What the excess is, why a deposit gets blocked on your card, the three ways to avoid paying it and the four questions to ask before booking.
Excess and deposit are two different things that often get confused. The excess is the amount the customer remains liable for if the car is damaged: in standard rentals it runs from €800 to €2,500. The deposit is the security the rental company takes in advance to be sure it can collect that amount: it is blocked on a credit card and released after the return, usually within one or two weeks, sometimes four.
That is where the credit-card requirement comes from. It has to be a real card, with a credit line, in the main driver’s name: a debit or prepaid card cannot hold a future amount. It is why thousands of travellers arrive at the desk with a car already paid for online and do not drive away — it is not a technicality, it is the mechanism of the model.
There are three ways round it. The first is buying the zero-excess cover at the desk, at €15–25 a day: the deposit usually shrinks but does not always disappear. The second is third-party excess insurance bought online, far cheaper — but be careful, it does not avoid the hold: the rental company still charges the damage to your card, and the insurer reimburses you later, once you file a claim. The third is choosing a company that has no excess at all.
That is ours: comprehensive cover is included in every rental with a zero excess. Since there is no amount the customer could be asked to pay for damage, there is nothing to secure: no deposit, no hold, no credit card required. A valid licence and an ID document for the main driver are enough, and you pay at pick-up.
The four questions to ask anyone before booking: what is the excess amount? what is the deposit amount and how long does it stay blocked? is a debit or prepaid card accepted? is zero-excess insurance already included or sold at the desk? If the answers do not come in writing before you pay, the quote is not a quote.
One honest caveat: "no deposit" does not mean "no responsibility". With us too, the customer remains liable for what depends on them — missing fuel, damage caused by use against the contract, traffic fines received during the rental. The difference is that these are defined, written-down facts, not an open-ended sum held in advance.