Free or almost free credit card for car rentals?

Banks, Insurances & Third Pillar
1

Searching the forum I found 2 topics regarding this question but both are 2 and 4 years old, thinking there might have been a change in the meantime.

What is the cheapest way to have a credit card that you use to rent a car? I had a UBS credit card which I would use only once or twice a year to rent a car. Now that UBS has ditched me, I’d like to see if there are cheaper options than paying again 200 CHF a year for a credit card from my new bank.

Thinking that I don’t use the credit card for anything else, apart from booking flights maybe, is there a cheaper option to have a credit card today?

2

Cashback cards or certo one

No annual fees

3 Likes
3

If you only need a credit card for a couple transactions per year, any no annual fee credit card will do. Examples: The Migros Cumulus credit card, Coop Supercard credit card, Cembra One credit card, and the Cashback credit cards from Swisscard.

If the value of your car rentals is relatively high, and you are in the habit of buying the insurance offered by rental car companies, getting a paid credit card with rental car insurance is worth considering. Cards with that benefit start at around 150 per year, but I still save money because often the insurance costs nearly as much as the rental itself. You can find a list in table 2 here:

And as a side note, many Swiss credit cards entitle you to a discount at one or more partner car rental firms. You can find info here.

3 Likes
6

For renting a car I’d care less about the annual fee and more about whether the rental desk says yes without drama. If you use it once or twice a year, cheap or free cards make sense, but check deposit handling and insurance before optimizing 100 CHF.

7

Any Visa or Mastercard credit card will be accepted almost anywhere that accepts credit cards at all. You have to make sure that there is enough line of credit to cover the hold (deposit). This is normally max. CHF 1000 for standard car rentals. More might be required if you rent a luxury car.

If you have a relatively low credit limit, it is important to make sure that there is at least CHF 1000 available at the time that you rent the car. It is a common problem that people max out their credit card on travel bookings before their trip, and then don’t have enough line of credit available when they pick up their rental car.

4 Likes