Believe it or not, this is one of the most confusing questions that ultimately leads to some of the more vehement misunderstandings at a rental counter. Let’s see if I can clear this up some ...
First of all, most companies require the primary driver to have a major credit card. Some even require each additional non-spousal driver to have one as well (each driver is legally responsible for the car, after all).
Now, here’s where the misunderstanding starts. Check/debit cards and credit cards are not the same thing, regardless of whether they have a Visa™ logo on them or not! “What?,” you say, “the commercials on TV say they are the same thing!” When it comes to renting a car; I assure you, they are not! (This will; I am sure, one day make for an interesting false advertising lawsuit by some litigious sort). The difference between the two is really quite simple as far as rental car companies are concerned. One of them (the credit card) required a company to do a credit check on you and the other one (the check/debit card) is given to anyone who simply deposits a fairly minimal amount of money into an account. When a company is handing over an automobile with an average value of $20,000 to a customer, they feel a little more confident in the responsibility of an individual who has been deemed “credit worthy” than one who has not. This does not mean that the individual who is using a check/debit card has any worse credit or ability to pay his/her debts than the person who does have a credit card (quite the opposite is true in some cases). It’s simply the cheapest way of doing a credit check on the person who is renting a car (someone else paid for it, after all).
To further complicate matters, there are banks issuing check cards that also contain a line of credit on them. This means that this type of card; although it is says “check card” on it, is actually a credit card as well. How these type of cards is handled by car rental companies is much more random, since they are not commonplace and few companies have policies that address the combination check card/credit card. Smaller, local companies will probably be more likely to make a follow-up call to the card’s bank and accept this type of card than the larger companies that have throngs of people waiting in their lines.
To make matters worse, many rental car companies (even the big, major ones) have constantly changing policies regarding check cards or leave it up to each branch’s discretion. This means that a branch of XYZ Rent A Car in Omaha may always accept your check card, but XYZ Rent A Car in Orlando will not. It may also mean that XYZ Rent A Car in Orlando may “bend the rules” and accept the check card during a particularly slow period but refuses to accept it when things are busy. Of course, there is always the possibility that a lazy or unobservant car rental agent broke company policy and accepted it one time because they didn’t notice or chose to ignore the “check card” distinction on the card with the Visa™ logo; causing false customer expectations the next time that customer rents from the same company.
So, what do you do if you have a check/debit card or one of the combination check/credit cards? You could check the car rental company’s web site but I would go one step further (since; as I mentioned above, local policies frequently differ from corporate policies). I would speak to a manager at the actual branch location that you will be renting a car from and get it in writing from that manager that they will accept the check/debit card and any other policies that go along with the acceptance of that card.
A few other things to keep in mind ...
Whether you are using a check card or credit card; if there is not enough remaining balance available, it is neither. It is just a card and is worthless as far as renting a car is concerned.
Most rental car companies require that the entire rental be paid for with one card and; if there is not a high enough balance remaining on it, will not split the rental over two or more cards. Further, if you offer a credit card and it is declined for not having enough money available on it, some car rental companies will not accept any other credit cards from you and will refuse to rent you a car.
Some companies that accept check/debit cards do so only after performing a credit check on you. If you do not have a high enough credit score, they will not rent you a car. Other companies apply extra surcharges to people using a check/debit card or require you to pay for a deductible waiver. Still other companies, may do both.
No car rental company that I know of will accept a “pre-paid” credit card. They can be purchased without showing any form of identification and the outlets that sell these type of cards simply place whatever name that you give them on these cards. These have “car thief” written all over them!