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I get the problems. But travelling to another country is to research and accept that things are different. For example, if you rent a car in Argentina, they hardly have any automatic car, all stick, unless you do a special request weeks in advance. You could complain all day about rental cars ruining vacations, or you can just research ahead of time and ensure that what you’re trying to do is possible in that country. Lack of credit card in the US will cause you tons of other problems, nobody cares about debit, better come prepared.

I agree you should research heavily before holidaying in developing countries

I don't think Argentina is usually considered a "developing" country, even with the incredibly wide range of meaning the phrase is five these days.

The joke was that the USA was the developing country.

Fun fact, you can't use a credit card to tank gas in the US. When you try, they'll ask for a zipcode, which you don't have since your card is not in the US. Luckily they do take debit cards so you can just use your debit card. But good luck finding that out during your research.

I suspect that if you claim your credit card is a debit card it might work as well, but I haven't tried it yet.

Can't you just pay inside with it?

Yes, you can usually pay inside. Also, just entering any 5 digit zip code will often work. Had no issues with random 5 digit zip codes and my UK and HK-issued cards at gas pumps in the USA.

Weird, I tried my friends' zipcode and it didn't work. Maybe I got it wrong or something.

It probably depends on the company. Most gas pumps in the US only support swipe payments (as opposed to chip based EMV or contactless). The gas station gets charged lower credit card network fees if they submit address info with the swiped payment. Whether the address is correct or not doesn't affect the fees, and it's usually up to the company to decide if they want payments to be declined when there's an address mismatch.

Mismatch between which addresses?

Why can’t I fill my car anywhere, regardless of where I live?

I ran into a similar problem, the other way in Norway. I couldn't buy gas with my USA credit card because I had no PIN. The station was unmanned. Fortunately, I had a debit card and could use that and it's PIN instead.

likewise, I've def run into this problem in Europe (several years ago). Some unmanned ticket kiosk for the local train/public transport would invariably only accept credit cards and require a pin, which I would not have. I think at some point I found out you could request a pin for you card, but I never actually got that to work either..

> ...I think at some point I found out you could request a pin for you card...

Wouldn't such PIN transaction amount to a 'cash advance' with a draconian interest rate?

My (European) credit cards require a PIN for most payments, not only for cash advances. Presumably, a payment for fuel with PIN wouldn't be considered a cash advance.

If I did want cash, I'd use a debit card and it would be interest free (assuming there's money in my account), but I'd still have to pay a currency conversion fee and/or spread.

For a Canadian card, put the numbers from your postcode then add zeroes until you get to five digits. I've never tried this myself, but gas stations in Niagara Falls NY will commonly have signs about it.

Can confirm that this works for Canadian credit cards at the gas stations I've used in Washington and Nevada. (In case the parent was unclear: If your postal code is A1B 2C3, your "zip code" is 12300.)

Not true, it will bypass the ZIP requirement based on BIN, the BIN is the first 6 digits of the credit card, or bank identification number. They will not enforce zip on foreign non USA issued credit cards.

I've used Japanese credit cards on the same pumps I use USA based one, and no issue at all. Both Visa and JCB branded.

Worse comes to worse, go inside and do a purchase via credit card for gas. The same way as if the point of sale at the pump was broken or defective, no gas station will refuse this. If worse comes to worse, just say the machine wouldn't take your card - works easier then explaining you're a tourist with a foreign card.

I’ve noticed that touchless cards (with the symbol that looks like a sideways wifi logo) don’t ask for a zip code when you use then touchlessly. Not sure how common this feature is on cards issued outside the US though.

I have been asked for a zip code buying gas with a tap to pay card recently. I assume that’s going to be more common.

The terminal on the pump will ask for a zipcode. If you can't pay at the pump (which sometimes happens even for locals for no apparent reason), you can step out of the car, go inside, and tell the cashier which pump you are at, and pay as if you were buying any other product.

If it’s during open hours, you can always walk inside the store and buy gas from the attendant which should let you use your card without a zip.

Yes you can use your card at the pump. Just look up what people do in the US with credit cards from your country. It's going to be something like 00000, or another number in your address, or the numbers in your postal code plus extra digits.

Plus you can pay inside, as others said, or do contactless at the pump with your saved card in the phone and you won't get asked.

Sorry you had a bad experience, but this is google-able...

> Fun fact, you can't use a credit card to tank gas in the US. When you try, they'll ask for a zipcode, which you don't have since your card is not in the US.

Yes you can, you just need to go inside and pay (with the credit card) at the counter.

Sometimes if a keypad number that I need is broken or whatever, this can happen to a local as well. But can always pay inside.

Hardy-har-har. Found yet another smug European. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

> You could complain all day about rental cars ruining vacations, or you can just research ahead of time

As I mention in my other reply, I had done a fair bit of research but I somehow had missed the fact that the credit card had to be in the same name as the drivers license.

This has never been an issue here in Norway, and I didn't see it mentioned in my research.

So I thought it would be good enough if we used my credit card, similar to how I've paid for rentals here in Norway many times.

I'm a Norwegian that recently rented a car in the US, actually had a great experience. Thankfully, I had researched renting a car in the US, so I got a credit card before I left. A credit card is always smart to use while travelling anyway.

For some weird reason, I was charged way less than quoted at the reservation (~$2300 instead of ~$3700), seems like Alamo somehow forgot to charge the "Extra - Time & Distance" line on my reservation invoice. Can't really complain.

> ...For some weird reason, I was charged way less than quoted at the reservation (~$2300 instead of ~$3700).

Not sure about the rental class and duration... but seeing these totals for a rental car raised my eyebrows by surprise. I guess the prices went way way up...

There was a massive spike in rental prices this year since the rental companies in the US sold a good portion of their fleets when covid hit and travel disappeared. When travel started to come back, the rental companies discovered that they couldn't buy new cars due to supply chain issues. The result were prices in the $100-$500+ range in popular destinations. It's gotten a bit more reasonable recently.

I rented an SUV for 46 days, drove it across the US.

That makes sense, almost 7 wks, about $330/wk.

Weekly deals are often better than daily, not sure if there are monthly deals. Probably there should be some kind of long-term special deals too.

Did you buy a car or rent it?

> Thankfully, I had researched renting a car in the US, so I got a credit card before I left.

I had done some research too, so knew a credit card was needed, but somehow had missed the part where it had to be in the same name as the driver. As I said, here in Norway I've rented cars many times without driving them, no questions asked.

I get that they prefer a credit card, but it didn't cross my mind they cared which one they got. The manager said it was because I could claim I had nothing to do with the rental, which I get now, I just hadn't thought about all these ways of scamming the rental company.

Different countries, different systems.

I had no problem paying with my credit card for a n Avis rental with a contract written out to and signed by my spouse at the time.

That was in the UK.

> My SO has a driving license but only a debit card. I had a credit card but no driving license. Since we were not from the US, they explained, the driver had to have a credit card. Mine wouldn't do.

I ran into exactly this problem maybe 20 years ago in San Francisco, but we were both Americans. Ended up getting a rental from some super dodgy outfit: it was obvious that this combination put us in the “might be poor” category in America, even though we were definitely not. In the end it was illuminating how quickly you could be marginalized by just not fitting the standard pattern even as well-earning white Californians living in good neighborhoods.

In Italy, Debit Cards are also the norm and still verified with Avis if they were accepting them and they confirmed they do. And yet, when I tried to pick up a car in Milan with a debit card, I was told that they don't allow debit cards and therefore I could not pick up the card and they would be keeping the money I paid for the whole week.

I will NEVER use Avis again and encourage everyone to do the same. !00% Scam company.

After the whole ordeal I called again and their sales department insists that they accept debit cards.

Should have recorded the call to use in your fraud case to charge back the money with the help of your bank

Had it been a credit card one could do a chargeback based on service not provided. But on a debit card.. good luck.

Always use a credit card for your own safety.

> Had it been a credit card one could do a chargeback based on service not provided. But on a debit card.. good luck.

Can you elaborate? I live in europe and basically all mc/visa are actually debit cards. Yet i never had an issue with chargeback. In fact they always warn that it may take a long time to process with mc/visa. But the next day the bank refunds me the money tentatively already, presumably because they're confident i'll win?

> I live in europe and basically all mc/visa are actually debit cards.

I doubt that is true, can you expand on that with some references?

I know there are many cards which are both a credit card and a debit card but that just means two cards in one package. But credit and debit are still fundamentally different networks with different rules. A debit transaction hits your account right away and the money has been taken out. A credit transaction settles later and can be paid from any source, it is not tied to any specific account.

Its debit cards but with a mastercard/visa logo.

Even for big purchases/traveling credit cards are not that common.

> I live in europe and basically all mc/visa are actually debit cards.

That's not true. I'd expect that most of the credit cards are MC/Visa, and there are more debit cards in EU than credit cards, and among debit cards there are many debit MC/Visa, but that does mean that "basicall all mc/visa" in Europe are debit cards.

Edit. Found some stats. https://ec.europa.eu/competition/sectors/financial_services/... "Report on the application of Regulation (EU) 2015/751 on interchange fees for card-based payment transactions".

Page 24, Fig. 5 and page 25, Fig. 6. Debit cards in EU in 2016: 78% of the transactions are with domestic schemes, 99.5% of the rest were MC/Visa. Credit cards: 68% used domestic schemes, 94.3% of the rest were MC/Visa. It's not the most recent data, but still proves the point.

In other words, MC/Visa were used a lot both as credit cards, and as debit cards.

I actually have. I'll see if I can post it

I thought the usual deal about the debit cards and rental has been that one can pay with the debit card on returning the car, but needs a credit card in own name for renting the car.

Still, the credit card may be needed in case of unpaid tolls/ parking tickets, which may get posted after a few weeks.

Btw, quite commonly in the US the debit cards have a Visa (MC) logo, so may be charged as such without the need for PIN. Only cash withdrawal will require a PIN. But I guess the card number identifies these as debit cards nevertheless.

I used Avis in Italy many times, and don't remember that it ever were possible to get the car without a credit card. Actually, it's in their FAQ:

https://faq.avisautonoleggio.it/Res-Channeling/Reservation-E...

In short, the translation is: prepaid cards (and only certain types, not Electron/Cirrus/etc) can be used to pay online only, and another card among those accepted (i.e. a credit card) should be presented at the desk.

The UK version of the FAQ tells basically the same:

https://faq.avis.co.uk/1492093922

"PREPAID cards are accepted online however they are not accepted at the counter which means a non-PREPAID card must be shown at the rental station (together with the PREPAID card)"

It's strange -- I would expect debit cards to be less risky because they're backed by actual funds from a bank account, rather than credit cards where someone can not pay/default on the loan.

That's not the rental car company's problem, it's the bank's problem.

Credit cards allow them to get a lot more money after the fact than a debit card AFAIK in case you damage the car.

They can charge more on the credit card later if necessary (like if the car is kept too long or is damaged), whereas they cannot charge more on the debit card as it was authorized only that one time using the PIN.

They could think about a deposit and reserve that amount on the debit card, then remove that reservation if everything is fine. Depends on legislative environment of course: this likely won't fly if they would be stuck with fines and unpaid parking tickets after a renter left.

Nobody would pay a deposit of the size that's enough to cover a damaged car. Car damage is very expensive (a simple fender-bender can run four figures), and people would be reluctant to lock up thousands of dollars to facilitate a 100 dollar rental.

Actually it's very much the norm to block a retainer on the card when you rent a car in most of Europe.

The amount can vary depending on the rental company, the type of car and - obviously - the location and is usually an amount between 1'000 and 3'000 Euro.

It's usually the amount of the deductible if you break the car.

Some hotels will do that too.

The amount is released after you return the car, but during the time of rental it's deducted from your card limit.

E: clarification

3000 Euro just to rent a car? That doesn't sound very practical. In fact, I've rented in Europe and I don't remember ever paying any deposits like that. That'd definitely block any other operation on the card, I didn't have very high limits back then - I'd remember something like that.

Putting a charge through to visa if you damage the car is more reliable than trying to charge a debit card. In the US people without credit cards often have poor credit, often from not paying back debts (or so goes the stigma), and I'm not sure if you can just charge more to a debit card later (it's been a while since I've used one).

Plus, then if you can't pay, it's visa's problem, not theirs.

Usually not Visa's but issuing bank's. Visa would just be moving money around, but the actual credit would be extended by the issuing bank.

If debit card transaction is refused, the rental company is left holding the bag. CC transaction has much greater chance to come through, and if the cardholder has no money, it's CC company's problem now.

This can be solved for debit cards by charging at the start of the rental, but what if the renter damages the car (or doesn't fuel up, or does anything else that needs additional charge), and again the charge is refused? The debit again is much more dangerous for the rental company here - CC can be charged (provided the limit hasn't been used up) much easier. True, people can default on CC payments - but it's not the rental company problem, it's the bank's problem. That's why they charge the outrageous interest on cards (20%+).

The CC can't be charged for any big amount though. I don't think the value of a 1000USD credit compared to the value of a car is of any assurance in practice. Also the CC can be almost maxed out anyway.

I guess the rental companies that fuss about CCs has some kind of kickback.

I’ve made an $8000 purchase on a credit card. You can do much more with a quick call.

I’ve even made a $25,000 purchase that I was reimbursed for.

What's "big amount"? I've charged multiple thousands of dollars on my cards, many times. Of course, you need a high-limit card, but if you have a good credit score, no problem getting at least one card with 20K-30K limit - you could literally pay for a whole car with such a card, if the car dealership agreed to eat the processing fee (they probably won't). And AFAIR there are ways to check how much is left to the limit.

Why would you ever want to use a debit card instead of a credit card? It’s pure madness, if you get scammed you lose all your money, while with the credit card you can simply do a reverse charge. It also usually includes insurance for everything that you buy with that for a couple of months.

It's just weird to have a card that instead of giving access to your own funds might also put you in debt. As for those things you've mentioned - they are US specific. I'm pretty sure that all of the extra services are tied to a specific card plan and will not get better with switching to credit.

The same advantages apply in other parts of the world too - at least the UK.

My experience with the US is if they ask for a credit card you can just give them a European debit card and it will work fine. I think maybe US debit cards don't support charging and refunding a deposit or something?

I've had the same problem in the EU, we were basically ripped off by Booking.com Transport Ltd. Support was not helpful at all and we did not get any kind of refund. So we went to a local car rental company's reception desk and rented another car. Every time we rented from small companies we had no issues. Sixt, Herz, Avis and Budget are the worst. Europacar ripped off my in laws of the fuel deposit.

Some places will let you use a debit card, but want like a $2,500 deposit. Enterprise, I think?

Enterprise will accept a debit card and an up-to-date utility bill. But not at the airport, only in the retail locations not beside airports. At least officially. As the gp said, they can all relent and let you do it.