A Question About Renting a Car
February 2, 2013 2:26 PM Subscribe
I am supposed to be traveling later in the month, and I will need a rental car. However, I cannot afford to pay for the car myself...
My boss wants to pay for the car on her credit card (the company is new and doesnt have corporate cards yet). I know that hotels will accept 3rd party payments, but I don't know if you can rent a car in the same way.
My google-fu has failed me, so I turn to the hivemind...
My boss wants to pay for the car on her credit card (the company is new and doesnt have corporate cards yet). I know that hotels will accept 3rd party payments, but I don't know if you can rent a car in the same way.
My google-fu has failed me, so I turn to the hivemind...
Call them up, and call the specific branch of the hire company you're going to rent from - I've come across different branches of the same company having different policies on what payment they'll take.
posted by Coobeastie at 2:32 PM on February 2, 2013
posted by Coobeastie at 2:32 PM on February 2, 2013
I had to address this problem a few weeks ago. I'm in the Toronto area right now, but I ended up looking at most of the major rental companies' (Budget, Enterprise, Dollar, etc) US and Canadian websites for their policies and procedures. The gist of what I discovered is this: While there is information on-line to suggest that "some branches" will release a rental without the driver having a credit card physically present with them, NONE of the branches of any company I called (15+) would allow me to rent a car with a cash or debit deposit of any size. Nor did they offer any kind of 3rd-party authorization on a card like a hotel would.
But if you have your own credit card and enough balance to cover a deposit, it should be no problem to pay for the booking (via the web or whatever) with your boss's card and use your card only for the deposit. Multiple agents told me that, and a few of the websites explicitly said it was okay in their F.A.Q.s.
posted by chudmonkey at 2:45 PM on February 2, 2013
But if you have your own credit card and enough balance to cover a deposit, it should be no problem to pay for the booking (via the web or whatever) with your boss's card and use your card only for the deposit. Multiple agents told me that, and a few of the websites explicitly said it was okay in their F.A.Q.s.
posted by chudmonkey at 2:45 PM on February 2, 2013
You have to rent the car with a card in the name of the driver - rental companies will not budge on that (I've tried begging, pleading, charming, yelling and everything in between with every rental company pretty much ever). I have rented cars often with this exact requirement - the only time I have been able to do this is rent it in my name, and then pay for it with a different card at the end of the rental. Usually, if the card I am using is a company card there is no issue with paying with it even though my name isn't on it. However, if it is a personal card they may want the card holder there when you hand the car back in.
What you can't do (at least without a pre-approved company account with the rental company) is rent and pay for a car in advance with an additional card not in the name of the driver, which is THE STUPIDEST THING EVER IN TEH WORLD. But they won't do it.
posted by Brockles at 3:21 PM on February 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
What you can't do (at least without a pre-approved company account with the rental company) is rent and pay for a car in advance with an additional card not in the name of the driver, which is THE STUPIDEST THING EVER IN TEH WORLD. But they won't do it.
posted by Brockles at 3:21 PM on February 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
But if you have your own credit card and enough balance to cover a deposit, it should be no problem to pay for the booking (via the web or whatever) with your boss's card and use your card only for the deposit. Multiple agents told me that, and a few of the websites explicitly said it was okay in their F.A.Q.s.
To clarify, I am agreeing with that. You can book and 'pay' for the rental in advance, but you won't be able to drive the car away without them taking your card against the rental. I've never been able to pay for all the rental up front and not need to use my own card for the duration of the rental (even if I was able to swap it back to the original card at the end of the rental in most examples).
posted by Brockles at 3:26 PM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
To clarify, I am agreeing with that. You can book and 'pay' for the rental in advance, but you won't be able to drive the car away without them taking your card against the rental. I've never been able to pay for all the rental up front and not need to use my own card for the duration of the rental (even if I was able to swap it back to the original card at the end of the rental in most examples).
posted by Brockles at 3:26 PM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
My company set up an account with Enterprise. I haven't used it yet, so don't know if they still need your card for a security deposit, but worth checking out if you would be renting more for work.
posted by dottiechang at 5:51 PM on February 2, 2013
posted by dottiechang at 5:51 PM on February 2, 2013
Yeah, it's a bunch of BS but they won't accept a 3rd party payment. However, would your boss be willing to make you an authorized user and get a card in your name on her account? This is what I did when I paid for someone else's rental car.
posted by DoubleLune at 6:40 PM on February 2, 2013
posted by DoubleLune at 6:40 PM on February 2, 2013
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posted by greta simone at 2:28 PM on February 2, 2013 [1 favorite]