For those of you who's never rented a car abroad using a Thai debit card, please be aware that this is a potential disaster. The reason for this is that most Thai banks uses electronic Visa cards (no raised details on the card, and no chip), and they are not accepted by most of the car rental companies. I experienced this myself the other day and I thought it'd be a good thing making a list of the companies that DOES and the ones that DOESN'T allow the Thai Visa cards. Unfortunately, I met a Thai family at the Enterprise car rental office at Heathrow who were stranded due to this. Apparently, they allow you to make the booking, but it's all for nothing when you get there and try to pay with the same card... BASTARDS!

Allow Thai Visa:

Eurocar

DOESN'T Allow Thai Visa:

Enterprise

I was unaware that anything but a proper credit card was accepted at mainstream agencies, due to the fact that those allow them to "pre-charge" test for a sufficient amount to handle an accident or other costly charges, which debit cards don't allow.

I was unaware that anything but a proper credit card was accepted at mainstream agencies, due to the fact that those allow them to "pre-charge" test for a sufficient amount to handle an accident or other costly charges, which debit cards don't allow.

All Thai debit cards allows a pre-authorization hold. Obviously you'll need the amount on the account linked to the card. The reason for not allowing this (according to Enterprise) is insufficient security.