averind

I have been renting from NationalCar for 1 day for a while now on weekends. They have always placed a hold on my credit card which eventually went away (4-5 days?) but this time I rented a car for 2 days starting Friday night. To my surprise I saw that the $250 deposit has posted to my credit card on Tuesday morning. I already opened a case and they have been investigating it for 2 days now without any answers.

Isn't deposit supposed to be a hold on credit card and not an actual charge that posts? That has always been the case for me with this location.

ctuttle

My experience with National has been they charge the amount of the rental when I pick up the car and there is no deposit. I believe the credit card shows it as "pending" or something until the car is returned and then goes as a regular charge. I'm not sure if this is an Emerald Club policy, but it is one policy I like about National.

I know Avis puts a hold of the estimated rental cost, or $200, whichever is higher, and then credits back the difference when you return the car. Hertz puts a hold of the estimated total plus $250 and in my experience is very slow to remove the deposit, especially on one way rentals.

With all the holds that are put on credit cards if you rent a couple of cars and stay at a few different hotels during the week you can have a lot of money drawing against the credit limit on your card. I have seen hotel holds linger for close to 30 days, as they keep the hold but charge you a second time for the actual bill. I'm sure it is legal but it annoys me when I see several of these holds on my card on months where I have a lot of travel. I don't want to be checking into a hotel at midnight and have to call the credit card company explaining I'm not over limit if you ignore all of the lingering holds on the card that shouldn't be there.

newfbc

National is typically a hold on the estimated rental amount.. except at non Corporate locations.. they're free to do whatever they want as far as I know. It looks like they hold got put through as a charge instead of an authorization.

Ron.

aww3583

I was told today this specific location (PNS) put into place a policy effective 5/31 that all rentals to customers with local addresses will incur a $200 deposit in addition to the hold for the entire price of the rental.

1. I've rented twice since 5/31 and there's been no additional hold in addition to the amount of the rental.

2. Why just renters with a local address? What is "local"? Same city? County?

NCLSEA123

Local Renters at airports carry more risk than someone from out of town. Some companies won't even rent to locals at certain airports, or require additional documentation, such as proof of insurance. "Local" is probably somewhat up to the discretion of the agent, but I would call it the metropolitan area of whatever the airport serves.

A CC authorization really isn't a big deal, even at National. I've seen agents at Enterprise charge the person in front of me at the desk over a $250 deposit for a smaller car than I had, while I got charged nothing beyond the cost of the rental.

Brighton Line

I just rented last weekend from JFK as a city resident. They put thru a hold of the entire rental cost plus $250 on the credit card for a 3 day rental. When I returned the car they actually gave me a receipt for a charge of only two days though the return was 2 hours early on the 3 day reservation.

So far the hold for over $300 is still there and the $70 charge has yet to show up but it is only Tuesday.

hpark21

This sounds rather absurd. So, same person flying into an airport from other state (or even country) is all of sudden "safer"?

I would think it would be more risky to rent someone coming from outside of the area since that person would be physically GONE by definition in a few days/weeks/etc. Also that person isn't more familiar with the area so there is more chance of the person getting into an accident. (Unless that is some how the companies bank on it to make more money)

NCLSEA123

You'd think so, but the rental car companies have experienced otherwise, hence the rules some impose on local renters.

newfbc

At Budget YVR they have a policy to not rent to locals. You are supposed to show an air ticket.

Ron.