I reserved a car from Budget's website for my vacation, printed out my confirmation and everything about a week ago. I know you pay after you turn the car back in however you choose to, but isn't it normal to hold something on your card in the meantime? I remember their site saying you had to reserve it with a card that had at least $100 available on it so I figured they'd at least hold that. Anyone know?? Just curious. TIA
Ahhhhahhahaha... Finally a question I could answer.... Ok.. here is the deal.. when you reserve they don't hold the funds until you actually pick the car up... and yes from the few times I rented from them it seems they charge (Hold) 100
From my experience, they usually hold anywhere from $100 to the estimated total cost of the rental (ie - 7 days at $60/day = $420). Renting internationally is totally different - for instance, when I rented from Hertz in Rio de Janiero, they required a $1,000 USD deposit held on your CC. Hope this helps.
I used to worked with a rental car company as CS manager for 2 years, WE ALWAYS put an authorization on you card, and it depends on how long you take the car, and what type of car you take, for a compact we usually take 100-150$, for larger $250, for luxury we go as high as 500-1K... and if you argue why we do so,,is in the contract in small fine prints...
Thanks everybody! I guess that explains it! I won't be picking it up until the middle of July, that's why I haven't seen anything being held yet. Duh!! I was getting nervous thinking something would go wrong! I just got a Compact because i need it for 11 days and didn't want to pay over $300!! I'm stingy, I would rather spend my vac $ on actual fun! I'll quit worrying now! LOL!
I rented from Dollar for 16 days and they put authorization on my card for about $800.00. It was the rental plus 10% or so. They tell you right on their website what they will put it on for. The funny thing was that the authorization dropped off after a few days. I usually rent from Hertz for 2-3 days at a time for business and they usually authorize for the cost of the rental plus 10%.
I do this..."HOLD" the car with card #1...so if they "HOLD" $1,000 no big deal... When you "FINALIZE" the bill...use card #2... Hotel card #3 & #4 Card #5 for all the other "STUFF"... "HOLDS" drop off in about a week...(or less)... If you only have 2 cards...ALWAYS BRING BOTH...you MAY have problems with all the "HOLDS"... You MAY be able to have the "HOTEL" call their card center to "RELEASE" the original "HOLD" when you "FINALIZE" the bill...
Budget has changed their policy in Manhattan in the last month, they now require a $500 credit card deposit on ALL rentals. Used to be they did $300 or the amount of the rental, whichever was greater. Budget also dropped unlimited miles in Manhattan in the last two weeks! So you can imagine I won't be renting there anymore. Budget's general deposit policy in other markets remains at $300, I called them up. National/Alamo and Avis do not charge deposits, they only block the amount of the rental. National went into bankruptcy because 9/11 caused their business to disappear, so their rates have been much higher than in the past.
