Hertz Deposit Question for Visa - 2018 Edition
 

First, happy new year to the FlyerTalk Community!

I've visited other threads discussing the large fund hold Hertz is well known for, and found that Visa cards were privileged as they only hold the expected exact amount of the rental, not the amount plus $200.00 (USD). Unfortunately, all the posts discussing that are at minimum 2 years old, and some go back 8 or 9 years, and there was one that said this may no longer be the case. Of course, calling Hertz gets the usual "amount of rental plus $200.00" answer from the sales rep, but users here seem to imply that is (at least sometimes) not true. Has anyone had any recent (within the past 2 months) experience with a Visa card, Hertz rental, and checking their available credit/pending charges while the rental account is open and still in progress?

I know I'll get some people thinking "holds aren't an issue because they aren't an actual charge." Please understand I am a young renter, only just starting out in the credit world. I have a low limit card for building credit, so $200 plus a rental charge hold for a few hundred jumps me up very high close to my limit. Then of course I have to get a hotel, so I'm looking at close to maxed out just because of the ridiculous rental hold and then hotel hold. I do have USAA and AAA to get underage fees waived, thank goodness. Normally, I go with Enterprise or Alamo for low/no deposits, but the rates on Hertz are often so much cheaper when all is said and done and my discounts are plugged in. So, just wondering if I'd be safe to go with Hertz. I just really can't have a $200 hold + rental charge + hotel charge + hotel's hold all at once! :/

Thank you in advance!

My experiences are recent. I can tell you that based on my rentals in the US, 100% of the time when I use the visa card, there has been no $200 hold. However, I was surprised when I was in Canada that they also held $200 CAD on top of my charge, even when using the Visa.

Other than the two times when I rented in Canada with a visa card, all my US rentals have been just the total rental price, and no additional $200 hold.

Hope this helps.

Thank you hoangb! I will be planning to use my Visa at Hertz then. If something goes wrong, I have an Enterprise reservation as a backup, though it is more expensive.

I've never actually looked, but I seem to recall no hold on my Visa as well. I've got a rental this weekend under the USAA number so I'll actually look and see if a hold appears.

I can assure you that if it's indeed a visa, either debit or credit, and the rental is in the US, there will be no additional $200 hold.

These replies are fantastic - my confidence is soaring! :)

rune87, would appreciate you checking back in on how the USAA rental goes especially. Have heard some bad things about Hertz and USAA elsewhere on the internet.

I am currently on the last week of a three week rental. There is no hold using a Visa card other than the actual charges when you pick up your vehicle. That's even dropped off my Visa account now. I also used MasterCard on a few rentals within the last two months and each time, even if it was for one day, they hold an additional $200.

Is there a hold for Canada ?

Or is no hold an American thing?

Will be renting from Canadian airport location.

As I alluded to in post number 2, I did experience a $200 CAD hold on top of the actual charges, even when I used my visa card. Whereas there was never any hold on my US rentals on either my debit or credit visa cards.

can anyone chime in to what the hertz deposit is?

for any other card and VISA? I frequently rent at YYZ and just am curious

My VISA just got dinged $450 deposit at YYZ.

Jesus Christ.

What does He have to do with it?

See, to me, that's absolutely ridiculous... no car will be rolling in empty and needing $450 of gas, and it's highly unlikely you'd extend your reservation up to it being that much extra... I've heard people arguing, attempting to justify the large deposit by "Well, they are letting you drive off with a $30,000 car for a tiny fractional percentage of the price..." True, but totaling or even being involved in a fender bender in said car will result in damage that far exceeds $450. That's what insurance is for, on credit cards, personal policies, or purchased from the car company. It's just ridiculous.

Guess I'll never use Hertz if I ever rent outside of USA.

Yeah I have insurance with my credit card and I've used it in the past. They don't stuff anyone around at all. They're very quick on the turnaround and completely professional.

Even if I accepted the overpriced LDW, they're still gonna charge me the $450 deposit.

It is 100% ridiculous.

My experience when using a Visa card in the USA is a hold equalling the unpaid rental costs plus 10%. If the rental is prepaid then there will is no hold. (10% of 0 =0).

You have a strange experience. I rented 33 times with a Visa card last year + today. It is NEVER more than the actual charges (I don't do prepay). Never.

I'll be honest with you, as a former rental car manager: if someone can't handle a $200 deposit on their card, I don't really want them renting my car.

You haven't had to call two dozen overdue renters twice a day who won't return their car and won't answer your phone calls and whose cards are declining for the balances due. You haven't had to resort to spending hours Googling for social media profiles to send messages to demanding the return of your vehicle. You haven't had to spend your days combing through neighborhoods and peering in garage door windows to look for your missing car. You haven't had to call all the local taxi companies and put a $200 bounty out for your missing car and pay out on that when the car is called in. You haven't had to call the police and fill out all the paperwork to report a car stolen, wait weeks for a recovery, wait weeks more for the cops to hold it in evidence, and then have to deal with trying to collect hundreds (or thousands) of dollars from the customer for days or weeks of back-due rental rates, fuel, damage, cleaning fees to get the dog hair and smoke and weed smell out of the car, towing and impound fees, etc., etc., etc.

Is a $200 deposit a guarantee that won't happen? Does that happen with everyone who doesn't have $200 to spare on their card? No, but I will say that in the 15 years I've been in this industry and the tens if not hundreds of thousands of rental transactions I've touched, almost every single problematic renter either had only a debit card or a credit card that was maxed to the point it couldn't even take a couple hundred bucks extra. Turns out there's some statistically-significant correlation between people whom banks trust enough to give a credit line large enough that customers can absorb a relatively trivial security deposit of a couple hundred bucks and people who can be trusted to treat the car reasonably, not use it in the commission of a crime, return it on-time or at proactively extend it and willingly pay the extra rental rate for doing so, not just "forget" to return the car, not disassemble the car for parts for their car (need a replacement bumper for your Dodge Charger? why not just rent one and take the bumper off of it!), and not outright steal the car.

Yes, other mitigating factors are a decent credit score, proof that you're an out-of-town resident and are flying out (in the form of an airline ticket), a checking account with a decent balance in it, etc., but honestly, if I were to open my own rental franchise (not something I'd recommend--the margins are slim to negative unless you really work to hire and train a top-notch crew of productive salespeople), I would decline all those rentals and only rent to credit-card holders that have at least a few hundred bucks extra they can spare for a security deposit. That one thing cuts out like 98% of risky renters right there.

You can justify that for infrequent or one-off renters but you cannot justify that for a frequent renter. I am a Hertz President's Circle member. I am not going to run off with the car, steal parts off it, use it in a commission of an offense or some other ridiculous action. In a calendar year, I will rent 40+ times (each rental spanning multiple days usually).

Yeah I can handle $450 deposit from Hertz. Doesn't change the fact it's ridiculous. National and Enterprise doesn't charge me any deposit at the airport.

Yeah I don't call to extend my rentals, why should I? I've never had a branch call me asking me when I am going to return the car, I show up whenever I am ready to return the car and they bill me accordingly. That is the convenience offered.

I agree that the chances of a PC, 5*, or even regular Gold member running off with a car are pretty slim. But if you're a PC, then chances are your credit is good enough and your credit limits are high enough that you wouldn't even notice if Hertz put a $200--or maybe even a $2,000---hold on your card. In fact, I'm a multi-year PC member and didn't even notice until this thread brought it up that my rentals with my Visa aren't getting hit with a $200 deposit. Why should I? I have thousands of dollars of available credit on my card. The authorization falls off after a week or so. I don't even notice it.

Regarding not feeling it necessary to inform them that you won't be returning the car as expected, you may end up paying for that privilege now that Hertz is starting to roll out late-return fees at more and more locations.


The very vast majority of my rentals over the years has been with the USAA discount, as it indeed generally offers a great rate with good benefits. I have never once had or heard of any problems or issues using it. Of note, though, I just discovered today that independent franchisees are not obligated to extend the USAA discount's benefits to customers. :/

No, I'm pretty sure I'd notice and I'd make a big stink if I had a $2,000 hold on my credit card over a car rental seeing as my credit limit is about $3,000. I haven't requested a higher credit limit because I don't particularly need one and I only make a modest salary. We cannot all be rich, corporate clients or on six figure salaries.

The minute Hertz charges me for late-returns is the same minute I move all my reservations back to Enterprise/National and never look back. Their loss..

I guess you are probably right - it might just be the Hertz 'partners' Thrifty and/or Dollar that take 10%. I'll look out next time.

DP: Rented twice in the last 10 days on one-way rentals, was hit with a $200 deposit both times. Not a Gold Plus member though, since I'm still under 21.

Sorry I never checked back in. Completely spaced. No $200 hold showed on my card, nor for any subsequent rentals I've had.

I've been Gold for 20 years, currently 5 star, and on my third rental with them this month (this time in MCO) I see a 600 "pending" charge on my mastercard. Maybe they've always done this and this is the first time I've noticed?

Absque argento omnia vana
 

I rented a car from Hertz, for one day, in Geneva, Switzerland last week, and the hold on my credit card was CHF 450 (~$475).

Update: I was disappointed to find that on my first Hertz rental about a month ago now, I was in fact charged a $200 deposit on top of my $300 rental reservation with my Visa. Because of this, I had to rearrange my travel plans at the last minute. I had $200 locked up that I had allotted to a certain hotel and had to stay somewhere less impressive at the last minute. I was very disappointed. I will just have to mentally add $200 to any reservation total I see online from now on, and I'd suggest people plan for that, as it is listed in their policy, and if the hold does not hit your card, you can consider yourself lucky and take it as a pleasant surprise.

:(

Another DP:
Joined Gold rewards a couple of weeks ago when I turned 21. Rented this weekend, no extra $200 hold. Good stuff :D

Assuming your rental was on a Visa?

Yes, my rental was on a Visa (that was saved to my profile). Spoke to the Assistant Manager at the HLE, he said that it is a policy that there's no $200 hold for Visas when you're a Gold member (and I assume the Visa needs to be added to your profile).

Rentals after your first will not have the $200 deposit, assuming your Visa card is in your Gold Profile and you're renting using Gold.

This was exactly my experience this year. Was taken back during my first rental when I saw the pending charge on my card.

Can someone please confirm something to me please.

I've put in a rental for a Hertz vehicle from early August for 1 week. The total price on the website was approx £240 (I will be renting in Canada fyi) and I agreed to pre-pay £200.
This £200 is showing up as a pending transaction on my Visa credit card (and has remained pending for the last 5 days). Am I right in thinking that this will remain as a pending transaction all the way until I pick up the car in August? Or will they charge me in a day or two and hence I can pay off the £200 by say next Monday and have that space freed up on my credit card again. Just concerned as I don't want to accumulate interest on £200 over the next 3 months

Cheers

I don't think you can accumulate interest on a pending charge. And from my experience, Hertz pre-pay rates may take a while to post.

I don't have experience prepaying with Hertz, so I don't know how long it takes charges to post, but I would certainly expect it to eventually post. They would not keep it as a pending authorization for a period of several months. A merchant has 30 days to process a charge against an authorization before it becomes an invalid authorization (taking more than 30 days to post a charge would be grounds for an automatic reversal if you were to charge it back). Also, they want use of the money now--that's the whole reason you prepaid. They don't get the money until they process the charge.

That said, if you were to have someone place an authorization on your card and never process a charge against it: it varies by card-issuing bank, but an unposted authorization will "fall off" of your card (and thus your available credit returned to you) anywhere from a few days to a month after it shows up. Most banks seem to get rid of them after a week (even if technically the merchant can still claim that money for up to 30 days).

How it works. Gold and non gold rentals
 

Not really. This thread is specific to VISA credit cards and as established earlier, there is no deposit for Gold rentals using a VISA from your Gold profile. Otherwise there is a $200 hold and that's it.
Credit vs debit card info is useful, but it's not applicable to all airport locations. And it's off topic..