand that your card is actually a Mastercard. I don't think there is any basis for a merchant to decline a specific Mastercard issuer's card.

Notation on this page seems to confirm this: From 27th September 2009, Diners Club card no longer accepted by Budget Rent A Car in Ireland.

http://www.fastcarhire.co.uk/ireland_car_hire.asp

I don't think there is any basis for a merchant to decline a specific Mastercard issuer's card.
Well, I could imagine (but I don't know if it's the case of even legally possible) that Budget Ireland may have had bad experiences with Diners insurance department, and thus wants to exclude the card so as not to have to deal with them again.

But is this only Budget, only in Ireland, and only if you show them the physical card?

The reason I ask is because:

1. Budget is part of Avis Budget Group.

2. I don't know if Budget has an equivalent, but Avis has a Preferred service, where you "bypass" the counter when picking up the car (at Preferred locations, which not all smaller airport locations are), and where the credit card is something you have stored in your account and (after your first rental after signing up or after a credit card change) you never have to show the card again, it's automatically billed. Since it's electronically stored, unless they're very aware of what "5528 xxxx xxxx xxxx" means, I don't even see how Avis in Ireland would know that a Preferred member is using a Diners Club card, as long as it's a MasterCard (5xxx xxxx xxxx xxxx).

But if you show them a physical card, well then of course they see the Diners Club logo. And if they've been trained to "not accept Diners Club", and haven't had the DC network vs the MC network explained to them, it'd be easy to see how they might reject a "5528" DC card when handed one in person.

The title thread is grossly misleading!! :td: :td: :td:
I rented from Hertz last week at DUB and had no trouble using my DC card (with its MC logo).
Sounds like your wife had an issue with her card. But don't put out an inaccurate and misleading statement in the title thread.