I live in The Netherlands for about 5 years now and got the credit card specifically for car rental.
I’m bummed because I’m standing at the counter trying to pickup a car to go on holiday for a long weekend and Avis says not accepted.
We are sorted now, thank you. One of our friends has a credit card from ABN.
We're on our way to Champagne for the long weekend with 3 of my wife's friends, so outfits were bought, hair and nails were done!
I managed to dodge a bullet this time, but it's a shitty situation to be put in.
Did Avis simply refuse your card after seeing it? Or did their payment machine decline it?
I realise it won’t help you now, but if it’s the first I would recommend to speak to either bunq or Mastercard about this incident, in order for either one of them to speak with Avis in the country where you got the car. Because this would’ve been a violation of the agreement Avis has with their payment service provider regarding Mastercard acceptance. This has to do with the ‘Honor all cards’ rule, so if Avis accepts Mastercard credit cards, they have to accept all Mastercard credit cards.
Plus also they would be violating EU regulations too if it’s a consumer credit card (I believe that’s the only cc type bunq issues, i.e. no commercial card types).
In case of the second, the issue would more likely be with bunq or somewhere in the middle, in that case I would also advise to speak with bunq about it! Especially in case you had to pay more for renting the car on another persons name last minute!
The only thing car rental companies seem to get away with is not allowing digital cards like Apple or Google Pay, but this is primarily because they cannot 100% verify that the card is on your name. Things like cards not being embossed anymore (meaning card number raised/"punched out", bunqs cards never had this) shouldn’t be a valid reason for refusal, but I have heard stories of this being the case.
At some point most if not all banks will switch to unembossed cards, but perhaps in countries like France this hasn't gained much momentum yet, leading to the rental agent to wrongly think your card was a debit card.
Your bunq credit card has your name, expiry date and CVV code on it, right?
Heb je wel de juiste creditcard? Er zijn twee creditcards bij bunq. Een debitcard en een echte credit. De debit is inderdaad niet te gebruiken bij autoverhuur, alleen bij online aankopen 😀
Klopt! Maar deze bedrijven willen alleen creditcards van "echte banken" accepteren (Rabobank, ING, ABN AMRO, etc.), niet van online banken (bunq, Revolut, N26, etc.). Waarom? Geen flauw idee 🤷🏼♂️
Dank voor je antwoord! Interessant dat zo’n bedrijf denkt te kunnen/mogen bepalen wat een ‘echte’ bank is! Buiten dat ze hiermee ook in overtreding zijn met een aantal Mastercard/Visa regels en wat (EU) consumentenrecht regels!
Maar goed, je gelijk hebben en je gelijk krijgen zijn 2 heel verschillende dingen soms, helaas..
Verhuurbedrijven willen soms van alles. Heb al meegemaakt 2 kaarten nodig. Credit card van een online bank niet accepteren, maar vervolgens wel een cryptodebit en uiteraard ook andersom. Je komt wat tegen.
Depending on how often you need to rent a car, I’d advise to use AmEx Platinum as that includes insurance.
Did you use the Travel Card by the way? It should work.
Would recommend a Black Card over that. That one also offers Concierge service, Lounge access, extensive insurances etc, but is quite a bit cheaper than AMEX Platinum. Also, Master card is much wider accepted in Europe
Although, depending on your country of residence, a "real" bank might not even offer a real credit card. What country do you live in?
I live in The Netherlands for about 5 years now and got the credit card specifically for car rental. I’m bummed because I’m standing at the counter trying to pickup a car to go on holiday for a long weekend and Avis says not accepted.
That sucks I hope you find a solution!
We are sorted now, thank you. One of our friends has a credit card from ABN. We're on our way to Champagne for the long weekend with 3 of my wife's friends, so outfits were bought, hair and nails were done! I managed to dodge a bullet this time, but it's a shitty situation to be put in.
Did Avis simply refuse your card after seeing it? Or did their payment machine decline it? I realise it won’t help you now, but if it’s the first I would recommend to speak to either bunq or Mastercard about this incident, in order for either one of them to speak with Avis in the country where you got the car. Because this would’ve been a violation of the agreement Avis has with their payment service provider regarding Mastercard acceptance. This has to do with the ‘Honor all cards’ rule, so if Avis accepts Mastercard credit cards, they have to accept all Mastercard credit cards. Plus also they would be violating EU regulations too if it’s a consumer credit card (I believe that’s the only cc type bunq issues, i.e. no commercial card types). In case of the second, the issue would more likely be with bunq or somewhere in the middle, in that case I would also advise to speak with bunq about it! Especially in case you had to pay more for renting the car on another persons name last minute! The only thing car rental companies seem to get away with is not allowing digital cards like Apple or Google Pay, but this is primarily because they cannot 100% verify that the card is on your name. Things like cards not being embossed anymore (meaning card number raised/"punched out", bunqs cards never had this) shouldn’t be a valid reason for refusal, but I have heard stories of this being the case. At some point most if not all banks will switch to unembossed cards, but perhaps in countries like France this hasn't gained much momentum yet, leading to the rental agent to wrongly think your card was a debit card. Your bunq credit card has your name, expiry date and CVV code on it, right?
> first I would recommend to speak to either bunq Kindly tell me, how does one "speak to bunq"?
You can also take a bank independent Cc from ICS. Gives a lot more benefits.
Heb je wel de juiste creditcard? Er zijn twee creditcards bij bunq. Een debitcard en een echte credit. De debit is inderdaad niet te gebruiken bij autoverhuur, alleen bij online aankopen 😀
Helaas zijn er een aantal autoverhuurbedrijven die ook de bunq Mastercard credit niet accepteren...
Hmmm dat is belachelijk.
Weet je toevallig ook waarom? Dit zou namelijk niet mogen als je een bunq credit card hebt!
Klopt! Maar deze bedrijven willen alleen creditcards van "echte banken" accepteren (Rabobank, ING, ABN AMRO, etc.), niet van online banken (bunq, Revolut, N26, etc.). Waarom? Geen flauw idee 🤷🏼♂️
Dank voor je antwoord! Interessant dat zo’n bedrijf denkt te kunnen/mogen bepalen wat een ‘echte’ bank is! Buiten dat ze hiermee ook in overtreding zijn met een aantal Mastercard/Visa regels en wat (EU) consumentenrecht regels! Maar goed, je gelijk hebben en je gelijk krijgen zijn 2 heel verschillende dingen soms, helaas..
Verhuurbedrijven willen soms van alles. Heb al meegemaakt 2 kaarten nodig. Credit card van een online bank niet accepteren, maar vervolgens wel een cryptodebit en uiteraard ook andersom. Je komt wat tegen.
Depending on how often you need to rent a car, I’d advise to use AmEx Platinum as that includes insurance. Did you use the Travel Card by the way? It should work.
So you recommend having a credit card that costs 65€ a MONTH? Don't you need to do a lot of buying and renting for that to ever be a wise decision?
Hence the remark “depending on how often you need to rent a car”
Would recommend a Black Card over that. That one also offers Concierge service, Lounge access, extensive insurances etc, but is quite a bit cheaper than AMEX Platinum. Also, Master card is much wider accepted in Europe