Renting a car in Lafayette without a major credit card

There is a specific phone call we take more than any other. Somebody needs a vehicle, usually within a day or two, and they have already been turned down somewhere else. Not because of their licence, and not because of anything they did wrong, but because the desk they walked up to wanted a major credit card in their name and they do not carry one.

It is worth saying plainly that this is a policy choice by the rental company, not a law. Nothing about renting a vehicle legally requires a credit card. What the card does is give a large rental chain an easy, automated way to hold a security deposit and to chase costs afterwards. It is convenient for them. It is not the only way to do it.

Why the credit card requirement exists at all

A rental company is handing a stranger an asset worth tens of thousands of dollars and hoping to get it back in one piece. The deposit exists to cover the gap between what happens and what was supposed to happen: a fuel tank returned empty, a toll unpaid, damage that turns up after the vehicle is back on the lot.

A credit card makes that gap easy to manage, because the card issuer is effectively standing behind the renter. A national chain processing thousands of rentals a week needs that to be a one-size process, so the card becomes a hard rule applied to everyone, including the customer who has rented from them ten times before.

What we do instead

We take a credit card if you have one. We also take a debit card. And for local residents, we take a cash deposit. That third option is the one that is unusual, and it is the reason a lot of people in Lafayette end up at our counter on Jefferson Street rather than out at the airport desks.

The reason we can offer it is not that we are relaxed about risk. It is that we are small and local, and decisions here are made by the people who own the business rather than by a policy written in another state. A local renter standing in front of us is not an anonymous transaction. That changes what is reasonable.

What you still need to bring

Removing the credit card requirement does not remove the rest. There are four things, and there is nothing hiding underneath them:

• A valid driver's licence.
• Every driver aged 21 or over.
• At least minimum liability insurance.
• A credit card, a debit card, or a cash deposit if you are a local resident.

The insurance one causes the most confusion, so it is worth being specific. We are asking you to carry at least minimum liability coverage. Many personal auto policies extend to a rental vehicle automatically, but whether yours does is a question only your own insurer can answer. It takes about two minutes on the phone to them, and it is far better to ask that question before you drive over than while standing at the counter.

How the deposit actually works

The deposit amount depends on the vehicle. A sedan and a fourteen seat van are not the same exposure, so they do not carry the same hold. We will tell you the figure on the phone before you make the trip, because there is no benefit to anyone in you arriving and finding out the number is higher than you budgeted.

Ask for it directly when you call. It is a normal question and we are not going to be cagey about it.

If you have been turned down before, say so

It is not an awkward thing to mention. It tells us immediately what the constraint is, and it means we can get to a yes or a no in about thirty seconds instead of working around to it. If we cannot help, we would rather tell you that on the phone than after you have driven across town.

Call the counter at (337) 234-3294, Monday to Friday between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Tell us the dates, tell us roughly what you need the vehicle for, and tell us how you want to pay. We will tell you straight away whether it works.