danbushell

My Parents have booked a Campervan on rental in Australia in November.
The bond/security deposit is $7500 payable on collection of the vehicle.
Tha campervan company have told me this is debitted against the credit card presented upon collection of the vehicle.
i thought the usual procedure was for the card only to be debitted if involved in an accident-is it normal prcedure for it to be collected at the time of collection of the vehicle.
my concerns are that $7500 is a big dent into a credit limit and also when it is re-credited back to the card the amount lost in transaction charges/exchange rate fluctions.

RedDragon2008

Does not sound right

Who is the company they are using?

danbushell

Discovery Campervan Rentals.

bcworld

This exact thing happened to me with a campervan rental in New Zealand once. The company debited then credited a $2k bond - it ended up costing about $120 in fees, ex rate losses. Preauthorisation was not an option.

Had it been better explained to me at the time there was an excess reduction option I could've taken which would've cost less than $120 and allowed a pre auth to be taken for a much smaller bond...might be similar in this case.

danbushell

they charge $45 per day for the excess reduction and my parents are hiring for 63 days!!
way too expensive.
thanks for your replies and look forward to any other suggestions.

koalakim

Car hire waiver excess charges have doubled/tripled since we last hired a car 6 years ago. We went to hire in Canberra last year and the daily excess charge was as much as the daily hire charge!

Ended up with Red Spot as it was all inclusive with no excess for less than the other companies.

$7.5k is ridiculous, some people might not even have that much credit on the card! Maybe too many peeps have been stealing or damaging hire cars?

bcworld

That sort of figure is what is normally 'charged' for large, premium campervans...it's probably somewhat proportional to the value of the vehicle.

spuddyo

Get them to check any insurance which may be part of their credit card, gold and platinum cards usually have free travel insurance etc that often includes cover for the 'extra' excess waiver insurance on hire cars.

bcworld

I think the rental company will still take the bond regardless of any insurance the credit card offers. The credit card certainly isn't going to pay up $3k for the hire company's excess reduction.

billymacker

some of the firms don't debit the card just hold the card details until the campervan is returned. no damage no charge. you could ask if they use this system.

spuddyo

The way it works is that you decline the daily excess reduction option, so you don't pay it at all. If you have an accident the Credit Card company then pay the full excess charge when the insurance claim is lodged.

bcworld

Yes I know. But the hire company will still take the bond! That's the issue the OP has.

Swerv-o

Yes, they do - they will still take the holding bond irrespective of any insurances that you have...


S

jackieh23

Discovery Campervans are a reseller - or an Agent - they do not actually rent/hire vehicles. Personally, I would never deal with a reseller - too much hassle if something goes wrong. Plus they take their cut so likely to be more expensive...

Normally with hire cars in Aus a "hold" is placed on a CC for the applicable insurance. Like a hotel does for potential room service and bar fridge purchases. They don't actually "debit" the amount, there is no interest or charges applicable. It just means that $xxx is not available for use until the vehicle is returned, safe and sound. Anyone who does not have a CC with that limit, or that amount available on their CC, will not be able to rent/hire. Standard across the industry here.

I find it unusual that Discovery actually debit the card for the amount but the statement on Discovery's web site below does seem to indicate that they will take the money (plus a CC surcharge) on collection of the vehicle:


" All branches take a Security Bond at the beginning of the rental. The amount of this bond is dependent on if you take out Liability Reduction and which option you take. Please be aware that there is a credit card surcharge of between 1.75% and 5% on the amount paid on pickup, including the refundable bond."

I'd be going to the actual vehicle hirer and checking out their terms and conditions - and prices!

bcworld

Perhaps it is something this campervan specific.

Britz.com.au for example makes it clear that with the standard or cheap excess reduction options the bond is actually debited, not pre-authed.

See here.

So preauth is certainly not standard across the campervan industry.

And it's the same for Apollo:

http://www.apollocamper.com/terms/ap...1314-Quote.pdf

...and Maui:

http://www.maui.com.au/motorhome-hol...urance-options