How Do Car Rental Credit Card Deposits Really Work

Over 40% of car rental complaints received at First Car Rental are around the misunderstanding of credit card deposits taken at the time of a car rental.



Says Melissa Storey, Executive Head: Strategy, Development & Marketing, "In terms of percentages, most of the complaints received against First Car Rental is around the misunderstanding of refunding credit card deposits. This unfortunately gives a negative stance on our company as many of these people feel the need to complain, sometimes in horrific language, on public forums like Hellopeter. This automatically gives a very unbalanced, and mostly incorrect, perspective on First Car Rental, which runs transparent financial transactions with all customers.



Explaining the authorisation process Storey says, "At First Car Rental, when we take an authorisation from a credit card, this means we block this amount only – there isn’t a physical amount being charged and transferred to a First Car Rental account at this stage, but rather a security hold in the event of any additional charges incurred during a rental such as petrol, vehicle damage, etc. Therefore this authorisation amount blocked at the beginning of your rental will not reflect as a refund after the rental period is completed because the funds were never removed from a customer’s credit card in the first place."



Here is an example of a First Car Rental booking process in action.



• A customer hires a Group B car for 2 days on the Executive package (lower excess/deposit and higher daily rental rate).



• This carries a deposit/excess of R2000 plus the daily rate of R233. A hold is then put on the credit card for this amount (R2466) until the vehicle is returned.



• When a client returns the car, the petrol used is replaced, and scratches and dents are checked against the vehicle inspection sheet filled out and agreed to at the time of pick up.



• The final invoice is then calculated and emailed to the customer within 24 hours from closing the contract showing the final invoice amount to be deducted off their credit card.



• In this instance, it would be R466 for the daily rental fees, plus for example R85 petrol consumed + contract fee of R40 = R591 in total.



• This amount is then charged to your credit card and will reflect on your credit card statement.



• The blocked amount, still using this example, is R2000. This hold would be then released by First Car Rental and by your credit card bank, usually within 4 days but this R2000 would not reflect as a refund. It just means you now have access to this R2000 for spending again.



• If the customer finds that this hold has not been released within this time period, they can contact First Car Rental customer services on firstcares@cmh.co.za with their contract number. First Car Rental will contact the bank directly via email to request the release. The bank will then confirm the date and time this block was released. This information will then be relayed to the customer.



Storey concludes, "At First Car Rental, our customers are as important as the air that we breathe. Our business exists because they do and we are constantly encouraged by the many compliments we get every week. We really need customers to communicate with us through our website or through First Cares."



First Car Rental



From an affordable hire car for your wedding to a mini bus for conference delegates, each of First Car Rental's car hire packages can be tailored to your transport needs.



First Car Rental has over 43 car rental branches throughout South Africa.