From: Black Unicorn <unicorn@schloss.li>
Date: Sun, 20 Oct 1996 05:32:41 -0700 (PDT)
To: Sandy Sandfort <sandfort@crl.com>
Subject: Re: Car Rental: Refusal to take Check Cards
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.91.961020002744.24426A-100000@crl3.crl.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.94.961020082112.22115F-100000@polaris>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Sun, 20 Oct 1996, Sandy Sandfort wrote:

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>                           SANDY SANDFORT
>  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> 
> 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.

I think it might be.  Many of the D.C. and Virginia rental agencies I
tried had big signs indiciating they didn't accept check/debit cards.
(Note that the minimum age for car rental varies by region too, suggesting
that corporate policy adjusts to the market needs/risks).

> > 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.

[...]

> 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.

Yes, I managed to entirely controvert the "no check card" policy at
Enterprise because the teller was clueless.  Unfortunately, depending on
this kind of thing if you have no credit card can be tricky.

> 
>  S a n d y
> 

--
I hate lightning - finger for public key - Vote Monarchist
unicorn@schloss.li