car rental without credit card?

Is it possible to rent a car in the US by handing over a large cash
deposit? A friend tried to do this and was told NO amount would be
sufficient. He offered a thousand - still got no car.
He's one of those die-hards who insists on paying cash for
everything.

Kalmia wrote:
Is it possible to rent a car in the US by handing over a large cash
deposit? A friend tried to do this and was told NO amount would be
sufficient. He offered a thousand - still got no car.
He's one of those die-hards who insists on paying cash for
everything.

Some agencies will allow debit card rentals, provided their are
sufficient funds in the account, which they put a hold on.

Even if someone has excellent credit, agencies are wary of renting to
someone clueless enough to pay cash for everything.

On Mar 1, 4:47*pm, Kalmia wrote:
Is it possible to rent a car in the US by handing over a large cash
deposit? *A friend tried to do this and was told NO amount would be
sufficient. *He offered a thousand - still got no car.
He's one of those die-hards who insists on paying cash for
everything.


Paying cash for rental cars (or airline tickets) raises alarms at the
national security agencies. Seems terrorists also insist on paying
cash for everything.

On Mon, 1 Mar 2010 16:47:08 -0800 (PST), Kalmia
wrote:

Is it possible to rent a car in the US by handing over a large cash
deposit? A friend tried to do this and was told NO amount would be
sufficient. He offered a thousand - still got no car.
He's one of those die-hards who insists on paying cash for
everything.

Maybe a debit card, but those can be tricky as they put a large hold
on the account.

As far as a cash deposit. Think about this from the rental company's
perspective. First, a credit card that receivess an authorization
gives some (a little) assurance that the person isn't using a fake ID.
Plus, they can hit the credit card for damages.

Second, this introduces a large amount of cash that the rental agency
is responsible for and has to deal with. Plus, if damage is found
later, they don't have any recourse if they've returned the cash.

Does your friend just not HAVE a credit card? At all? He can always
pay cash when he returns the car.

I can appreciate the position of not having any credit cards, I just
don't know how practical it really is, especially when traveling and
having to carry large amounts of cash.

On Mon, 1 Mar 2010 16:47:08 -0800 (PST), Kalmia wrote:
Is it possible to rent a car in the US by handing over a large cash
deposit? A friend tried to do this and was told NO amount would be
sufficient. He offered a thousand - still got no car.
He's one of those die-hards who insists on paying cash for
everything.

No problem. Put down a deposit equal to the value of the car.

In message AZ
Nomad was claimed to have wrote:

On Mon, 1 Mar 2010 16:47:08 -0800 (PST), Kalmia wrote:
Is it possible to rent a car in the US by handing over a large cash
deposit? A friend tried to do this and was told NO amount would be
sufficient. He offered a thousand - still got no car.
He's one of those die-hards who insists on paying cash for
everything.

No problem. Put down a deposit equal to the value of the car.

Oddly this doesn't work either, or at least it didn't a few years ago
when we made this exact offer.

Basically the situation was that I had a credit card but no drivers'
license, my girlfriend had a drivers' license but no credit card.

I was willing to put down my credit card and sign whatever was
necessary, as was my dad with his credit card, and we offered the
purchase price of the car as a bank draft (or cash if it came down to
that), but without a matching drivers license and credit card, they
simply had no options for us at all.

Since we got her a credit card we've never had issues, but in this
particular case we had a funeral to get to in another city and didn't
have time to get a card issued. Interestingly they'll take her prepaid
card (which has no imprinted name, just a name printed in ink) as well
as her real Visa now that she has one but unfortunately she had neither
at the time.

AZ Nomad wrote:
On Mon, 1 Mar 2010 16:47:08 -0800 (PST), Kalmia wrote:
Is it possible to rent a car in the US by handing over a large cash
deposit? A friend tried to do this and was told NO amount would be
sufficient. He offered a thousand - still got no car.
He's one of those die-hards who insists on paying cash for
everything.

No problem. Put down a deposit equal to the value of the car.

They won't accept that. Of course the $1000 he offered does not begin to
cover the value of the car, but the agencies aren't equipped to handle
$20,000 cash. It's not just the money either, it's the concern that
anyone trying to pay cash has ulterior motives. It's easy to get a fake
drivers license, but a matching credit card that actually works is a bit
harder.

On Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:24:41 -0800, SMS wrote:
AZ Nomad wrote:
On Mon, 1 Mar 2010 16:47:08 -0800 (PST), Kalmia wrote:
Is it possible to rent a car in the US by handing over a large cash
deposit? A friend tried to do this and was told NO amount would be
sufficient. He offered a thousand - still got no car.
He's one of those die-hards who insists on paying cash for
everything.

No problem. Put down a deposit equal to the value of the car.

They won't accept that. Of course the $1000 he offered does not begin to
cover the value of the car, but the agencies aren't equipped to handle
$20,000 cash. It's not just the money either, it's the concern that
anyone trying to pay cash has ulterior motives. It's easy to get a fake
drivers license, but a matching credit card that actually works is a bit
harder.

If you can't acquire a credit card, then just go to the classifieds
and buy a car. :-p

On Mar 2, 12:39*pm, AZ Nomad wrote:
On Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:24:41 -0800, SMS wrote:
AZ Nomad wrote:
On Mon, 1 Mar 2010 16:47:08 -0800 (PST), Kalmia wrote:
Is it possible torentacarin the US by handing over a large cash
deposit? *A friend tried to do this and was told NO amount would be
sufficient. *He offered a thousand - still got nocar.
He's one of those die-hards who insists on paying cash for
everything.

No problem. Put down a deposit equal to the value of thecar.
They won't accept that. Of course the $1000 he offered does not begin to
cover the value of thecar, but the agencies aren't equipped to handle
$20,000 cash. It's not just the money either, it's the concern that
anyone trying to pay cash has ulterior motives. It's easy to get a fake
drivers license, but a matchingcreditcardthat actually works is a bit
harder.

If you can't acquire acreditcard, then just go to the classifieds
and buy acar. :-p

He has a car, but doesn't trust it for a long trip of 2500 miles each
way.

Kalmia wrote:

He has a car, but doesn't trust it for a long trip of 2500 miles each
way.

If it were under 4000 miles r/t he could buy a GM car with a moneyback
guarantee, and bring it back after 31 days.