Just had a look at Sardinia on Rcars and I’m seeing that warning on lots, including Alamo?

A thread from the Italy forum, Sicily, from a couple of years ago.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187886-i343-k12905954-Rental_Cars_and_Non_Embossed_Credit_Cards-Sicily.html

Sounds like a great way to get their expensive insurance sold.

We had trouble using our credit card in Spain a couple of times this spring. We had to have pin number to use it. Husband had secured a pin number prior to our travels but we didn't have the internet service to retrieve it.

I've decided I'm only booking directly with the airline or car rental in the future due to the third party issues.

This is most interesting, as we are looking to rental a car in continental Europe soon. A bit of a googling around has pulled up several warning or comment type links about non embossed credit cards not being accepted, yet the fine print - if there is any - warning that the actual car rental company won't accept them is very hard to find, and even for somebody who tends to read the fine print, hard to spot. Most of the links my searches pulled up were single post rants/moans and little else of any use.

I've just checked our various credit and debit cards and all but one is now not embossed, including a debit card - so that would not have helped had I been in the OP's shoes.

Aside from the car rental issue, I do wonder what happens when the UK suffers it's next widespread power cut? I guess nobody will be able to buy a darn thing, as I remember shopping in a WH Smiths during a powercut once, and the staff dug out from a locker below the till the old manual slider type machines and a pack of multi layered slips.

Needing a PIN in Europe, BTW, is also going out, Jon - as contactless is becoming the norm for so many purchases, but you still need to enter a PIN for a transaction over a certain value. The other issue with purchases over a certain value is that banking systems are gradually moving towards requiring the card holder to have access to a phone signal so that they can either enter a one time passcode or send a confirmatory text to their bank that it's the cardholder using the card.

SWT

Hi SWT.

I too did a quick sweep and could not find anything on the majors websites.

I did find this buried on Maggiore’s website in the FAQ.

“The valid credit cards for access to rental are Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Diners.

These cards are recognisable because they have their numbers printed in relief.”

V - I did not look at Maggiore's website, just the majors. I have now done so. I just found this wording in a different part of their FAQs in regard to using a different card at pick up time:

>>> The credit card need not be the one you used to pre-pay, provided that it is a normal type of credit card (with the characters printed in relief) and is in the name of the person collecting the vehicle <<<

Well, all my credit cards are perfectly normal cards, so these companies are not keeping up and then causing issues for their customers - this of course is something for that behemoth EU consumer rights regulatory body to deal with, but I cannot see that happening any time soon. That Maggiore are at least consistent across their FAQs is little comfort.

Oh, and post 9 in this link in regard to Autoeurope and Avis in a more recent Italy forum on this topic is interesting:

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187886-i343-k13623665-Does_Avis_really_require_an_embossed_credit_card_in_Sicily-Sicily.html

Meanwhile, I've bunged off an email to my bank, as it was they who sent us replacement credit cards just a couple of weeks ago to replace cards that hadn't reached expiry date, just seemingly to issue us with ones with spiffy new logo on sexy matt black non embossed cards, that now have that bite taken out of them at one end so blind users know which way to tap or insert non embossed cards (as explained by google, of course!).

Ho hum!

SWT

I always take 2 (or 3) credit cards on all international trips.

Moventur @ Olbia Airport

I had the same experience at the beginning of June: my credit card (without embossing) was not accepted and I had to buy expensive insurance. This is for sure a new business model :-(

Unfortunately I get no support from my credit card bank in this case (confirmation that it is a genuine CREDIT card and that sufficient credit was available)

An update: I emailed my personal bank contact of the bank we used for most things, about this and was told nobody had every reported to them any issue with their credit cards arising from not being embossed, and they do not offer embossed cards, full stop. So, to avoid issues, don't bank with HSBC!

Our Amex and Halifax cards are also not embossed, so I guess I must remember to take our little used Coop Bank card when we next rent on the continent, if the next issue is still embossed - it expires in September!

SWT