While many car rental companies will adamantly say that they don’t accept debit cards as a form of deposit (they hold your credit card information until the car is returned undamaged) this is simply not true. After a little talking to any representative of any company, you will find that there are ways around the general “no” that you will get when asking if you can pay with a debit card. In many cases the initial associate that answers the phone will likely hand the call off to a manager who, with a little persistence, will admit that they do accept debit cards. There are no companies that ban the use of debit cards, they just prefer not to accept them because of the liability associated with doing so.
The reason why rental car companies will accept debit cards is that your debit card was issued by one of the major credit card companies. These companies have all of the information that would be required to pursue legal action if necessary. Add to that with the fact that your debit card is directly tied to your bank and it would seem that debit cards are a safer choice than credit cards. Nevertheless, companies will still require your debit card information (putting at least $500 on hold for the duration of your rental) and many will then also request a sizable cash deposit to ensure the safety of their investment. This makes it nearly impossible to rent a car without a credit card unless you have anywhere from five hundred dollars to just less than two thousand dollars in your bank. All of this means that if you have the option to use a credit card you should probably do so to save the headache of using debit.