I have found that my credit card is “charged” at the time Avis assigns a car to me. At some locations, especially ones that don’t use the app, that won’t happen until I’m at the airport to pick up. With ones where my car is assigned in advanced, like Dallas, Tampa, or Chicago, they were assigned before my flight even took off. The app never lets me pick or change vehicles before I’m physically at the destination airport, but I have had the ability to change it in the website before arriving.

I once complained about being “charged” because I end up in a similar situation where it screws up my ability to use my expense card and was met with a million comments that it’s not a charge it’s just a hold, so I appreciate finding another person who can understand why even a hold would be problematic.