Renting a car with bruised credit

[shelikesmorningglories]

Ok.So I called Enterprise to see about renting a car.I am over 25 and have a perfect driving record. I also have a debit card.I was told that a soft credit check will be done(all that means is that your score isn't affected) and that there would be a $400 hold on my debit card. Enterprise takes its money($119) and then it is up to my bank to refund the rest-which could take a few days or a few weeks:(


Please tell me I have some options somewhere.If credit wasn't an issue then I would probably be driving a brand new reliable car and would not need to rent one for my trip

[courtdog]

As an ex enterpriser (17 Years!) I can tell you that very few of the major RAC companies will even consider renting on a debit card. Hertz required a form to be completed and forwarded to their corp offices for approval with a 2 week process to issue an ID to allow to rent via Debit. Most other majors wont even talk to you.
Depending on where you are, some local, non majors will rent with a smaller deposit but will ding your credit with a credit check. But if your headed on a long trip you risk having issues if their car breaks down where they cant service you you're in even more trouble.
I will say E does welcome debit card holders, especially weekend customers. Most of the decision making process happens at the local level at Enterprise. I would recommend talking with the branch manager at the office and not asking to waive the deposit, but maybe just taking 200 + cost. If they know you, know where you live, and know where you're going, they are likely to make exceptions. Most managers want 3 things, get the car back, get paid and make the customer happy. If they know they can do all three by talking with you, they should help. Big tip is go and talk in person. Be honest, If they're trained right, they will want to help and put the car on the road!

[kijip]

We were credit card free for a few years (now we are pay off 1 card every month sort of people to make bill paying etc very easy) and we never had any trouble renting a car from Hertz. We did not have bad credit but we did not have to jump through a lot of extra hoops or really verify that either. Enterprise tried to give us trouble on a car insurance rented vehicle (other dude's insurance, he dented our car massively) but I talked to a manager and they went ahead with the rental anyways. We rented cars a number of times in 2004, 2005 and 2006 via Hertz with no credit card.