My daughter of 21 years old will be traveling to Europe next months. At some locations she will want to rent a car. Because of various reasons ;-) she doesn't have a creditcard. When I visit European car rental websites I can see there are some possibilities to rent a car without a creditcard. Does anybody have experience with this?

The CC might not be the only problem. Most of the main rental companies have a minimum age for renters of 25 and you can only get around this by paying a surcharge . Hertz for instance, charge £37.50 per day making it very expensive to rent a car and Avis also charge a surcharge. Avis will allow rental from 23 I think. This varies from country to country, so where will she be renting?

Take into account that in most of Europe the legal driving age is 18 (although there´s talk about 17 accompanied by an adult), and for one year after the passing of the test they are considered novel drivers. So 21 is still a very young age and rental agencies charge more.

Some small local companies are happy to rent without a creditcard, it depends on where she is. Cars are not the latest, and may be a bit bashed up already. Her age could still be a problem though.
When we rented in the Canaries we never needed a credit card, and one was happy to take cash, the others we paid for in advance.
Most places prefer a credit card though.

Howl ong is she going for to be visiting all those countries you have tagged?

in some areas she might do way better taking public transport, I'd recommend rome2rio as a basic planning tool to you and seat61.com if she needs to understand local trains.

Thank you for your replies! Very helpful. Most of the time she will use public transport, but sometimes a rental car is easier. I found a site that says they rent cars without credit card and/or deposit, so I will look into that. I'm not sure if I can post links here though.

Welcome to Fodors. You will be able to post links after you've posted a few more times, but in te meantime if you post the name/location of the rental companies and maybe we can take a look and see if there are any red flags.

Also - you have tagged a LOT of countries -how many months will she be traveling? Where specifically do you think a car will be necessary.

How will your daughter be paying for everything as she travels around? Will she be using a debit card at ATMs every day or so? Has she checked her bank's transaction fee and daily withdrawal limits?

https://www.mybanktracker.com/credit...-credit-162069

If she is able to rent a car, she needs to learn whether an International Drivers Permit is required in those countries.

If she is planning to drive in Italy, she needs to learn about ZTLs. Zona Traffico Limitato.

Thanks! Three months. She wants to rent a car when she will be visiting one of the Greek islands and Spain. I saw this website: fandango dot nl slash en. It says she won't need a credit card nor a deposit on some locations.

I could swear there were several country tags when I first read your thread -- now I see none?? Maybe I was hallucinating

You were not hallucinating, I tagged several countries ;-)

Most of the Greek islands are relatively small. I'm not sure how many a car would be needed. Even Rhodes which is on the bigger side the buses will get you everywhere. That's why you see so many tourists on quads .

Spain? Unless she's headed to the countryside you don't need a car.

Don't underestimated the age issue. It won't be easy to find a rental. Does she drive manual?

For three months, make sure she also checks stay limits if traveling in the Schengen area during this time period.

Perhaps also price out how much public transport will be versus using car rentals. Realize that she also needs to figure parking in this plan, which might be added costs also whether she can find accommodations that have parking on site, etc.

Is this your daughter's first trip to Europe? Having a car really is a nuisance in MOST cases. Depending on her travel plans, it may not be needed.

Plenty of car rental companies , even the majors, will accept debit cards to rent cars. Some will want to take a deposit from the card or at least ring fence an amount on pick up. The T&Cs will vary by country and rental company so do check with any provider you are considering.

As far as minimum age is concerned , again, this will vary by country but will usually be 21 or 25 and under those ages there may be a surcharge, usually in the region of €10-20. There may also be a minimum period required since passing their driving test , usually 1 or 3 years, before renting, which is likely to be the bigger issue.

I would check rates, T&Cs with a range of major rental companies and also look at some of the consolidators/agencies like Auto Europe, Holiday Autos , booking.com , kayak etc.The cheapest rate though not necessarily the best cars, may be sourced from small local operators who may even take cash.

If I recall you had 9 or 10 countries tagged all over Europe from Greece to Scandinavia to Spain, That is a LOT of territory.

Even IF she can rent a car w/o a credit card, without a credit card she may have to post an extra bond. Under 25's have issues and exorbitant insurance is just one.

I doubt any of the brokers/on-line consolidators would work without a credit card. However some agencies do - here is the verbiage from Budget's website -- others may be similar:

Making a car rental with no credit card can seem complicated, but it is possible with Budget.

If you plan to use a debit card, you need to be at least 25 years old. You should also check the location’s rules first (see instructions below) because some locations don’t accept debit cards at the time of car pickup.

When you come to pick up your car, you’ll be asked to present a debit card or credit card. At this point, Budget will place a hold on some of the funds in your account. The typical hold is equivalent to the total estimated cost of the rental, but it may be higher or lower. For example, the minimum debit hold is $100, and that hold amount usually applies to insurance replacement rentals or prepaid rentals. Be aware that a debit card hold limits the funds available in the attached account.

Thanks all. I will discuss your tips with my daughter!

I did see that the website you referenced mentions charging higher insurance to those who aren't paying by credit card. I didn't complete the form to see how much the insurance would be.