Before you dive into the car rental pool, there are a few things you need to know. First, for your safety, and second, for the safety of your wallet.
Obviously, when you rent a car, you are getting a pretty expensive item in your hands, and at the same time, it is very susceptible to breakdowns or damage.
It is not even necessarily your fault. Just a coincidence, for example, a stone that can jump out from under the wheels of another car at any moment and hit your car, scratch the paint or break the windshield. Or, in the parking lot, the car parked next to you can catch on your driveway and leave a thick scratch. You may not even be there. You may not even know it. There are many examples.
The rental company that gives you their car has to protect itself somehow. Credit agreements are usually long, multi-page documents written in legal language, most often in a foreign language.
When renting, you may have one minute to read it and sign the document.
Of course, someone will say that you can try to read the contract template in advance before borrowing. Yes, you can. However, I don't know anyone who could read the contract templates from several dozen rental companies in advance and finally choose one. It's a shame to even try.
There is no magic way to get rid of responsibility for the property entrusted to you by the rental company (although for an appropriate fee this responsibility can be transferred to the insurance company, but more on that later). However, there are ways and patterns of behavior that allow you to reduce risks and rent a car as safely as possible, without having to delve into the content of contracts. I will describe the whole process as briefly and specifically as possible.
How is the security of the rental company ensured?
When the rental company gives you a car, it basically has to take care of one thing: to provide financing for the repair or purchase of a new car in the event of its damage or theft.
Of course, the potential financier is you! Clear. You take the car, you are responsible for it.
So what does the rental company do? When you rent a car, they ask you for a credit card with a fairly high limit, which, in the event of problems, will become a source of money for them to finance the repair. A deposit is placed on the card, you sign the contract, get the keys and leave.
The deposit is the first very important detail to pay attention to when browsing offers.
What is a credit card deposit?
A deposit is an amount that the rental company blocks on your credit card. This amount does not disappear from your card. It is still there, but it cannot be used.
Example:
Let's say you have a credit card with a limit of 1000 EUR. You rent a car from a rental company, and the rental conditions contain information about the deposit. 800 EUR.
You pick up the car. Then the rental company will place a deposit on the card upon receipt: 800 EUR according to the contract. There are still 1000 EUR on your card, but 800 EUR are blocked, and until the block is removed, you cannot use these funds. It remains at your disposal 200 EUR.
If you had planned to use the same card to pay for a hotel that costs, for example, 400 euros, you will not succeed. The deposit will not be returned earlier than 24 hours after the return of the car, and often it takes more than a week. It is worth remembering this, and it is best to have another (debit) card or, accordingly, a higher limit on the credit card to pay for other obligations.
