Car Rental: Refusal to take Check Cards

[Sandy Sandfort]

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                          SANDY SANDFORT
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C'punks,

On Sat, 19 Oct 1996, Black Unicorn wrote:
 
> Curious about this policy I went out to rent a few cars this
> week with a new check card from a local D.C. bank.
> 
> Here were my results:
> 
> Avis: Refused
> Hertz: Refused initally, but accepted after coaxing
> Thrifty: Refused
> National: Refused
> Alamo: Refused, got quite impolite after coaxing
> Enterprise: Accepted, but only because the teller barely spoke english
> Dollar: Closed

In San Francisco, my experience has been different.  I have used
a Visa debit (check) card to rent cars from both Enterprise and
Thrifty (and maybe Dollar, I don't remember how I paid for that
one).  No one even blinked.  (It's a "gold" debit card, but I 
doubt that makes any difference.)  Maybe it's a regional thing.

> Just TRY, however, to rent a car with real cash.
> ...
> Cash is dead.

TRUE STORY--I've used cash to rent vehicles a couple of times,
though not recently.  The most interesting was on a trip to 
Arizona a dozen years, or so, ago.  I flew into Phoenix and
needed transportation up to Flagstaff.  I didn't have ANY credit
cards at the time.

When I went to the car rental counter, I didn't mention my lack
of credit cards before the young woman behind the counter had
filled out all the forms.  I wanted her to have an investment in
the transaction.  When she asked for my credit card, I told her
I didn't have one and would make a cash deposit.  I had plenty of
extra cash for that purpose.  Evidently, she had never done a 
cash transaction.  She told me that I would have to make a 
deposit of $30 (!) and would need two forms of photo ID.

Well, I had a California license and no other official ID.  I 
asked her if a company ID would suffice.  When she said it would,
I pulled out the "Bank Courier" ID card I had made with my own
two little hands.  It had my signature, description, photo and 
this legend on the back:

	"This identification not valid without 
	  red bank seal stamped on reverse."

Tho rental clerk read the legend, turned the card over, saw the
faint red bank seal stamp, nodded her head and processes the
rental agreement.

For $30, I was the keys for a brand new car worth thousands of 
dollars.  I was within 200 driving miles of the Mexican border.
After I drove away, I realized that the woman had been so 
flustered by the cash transaction that she had forgotten to have
me sign the rental agreement.  (Upon returning the car the next
day, I pointed out the omission to her and asked if she would 
like for me to sign then.  In a low conspiratorial voice she 
ernestly asked me to do so.  Life is strange.


 S a n d y

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