Measured across 26 airports
Car hire deposits: what the desk really holds
The deposit is the money blocked on the main driver's card while you have the car. It is not a charge and you get it back - but it has to fit, and it is the single biggest surprise at the counter.
Why it varies this much
A deposit is a pre-authorisation, not a payment: the supplier freezes that amount on a credit card in the main driver's name until the car comes back undamaged. If the card cannot take it, you do not get the car - which is why this number matters more than a few euros on the daily rate.
Check the deposit before you book, not at the desk, and make sure the card you are travelling with can hold it alongside your hotel and everything else you have booked.
Where it is best, and where it is worst
26 airports, each figure a median across every sweep of that market. Click through for the full report on any of them.
| Best for you | The typical deposit held | Worst | The typical deposit held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tenerife Airport South (TFS) | €350 | Dublin Airport (DUB) | €2,250 |
| Alicante Airport (ALC) | €400 | Split Airport (SPU) | €1,500 |
| Malaga Airport (AGP) | €494 | Faro (all locations), Portugal | €1,500 |
| Barcelona Airport (BCN) | €500 | Porto Airport (OPO) | €1,500 |
| Madrid Airport (MAD) | €500 | Lisbon Airport (LIS) | €1,400 |
| Edinburgh Airport (EDI) | €550 | London Airport Heathrow (LHR) | €1,296 |
Every figure here comes from searches we ran ourselves and kept — no supplier supplies us with data, and nothing is estimated. How we measure this.
See it for your own dates
These are typical values from repeated searches. The only way to know your price — and your deposit — is to search the dates you actually want.
Search a rental →More measured conditions: the share of cars accepting a debit card · the share of desks shut by 22:00 · the typical second-driver fee · every airport we measure