Operating Instructions

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Merchant Operating Instructions: Vehicle Rental Services

Being able to accept card payments for vehicle rentals gives you and your customers flexibility. It also offers you the added security of pre-authorising payments before the customer takes the vehicle away.

• Before you start
• What information must I give the cardholder?
• When the customer comes to collect the vehicle
• How to process payments
• What if the customer cancels or doesn’t show up?
• Delayed or amended charges

• Before you start 
• You must let us know if you intend to accept card payments for vehicle rentals, because there are special requirements for these transactions.
  
  To minimise disputes and chargebacks, you should read this section thoroughly and ensure that you understand the specific requirements and risks of these transactions.

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• What information must I give the cardholder? 
• When a customer rents a vehicle from you, you must provide them with a rental agreement that includes all applicable terms and conditions for the rental, including:
  
  
  • Cancellation policy and procedures
  • Reserved vehicle rental rate
  • Currency of the transaction
  • Name and location of where the vehicle is to be collected from
  • 'No-show' policy and procedures
  • Any extra charges that they may be liable for, such as damages, parking tickets, no show policy and procedures and any limited refund policies
  
  Make sure that the cardholder signs the rental agreement to confirm that they have read and understood the terms and conditions before you process any transactions.

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• When the customer comes to collect the vehicle 
• When a customer comes to collect the rental vehicle, you need to do two main things before they take the vehicle away with them – get their agreement to the rental agreement and pre-authorise the transaction.
  
  1. Get their agreement to the rental agreement
  
  
  • Ask your customer to read the terms and conditions and sign the rental agreement.
  • Make sure that their signature is on the same page as the terms and conditions and details the card number to be used for payment for the rental and to be used in the event of any delayed and amended charges.
  • Manually imprint the card on the rental agreement as evidence of the agreed charges.
  • You will need the cardholder’s separate agreement to process any additional charges.
    
    
  2. Pre-authorise the transaction
  
  Before the rental period begins you need to make an estimated authorisation request. This is called pre-authorising the transaction and should be based on the:
  
  
  • Vehicle rental period
  • Vehicle rental rate and associated taxes
  • Anticipated mileage
  
  3. Process the transaction
  
  If the pre-authorisation request is approved, you will be given an authorisation code. You can use this authorisation code when you process the payment at the end of the rental period. Find out how to process pre-authorised transactions in your Terminal User Guide.
  
  If the pre-authorisation request is declined, you will need to ask your customer for another method of payment.
  
  To reduce the likelihood of disputes you should let your customer know:
  
  • The pre-authorisation amount
  • That the available funds on their card will be reduced by this amount
  • That the final bill may be different to the pre-authorisation amount
  
  If the rental period is extended during the rental, additional amounts must be authorised via top-up authorisations. This will ensure that funds are held available when you come to charge the card. You will also need additional authorisation to process the payment if the final bill is more than 15% higher than the pre-authorised amount. Find out about top-up authorisations in your Terminal User Guide.
   
  UK- and non-UK-issued Maestro cards do not support pre-authorisation requests.
   
  Authorisation does not guarantee payment. It simply means that the card has not been reported lost or stolen and that there are sufficient funds available at the time of the transaction. Find out more about Authorisation.

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• How to process payments 
• • You should process the payment after the customer has returned the vehicle.
  • The exception is for rentals of longer than 14 days. To minimise risk and ensure that payments are processed successfully, we recommend that after a 14-day rental period you close the account and process the required payment up to that date.
  • If the bill is within 15% of the pre-authorised amount you can process the transaction using the code you received when you pre-authorised. If it is higher than this, you will need to get top-up authorisation for the difference. Find out more in Authorisation and Referrals.
  • Do not include charges for damages or insurance deductibles in the payment. These charges need to be processed separately as delayed or amended charges.

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• What if the customer cancels or doesn’t show up? 
• If a customer cancels their reservation
  
  You must not process a charge to the card for the booking. If you do, there is likely to be a dispute that may result in a chargeback. If your rental agreement says that a cancellation charge will apply, you will need to contact the customer to arrange for payment by another method.
  
  If they do not cancel, but fail to collect a booked vehicle
  If your customer fails to collect their vehicle within 24 hours of the collection time and did not properly cancel the reservation in accordance with the agreed cancellation policy, you are entitled to charge their card up to the value of one days rental:
  
  
  • Follow the instructions in Card Not Present Transactions, using the information the cardholder gave when making the booking.
  • You will need the Card Security Code (CSC) for these transactions.
  • On the transaction receipt, write "NO SHOW".
  • Under ‘total’ enter the rental rate for the vehicle(s) that the customer booked.
  • Send a copy of the bill for the no show booking to the billing address the cardholder gave when booking.

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• Delayed or amended charges 
• There may be times when you need to process extra charges or change the amount agreed because of damages or other costs incurred during the rental period. These extra costs are called delayed or amended charges.
  
  The way to process delayed or amended charges is different for Visa and MasterCard. It is very important to follow the correct procedure as detailed below.
  
  Visa transactions
  A vehicle rental company may process delayed or amended charges for fuel, rental damage, theft, 'no-shows', parking tickets and other traffic violations. The cardholder can only be charged for transactions incurred during their rental period that they agreed to in the pre-rental agreement.
   
  Before you can process these charges you must first provide evidence to your customer to support any claim, supplying documentation from the relevant civil authority including:
  
  
  • The licence number of the rental vehicle
  • Time/date of the violation
  • Amount of the charge, in the local currency of that civil authority
  • The statute that was violated
  • Evidence to prove the cardholder had read the terms and conditions and accepted responsibility to pay for any delayed or amended charges incurred during their rental
  • Evidence to prove the cost of any charges, as well as supplying proof that the vehicle was returned damaged or short of fuel
  • Copies of any parking tickets or traffic violations incurred during the period of the hire
  • Evidence to prove that the cardholder had agreed to the no-show amount and terms & conditions, such as a 'Click to accept website' box
   
  Special requirements when debiting for vehicle rental damage
  In the event you experience a financial loss as a direct result of damages occurring during the cardholder’s rental, you must:
  
  
  • Supply written confirmation to the cardholder within 10 business days of the return date of the vehicle, informing the cardholder of the damage and cost of repairs.
  • The cardholder has the right, within 10 business days of the receipt of the communication, and at no cost to the vehicle rental company, to provide an alternative estimate for the cost of repairing the damage should they choose to do so.
  • If an agreement is not reached the Cardholder retains the right to raise a chargeback.
  • The vehicle rental company must wait 20 business days from the original confirmation letter, before processing the delayed or amended charge and the charge must be processed within 90 days of the date of the original transaction.
    
    
  Transactions that are processed in other ways, such as deposit transactions that are withheld after the vehicle hire, are likely to be disputed through the chargeback process and may result in a financial loss to your company.
   
  Disputes (including chargebacks) on Visa cards
  In the event that we receive a disputed Visa card transaction, we will write to you requesting documentation to assist us in defending the dispute. Should the documentation not be supplied to us within the timescale indicated in the letter this will result in a chargeback debit to your bank account.
   
  When you reply you must supply:
  
  
  • A dated copy of the original notification letter sent to the cardholder informing them of the delayed or amended charge that they incurred
  • A copy of the original rental agreement
  • An estimate of the cost of repairs from an organisation that can legally provide repairs in the local currency
  • Documentation to support the billing amount of any parking or driving fines. The cardholder cannot be held responsible for any processing charges, or excessive charges where fines have gone unpaid and have therefore escalated.
  • Relevant civil authority accident report (if applicable)
  • Documentation signed by the cardholder, showing that they agree to be liable for any charge incurred during the rental period on the relevant credit card number. The cardholder signature must appear on the same page as the terms and conditions. If the terms and conditions appear on a different page of the contract, then they must be initialled by the cardholder.
  • All relevant documentation must relate to the correct vehicle registration number.
  • A copy of the insurance policy of the rental company, if that rental company requires that the cardholder pay an insurance deductible for damages together with a copy of the vehicle rental agreement showing that the cardholder consents to be responsible for the insurance deductible
  • Any other documentation demonstrating cardholder liability for the damage
   
  If you do not have this documentation, we will not be able to defend a dispute on your behalf and a chargeback debit will be processed to your bank account.
   
  Please note that any transaction processed in a card not present environment is taken at your own risk and can be subject to a chargeback dispute resulting in a debit to your bank account.
   
  MasterCard transactions
  A charge for loss, theft or damage must be processed as a separate transaction from the underlying rental transaction. You must contact the cardholder and advise them of the loss, theft or damage and obtain authorisation from them for any additional charge you process. You should also provide the cardholder with documentation to support the charges as indicated in the Visa section above. If separate authorisation is not obtained from the cardholder it is likely that the transaction will be disputed as a chargeback resulting in a debit to your bank account.
   
  Disputes (including chargebacks) on MasterCards
  In the event that we receive a disputed MasterCard transaction, we will write out to you requesting documentation to assist us in defending the dispute. Should the documentation not be supplied to us within the timescale indicated in the letter this will result in a chargeback debit to your bank account.
   
  Within your reply you must supply:
  
  
  • Original signed/swiped transaction receipt processed after the original rental charge
  • Chip and PIN transaction receipt processed after the original rental charge
  • Signed and imprinted receipt form processed after the original rental charge
   
  If you do not have this documentation then we will not be able to defend a dispute on your behalf and a chargeback debit will be processed to your bank account.
   
  Please note that any transaction processed in a card not present environment is taken at your own risk and can be subject to a chargeback dispute resulting in a debit to your bank account.
  
  

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