I did a trip w/a rental car like that recently, quite a few more miles though. The rental car idea was definitely a good one, less than $300 for the whole week, unlimited mileage. I did run into one problem. My credit card company started denying my attempts to buy anything. Apparently in these modern times a person – if they want to use their credit card on the trip – is first required to clear their itinerary with the credit card company before leaving.
I’ve never run into that. I always do a trip note for my debit cards but not credit. One thing though on a card, if you rent a car, they will hold back a thousand or more just in case you wreck the car or otherwise cause a higher charge. Then they just charge what they want without having to get an authorization. Kinda like a gas station that will hold back for several days $100 for gas when you only bought $20 worth. Now if you have an accident, you not only are on the hook for the body damage but also the lost rental revenue. So you use a card with a high limit and don’t use it for anything else.
I got a great rate at enterprise I paid 190 for 10 days for a premium car. They held an extra 250 as a deposit. I had that issue before and my card was put on hold rendering my funds useless . I always carry cash and tell my card company’s I am going. It happens to everyone next time just give them a heads up, 
I hope it all gets sorted out for you. Fyi if you make your reservation for a rental in the winter its much cheaper and they will automatically apply any promos to your reservation until your pick up. One year I had mine down to 86 for a premium car for a week!
I’ve found that sometimes a credit card company questions a charge because it was far away from home. This is especially true for international travel. When I travel overseas, I call the card company and tell them where I will be and for how long. It usually doesn’t happen in CONUS though.
I do call them but still from time to time, they block the charge. Thankfully with internet, you can check your e-mail right away and okay the charge and try again.
The credit card companies want to protect themselves which I understand, but sometimes I find myself stuck 10000 miles away.
Even when you are at home, it is possible for a charge to be blocked. Several years ago, I was having some improvements done to my home, and the foreman had a mobile wireless credit card machine. Because of the high cost involved, I asked if I could split the fee between two credit cards, and he agreed. The portion that I charged on a Citi card sailed through, but Chase blocked the other portion as “suspicious”. I had to call Chase in order for that charge to be accepted.
I know. I bought my first house later in life. I think it was my first visit ever to Home Depot and the charge was close to a $1000. I was with out contractor buying stuff to fix some things up. American Express blocked the charge and called my cell in a minute to tell me my card is stolen as this was not my usual place to shop. After a brief discussion, they removed the lock.
It took me about 2 1/2 hours on the phone with the CC company before they relented. But even after that it wasn’t until 2 days later that my charges were allowed. I’m partially to blame for the 2 1/2 hours. I don’t let the CC company know much about me. So that makes it harder for them to verify it is actually me on the phone. They finally decided they know the telephone number I activate my card with, so they phoned that number saying they would leave a message with a code. Then I call them back w/the correct code they know it is me. Two problems: First, they wouldn’t tell me when they’d phone and leave the message w/the code. The only thing they’d say is “within 6 hours”. 6 hours to leave a phone message? … grrrllllll … Then the first two times they finally did phone I couldn’t understand what the code was. These staff CC credit verifiers are not native English speakers; plus it sounded like they had a very bad communication line, probably phoning from outside the USA. I phoned back and said I couldn’t understand what they said the code was, and “please try again and speak very slowly and loudly & repeat the code 3 times so I can be sure to understand what you say”. This request they just ignored. All in all, not a pleasant experience. The lesson I learned was in these modern times to be sure to tell the credit card company whenever I go out of town. I didn’t do it b/c in the past I never told them, never had a problem using my CC, even going outside the USA, as far as New Zealand, no problems there.
Yeah, it can be super scary to be that far from home and not able to trust that your card will be active . Its happened to me twice on vacation (even after I called) it’s also happened at home if I ever do two transactions at the same store one after the other I get shut down and called. I use cash mostly anymore after hurricane sandy we had no atm debit credit nothing for more than a month , no power no internet , no one could access their money. . It was scary but also a very eye opening event I think it taught people how much we rely on electronics for everything and how it can all be taken away in an instant rendering our money untouchable.
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I dunno, maybe its my disaster preparedness/response training, but I always seem to have multiple options. Hundred dollar bills store fairly easily but the problem is a lot of places don’t like to take them. Then I have several debit cards, then several credit cards so if one doesn’t work I have other options. Then of course a generator that really never had to use in a power outage situation, and never let the cars get below 1/2 tank. And so on. It’s just something that seems to be ingrained in me and can’t help it. No childhood trauma, never had to survive in the desert or forage for food, but just seems like logical good sense, like carrying a tool box in the trunk.
I remember the wife took off for Europe and when I quizzed her, she had only $80 in cash, one debit card and one credit card. Then she called and I had to go to the bank to have them figure out why her debit card didn’t work for some reason.
People used to carry around quite a bit of currency in their wallets, as recently as the 1970’s. Not so much now-a-days though. There’s a pretty good movie from the 1970’s , starring James Coburn, Harry in Your Pocket, about how teams of pickpockets target those they think are carrying cash. The pickpocket expert would nab the mark’s wallet, then to avoid getting caught holding, they’d immediately pass it to another team member, then passed to a third team member, who would remove any cash, then toss the wallet into the nearest garbage can. This methodology wouldn’t work as well in these modern times; people aren’t carrying nearly as much cash on their persons.
I believe the thieves would be more interested in your credit cards . . .
Max them all out as quickly as possible, before the gig is up
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