Which Car Hire Companies Accept Debit Cards?

Here at Indigo, we’ve seen that many people are increasingly eschewing credit cards these days in favour of using debit cards instead, and with the current financial climate, it’s not difficult to see why! However, that can lead to roadblocks, specifically when it comes to hiring a car – many car rental companies still require a credit card for deposits.
Thankfully over the past decade, we’ve been looking at alternatives to this rather outdated practice, and have arranged many deals with suppliers worldwide allowing you to rent a car with no credit card on your own terms with no credit card needed!

Benefits of Renting with Debit Cards

Whilst renting with a debit card isn’t quite as ubiquitous as it is with a credit card just yet, it still has many unique benefits of its own. For most budget conscious travellers it mainly comes down to the convenience and financial control that a debit card offers – allowing you to enjoy your trip without worrying about interest rates and spending outside your means. Here are a few other benefits to bear in mind too:
- Unlike some credit card transactions, renting with a debit card will never involve a credit check, so it’s a great option for those with bad credit or no credit history at all.
- Whilst not always the case, debit card rentals typically have much lower deposit than credit card rentals, which is vital when it’s your own personal funds being blocked.
- A lot of credit cards have annual or foreign use fees, which are obviously avoided when using a debit card. A lot of banks these days don’t even charge for conversion fees either, though that’s something you’d need to confirm with your bank directly.
So there are some very real and tangible benefits to using a debit card – it’s not just an option for those without credit cards!

What Debit Cards are Accepted?

The main challenge when hiring with a debit card can be determining if your card fits the right conditions and will be accepted on arrival – that’s where we come in! By far the best and easiest option is to use just a standard Visa or MasterCard debit card from a major high street bank – if you have a card like that then you are all good to go! There are some more limited options for other debit card types too, such as Maestro or Electron cards, though only in certain locations. We cannot take prepaid or top-up cards of any kind unfortunately, nor cash, and we do advise avoiding online banks such as Revolut / N26 too, as they often show as prepaid cards on the system.

Are There Any Terms or Policies Specific to Debit Card Rentals?

This is obviously something that varies by country and supplier, which is why we always advise you to check with us when making a debit card booking, but here are some more general answers below:
- The ID needed can differ quite a bit sometimes with a debit card, especially when hiring locally. With some suppliers you may need to pass an address check or provide extra proof of address when collecting – these are all things that can be checked and done in advance though. If flying in and out of an airport you would just need to have some proof of flights with you instead, such as a boarding pass or tickets on your phone for example.
- The debit card must be in the driver’s name and must be presented physically when collecting, just having the card details or having it on your phone through Apple / Google Pay wouldn’t work unfortunately
- Using a debit card can restrict you to certain car groups in some cases, though it is rare, and premium cars however do always require a credit card.
Any specific terms tailored to your rental though will be outlined straight away when quoting of course, so you won’t be faced with any unwanted surprises further down the line!

Where Can I Hire From with a Debit Card, and With Which Companies?

This is a very broad question to answer – not only does it differ heavily from country to country but it even differs from city to city, and even specific branches can have their own terms sometimes, which is why it can be a bit of a minefield! That being said though we do have debit card options available pretty much anywhere you can think of – across all of Europe and pretty much any tourist destination in the world.

Tips for a Smooth Debit Card Rental Experience

Here are a few quick tips from us on how to make your hiring experience as smooth as possible:
- Make your booking with us directly, either through phone/email / online chat, rather than booking on the site. We do have a filter system on the site for debit card rentals, so you can still do it online if you must, but we strongly recommend contacting you otherwise so we can make sure you are happy with all the terms and conditions, as well as the deposit level. Plus it’s often quite a bit cheaper as well – not all of our debit card options show up there!
- Make sure the driver has their own debit card with them when collecting, along with all other ID needed – this will all be outlined in your confirmation email of course.
- When you do arrive to collect the car, just double-check the contract before signing anything too, make sure everything is all in order, and point out if there’s anything that seems out of place. You can always give us a call if there are any issues too – even out of hours.
As you can see – hiring a car with a debit card comes with its challenges, but we’ve dedicated our efforts to iron out any wrinkles and make the experience as seamless as possible for you!

Debit card rental isn’t the only thing we specialise in either! Here are just a few other services that we offer:

Having working solely in the car hire industry since leaving school, car hire/travel is a huge part of my life and something that gives me great satisfaction and enjoyment. I love coming across new products/locations and sharing these details with our customers via our online platforms.