If you have attempted to hire a car before with bad credit you will know how difficult of a struggle this can be. The most commonly accepted payment for car hire companies all over the world is the use of a credit card which can pose a real issue. Hiring a car can be an important and vital part of your holiday, it’s a make or break piece of the holiday puzzle. There are still options out there for you however, the easiest loop hole so to speak is to seek alternative payment methods.

Debit Card Acceptance

One alternative payment method that doesn’t come with a credit check is debit card car hire, this is available across the whole of the UK, majority of Europe, USA and Australia as well as several other locations. However it’s a very specialised thing so you need to have a good search around to find the right company, most of which do have restrictions however which are categorised into three main restrictions. These restrictions are….

1. The debit card you are paying with must have raised numbers on the front of the card (embossed), they must also be indented on the back of the card. You will also usually find that these numbers are in silver instead of black.
2. The payment must be made in the same name as the driver, this means that the name printed on the bottom of your card must match the name on the driving licence produced at the counter.
3. Most of the time only Visa Debit cards are accepted, however there are occasions when Master cards are also accepted but this is generally only within the UK.

No Credit Check

This may not sometimes be an option so there are also back up options in regards to this. If you use a broker company they will know which car rental companies do credit checks and which don’t so given that you have a credit card and ask them for a supplier that doesn’t credit check their customers then you should be fine, make sure that you get it in writing just to be definite as car hire companies can be very hit and miss with their terms.

3^rd Party Payment

Another option is 3^rd party payment, however this is only available at some locations within the UK but all major airports are included in this. When making the third party payment the person who is paying for it will need to sign a document that confirms that you are making the payment for the driver, this can be sent to you electronically or you can sign it in person at the branch.

Additional Driver

Sometimes you can get this for free with your rental, you must be travelling with someone who is also eligible to hire the car at the time however to take advantage of this. If you are what it means is that someone can hire the car as the main driver meaning that you don’t make the payment and then you can add yourself on as an additional which means you only need to show you licence.