Hand in Passport for Car Rental??????????

M

megamania

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Sep 10, 2005
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Someone, please, tell me this isn't true!!
I had a person from my home town who travels to D.R. 4 times a year and knows a lot of people there tell me that I might not want to consider renting a car because in the D.R. you have to leave your passport with the person you rent the car from. Can this possibly be true???? I am not comfortable with that at all! Passports are important pieces of identification. I like to keep mine locked in the room unless I need it for identification when cashing travellers cheques, or using my visa/mastercard, etc.

If this is so, I do not think I would be comfortable with that, as I am sure teh other people travelling with me will not.

What are my options.
Just wondering if anyone can shed any light on this please.

Again, thanks in advance!!
Meg :eek:
 
R

rellosk

Silver
Mar 18, 2002
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megamania said:
Someone, please, tell me this isn't true!!
I had a person from my home town who travels to D.R. 4 times a year and knows a lot of people there tell me that I might not want to consider renting a car because in the D.R. you have to leave your passport with the person you rent the car from. Can this possibly be true???? I am not comfortable with that at all! Passports are important pieces of identification. I like to keep mine locked in the room unless I need it for identification when cashing travellers cheques, or using my visa/mastercard, etc.
Click to expand...
It is not true with National (and probably most of the other major car rental companies).
 
R

RHM

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Sep 23, 2002
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megamania said:
Someone, please, tell me this isn't true!!
I had a person from my home town who travels to D.R. 4 times a year and knows a lot of people there tell me that I might not want to consider renting a car because in the D.R. you have to leave your passport with the person you rent the car from. Can this possibly be true???? I am not comfortable with that at all! Passports are important pieces of identification. I like to keep mine locked in the room unless I need it for identification when cashing travellers cheques, or using my visa/mastercard, etc.

If this is so, I do not think I would be comfortable with that, as I am sure teh other people travelling with me will not.

What are my options.
Just wondering if anyone can shed any light on this please.

Again, thanks in advance!!
Meg :eek:
Click to expand...

Not true. For many transactions businesses and banks will require copies for their records but private entities cannot take it and hold it for any reason. A passport is an internationally recognized document for travel purposes. I am pretty sure what you described is illegal. I would NEVER leave my passport with anyone.

Scandall
 
M

MerengueDutchie

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Oct 13, 2003
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I let them make a copy but will never! leave the original with anybody..

Also you might want to make some color copies for when you are stopped by the police.. laminate them and hand them over to the police..
 
Robert

Robert

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I guess your friend needs to get a clue. At worst they will take a photo copy of your passport. NEVER leave the original and if they do ask for it, one thing is for sure, your dealing with a low end, unreliable rental company.
 
F

frank alvarez

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Apr 13, 2004
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Your passport is your personal document...

...and you never, ever, leave it with anyone. At best, let them make a photocopy and you can certainly leave it in the hotel safe (not the room safe!) but keep it near you always in a foreign country and you will save a lot of hassles in case of theft or loss.
 
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ricktoronto

Grande Pollo en Boca Chica
Jan 9, 2002
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megamania said:
because in the D.R. you have to leave your passport with the person you rent the car from. Can this possibly be true???? I am not comfortable with that at all! nks in advance!!
Meg :eek:
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Never EVER do this. Find another firm. There is NO reason to even have your passport with you outside your room where it should be locked up. Carry a color copy of the page with your ID details.

The only time you relinquish it is to obtain visas when a consulate keeps it for a couple days to approve and stamp it. Not in the DR.
 
S

str8d0minikan

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Sep 18, 2005
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true to some extent

megamania said:
Someone, please, tell me this isn't true!!
I had a person from my home town who travels to D.R. 4 times a year and knows a lot of people there tell me that I might not want to consider renting a car because in the D.R. you have to leave your passport with the person you rent the car from. Can this possibly be true???? I am not comfortable with that at all! Passports are important pieces of identification. I like to keep mine locked in the room unless I need it for identification when cashing travellers cheques, or using my visa/mastercard, etc.

If this is so, I do not think I would be comfortable with that, as I am sure teh other people travelling with me will not.

What are my options.
Just wondering if anyone can shed any light on this please.

Again, thanks in advance!!
Meg :eek:
Click to expand...


Actually i rented a car and they asked me to leave my passport i asked if their was in alternate thing to do they siad leave 500 dollars so i left the 500 dollars and when i returned to the car they returned me the 500 dollars i left this was one of them companies in the cibao airport in santiago i cant really remember the name eurocar or sumtin like that
 
T

TimInDR

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Jun 4, 2005
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www.prestigecarrentals.com
I wouldn't leave my passport with anyone.

Sometimes we hold them. I don't like it either.

Very infrequently, but sometimes--and I find it most often in German customers ?? any thoughts why? --folks who rent from us are even more reluctant to leave a credit card deposit, so we will accept a passport and a whole lot of cash.

Here's the deal... and if there's better logic than mine (and there usually is) please tell me your thoughts.

We rent a car for any length of time... let's say it's about a week and the cost is $300.00 (hypothetical...).

We ask to SEE the Driver's License and/or passport. We copy down the pertinent information, and RETURN the documents. Then we ask for a credit card, we run it through our CARDNET machine put a hold on funds (anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 RD PESOS depending on length of rental, etc. Then we RETURN the card.

All documents remain with the customer, not with the company.

HOWEVER........................

Sometimes tourists are scared to use their credit cards here. Sometimes I am scared to rent a car to tourists who won't leave a deposit.

So, and more as a deterrent than anything, I will tell them that we accept the passport and some gross amount of cash.

Sometimes my employees won't even present this as an option if they think something fishy is going on.

Most times, they will return to the credit card option.

We don't want your passport.

-----------

It is very hard for me to let someone drive away with a (minimum) $14,000 USD vehicle and I have nothing but a handshake and a five minute meet and greet.

I cold just accept cash, but then I run the risk of having a $1000.00 USD cash deposit in hand, and one of my vehicles out of the country and across the Haitian border (based on a true story) and I am all of a sudden missing a car.

Yes the cars are insured. I can recover SOME of the losses. I don't want to do that. I just want the cars back, and for me and my customers to be happy at the end of our business deal.

I guess to summarize....

Rarely, but it does happen....

We will accept a passport and cash as a deposit in lieu of a credit card, if that is what it takes to make the deal happen for the customer.
 
J

Janni

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Mar 19, 2005
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Guess I was not dealing with a reputable company!! Good to hear that is not the case everywhere in the DR. I have not had to rent a car since so I didn't know any different.

Good luck with that Megamania!!
 
K

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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ricktoronto said:
Never EVER do this. Find another firm. There is NO reason to even have your passport with you outside your room where it should be locked up. Carry a color copy of the page with your ID details.
Click to expand...

Very good advice. Keep passport in safe location and have the ID section, including picture, copied in color and laminated. Barbara and I also do this with our cedula and residency carnet.
 
M

megamania

New member
Sep 10, 2005
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Too bad we weren't all honest - eh???

TimInDR said:
Sometimes we hold them. I don't like it either.

Very infrequently, but sometimes--and I find it most often in German customers ?? any thoughts why? --folks who rent from us are even more reluctant to leave a credit card deposit, so we will accept a passport and a whole lot of cash.

Here's the deal... and if there's better logic than mine (and there usually is) please tell me your thoughts.

We rent a car for any length of time... let's say it's about a week and the cost is $300.00 (hypothetical...).

We ask to SEE the Driver's License and/or passport. We copy down the pertinent information, and RETURN the documents. Then we ask for a credit card, we run it through our CARDNET machine put a hold on funds (anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 RD PESOS depending on length of rental, etc. Then we RETURN the card.

All documents remain with the customer, not with the company.

HOWEVER........................

Sometimes tourists are scared to use their credit cards here. Sometimes I am scared to rent a car to tourists who won't leave a deposit.

So, and more as a deterrent than anything, I will tell them that we accept the passport and some gross amount of cash.

Sometimes my employees won't even present this as an option if they think something fishy is going on.

Most times, they will return to the credit card option.

We don't want your passport.

-----------

It is very hard for me to let someone drive away with a (minimum) $14,000 USD vehicle and I have nothing but a handshake and a five minute meet and greet.

I cold just accept cash, but then I run the risk of having a $1000.00 USD cash deposit in hand, and one of my vehicles out of the country and across the Haitian border (based on a true story) and I am all of a sudden missing a car.

Yes the cars are insured. I can recover SOME of the losses. I don't want to do that. I just want the cars back, and for me and my customers to be happy at the end of our business deal.

I guess to summarize....

Rarely, but it does happen....

We will accept a passport and cash as a deposit in lieu of a credit card, if that is what it takes to make the deal happen for the customer.
Click to expand...
Tim.
Thank you for your reply. I feel much better. I have been thinking about this and I decided that NO WAY would I leave my passport with anyone. Just didn't sit right. I am an "early" retired federal worker, and this just seemed totally unacceptable. Anyways, thanks for the info.
I guess there is always someone who blows it for all us honest folk!!
I really don't know how I would get the car back to Canada???? (Just kidding)

Have a good day.
Thanks to all of your for your input!! This is a real learning experience for me, but it is great. The more information you have , the better it is.

Meg
 
T

TimInDR

New member
Jun 4, 2005
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www.prestigecarrentals.com
not anymore....

just a quick update...

I brought this passport issue up at a management meeting in La Romana a couple days ago.

As of today, this is no longer an option for us. Everybody must have a credit card.

thanks for bringing this 'issue' to light.

tim
 
R

ricktoronto

Grande Pollo en Boca Chica
Jan 9, 2002
4,837
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Ken said:
Very good advice. Keep passport in safe location and have the ID section, including picture, copied in color and laminated. Barbara and I also do this with our cedula and residency carnet.
Click to expand...

I would not bother laminating it only as it them becomes nearly impossible to fold and carry in your wallet. A colour photocopy will do the job. When it wears out I do another copy.
 
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