You may already know about car hire security deposits; you may have been caught out by some companies hiding such details. That is something we’d never do, and it’s always shown on the search results and throughout the booking process. This way, you know exactly what to expect when you arrive at the rental desk. But what if you don’t want to pay a security deposit, what then?
Why security deposits exist
A quick recap: car rental security deposits exist for just that, security. They are there to ensure that the vehicle is safely returned to the rental company and if there is any damage, this is then deducted from the refunded amount. Usually, security deposits are ringfenced on your credit card, though some providers offer this for debit cards.
Security deposits vary massively. In some countries – such as Italy – they’re much higher than the average due to the number of accidents that occur there, with some as high as 2000 EUR. On the other hand, there’s Portugal, some are as low as 300 EUR or even zero. We always try to negotiate the security deposits as low as possible.
Search for ‘no security deposit’
The easiest, quickest, and cheapest way to hire without a security deposit is to use our nifty filter on the search results. Here you can click the ‘No Security Deposit’ button and you’ll only see results where the security deposit is nil.
Sometimes, these deals are slightly more expensive than those with a security deposit but at least you have peace of mind that you don’t have to put a 1000+ EUR hold on your credit card. With these deals, you’ll only be required to give card details. This is mainly for the rental company to keep on file just in case the worst happens, or for a fuel or toll transponder deposit.
Where we can offer no security deposit
We’re always striving to add more locations and providers with no security deposits, let us know if there’s anywhere you’re heading to where you’d like to lose the deposit!
Spain car hire with no deposit – Autos Aguirre, Centauro Plus, Espacar, Record Go
Portugal car hire with no deposit – Centauro Plus, Luzcar, Rent Auto, Rent Car 4 Less
Italy car hire with no deposit – Centauro Plus
UK car hire with no deposit – Arnold Clark
What about choosing the Super Damage Waiver?
There is another way to remove the security deposit, however it’s not something we would recommend, but it is up to you. Choosing the rental company’s extra insurance usually means there is no security deposit. This can be costly though; here’s a chart we made earlier.
You can see above that choosing extra insurance costs around 30-50 EUR per day, our full insurance and choosing a no deposit deal still gives you the maximum bang for buck! We’ve weighed up the pros and cons of provider insurance previously.
We wanted to keep this one as short as possible, just to give you our little bit of guidance when choosing your next car rental. When you’re ready to travel, we’ll be here waiting.
