To ask you to help me sort this holiday nightmare!!

[CantKeepCalm2]

I’m sick with worry over this and unable to sleep as a result.

My husband, kids and I are going on holiday to Spain in just over a week. We are going to Alicante but to keep costs down, I booked flights to Madrid as I saw the train looked cheap from there to Alicante. I think the airport is half an hour from the train station in Madrid but thought with the train being cheap, we would hopefully be able to figure out a shuttle bus or something that might take us.

Fast forward to now and the train prices have sky rocketed. I was really silly not to book at the time, but I didn’t expect the markup to be quite so extreme.

I came up with a plan b. Hire a car in madrid to drive us to Alicante on arrival day, and same again on departure day. I’ve booked this all but have now realised we are going to have issues as neither DH or I have a working credit card. Long story short but we moved from the UK to another European country and when I lost my credit card, i tried to cancel it on my husband’s app and accidentally cancelled his card. I tried to resolve this with the bank but they couldn’t deal with me as I wasn’t the main card holder. On top of that, I have a pin block on my credit card as a result of getting the pin wrong 3 times. Again, this has been a nightmare to sort as the bank wouldn’t deal with me and my husband has been rarely home due to his work (military).

Anyway, after booking the hire car a couple of days ago, my husband was able to call the bank. Unfortunately it’ll take 10 working days for his new card and the pin should arrive 3 days later, so this doesn’t help with our hire car. They advised me I could go to an ATM and sort my pin. I tried that today but to no avail, the ATM here didn’t have a “pin services” option. And I’ve been thinking, surely I can’t change my pin anyway since I don’t know the pin to begin with.

We can cancel the hire car and receive a full refund up to 48 hours before the trip. If we do that, it’s going to cost us loads getting the train, plus I haven’t figured out a way to get from Madrid airport to Madrid train station. I can’t change the flights because direct flights will cost us an extra £1000 at least and I can’t afford that. What do I do? I’ve really messed this up badly and know I sound like the most disorganised person. I’ve just massively dropped the ball on this one. 😢

Just book with sun transfers or Hoppa.com...they will quote online and you choose whichever car/shuttle works for you

You could check whether your debit card would be acceptable. We are also abroad. My UK card is a VISA debit. It works like a credit card when abroad because most people just look at the VISA sign.
Additionally, do you have an account with a local bank as well? Ours are really helpful and try to sort things out quickly. I feel it's always a lot easier to resolve issues directly at a branch.
My UK bank doesn't have a branch in our country (well, at least not one that is accessible for me) but they are very helpful on the phone as well. Is there a reason why your husband cannot ring up and sort this out?

I am genuinely surprised that the flights were cheaper to Madrid, there are so many airlines that fly into Alicante, it’s a really popular route for UK travellers. Alicante City is a lovely place to stay. Or you can get the train to the Costa’s. We have hired a car a couple of times in Spain using a debit card, it has never been a problem, I am assuming your debit card shows the visa logo, the car hire firm can still take a holding deposit, should they need one.

Try to calm down op.your panic will stop your brain from actually functioning to sort this out!you've hut the oh shit I can't see fog.and are in fight flight(ironic) mode.the brain feels like mush at this point.
Many posters with good suggestions here.
Don't beat yourself up

We have always used a debit card when using car hire as we don't have a credit card.

I've booked lots of hire cars abroad. They usually only need a credit card if you don't buy their fully comprehensive no excess insurance ( because you have a cheaper separate insurance to claim it back from), but if you pay for their insurance (which often costs as much per day as the car hire) then a debit card should be ok, as you wouldn't have to pay anything if you damaged the car iyswim.

Alternatively could you change accomodation to Madrid or similar?

Cancel the hotel in Alicante? Have a day or 2 exploring Madrid then hop on a train to somewhere else?
(Obviously this only works if your hotel is refundable...)

We are staying at a shared villa in Alicante so it’s not possible to cancel unfortunately.

Our flights to Madrid were £400 including adding luggage. To Alicante it’ll cost us around £1400 once we’ve added luggage. Plus extra to change the flights. We just don’t have the money.

Our car hire was booked through a 3rd party company called VIPcars. We don’t have any direct details for the company we’ll actually get the car from so I can’t contact in advance to discuss. I did contact VIPcars though who said it must be a credit card.

If you book with Europcar and pay for the top-level insurance (can't remember what it is called) the level of deposit required is much reduced. They should be able to use your debit card by holding a certain amount on your debit card. I have done this years ago in Paris. Also, I have done this a number of times in the UK - I know it will be different in Spain. But basically, the highest level of insurance means you don't pay for any damage or any excess.

In that case I'd definitely look at other more reputable car hire companies, like enterprise, that would let you buy insurance and therefore not need a credit card.

Do you have the app? Looks like you can view your PIN through that gethelp.virginmoney.com/helptopic/subtopic/pagecontent/article/KA-01419/?How-to-view-your-PIN-in-the-Mobile-app

The other option might be to see if you can get a cheap internal flight from Madrid to Alicanti? might work out cheaper than car hire.

I'm pretty sure a lot will take a debit card. Phone them and ask.

I remember us having this sort of problem once I have a feeling (if memory serves me right) if we had used a debit card they would have taken more funds to hold or maybe it was we had to upgrade the insurance cover we'd opted for.

We arrived at car hire company in Spain and our friends were supposed to pay for the car hire as we were paying for the holiday. Friends didn't have a credit card so we had to put it on ours but I'm nearly sure they said they'd take debit but there was something extra (I can't remember what) if paying by debit card.

Try another ATM to change the pin? When I had to do it I had to go to an ATM at my bank to do it rather than a random one.

Just seen your update. I'd cancel that car hire secure another one. I don't think they hold as much as 3k! I think it's more around 1k

I don't have a credit card and have hired a car twice in Spain. The first allowed a debit card, the second took a cash deposit (which was about £1k IIRC) but as I took out full insurance cover on the car both payments were below that credit card amount.

If you take out the full insurnace with the car hire company then you don't have to block a hold on a credit card (this is different than the 'premium' insurnace that Easyjet/brokers etc sell now). If you just have a car for 2 days then it shouldn't be extortionate. Call the hire company and check.

Sorry if I've missed something, but if you absolutely need a credit card then some providers will give you the details in an app before the physical card arrives, so you might not have to wait for the post?

Madrid airport to Madrid city is the easy part. Just get on the Metro.

But it looks like there are coaches from Madrid airport to Alicante, possibly with a change somewhere else in Madrid, but look on alsa.com. Flexible tickets appear to be 33 euros each, so 160 euro each way for all of you is probably the cheapest option.

Spanish coaches are quite good. We got one from Granada to Seville, it was air conditioned, had wifi and you were given a bottle of water and a snack when you got on.

Lesson for everyone. You do need a credit card for many reasons that don't involve borrowing money and you should also have more than one in case something goes wrong when it will inconvenience you most.

This really isn’t that complex. Just book train tickets when you arrive or get the bus.

Look at going directly to Europcar, Hertz etc. Prepay and take out top insurance cover you can then use a debit card.

I don’t have a CC and always use a debit card for car hire.

Contact the credit card company- they can fast track your card

www.sixt.co.uk/help-center/articles/car-hire-without-credit-card/#/

Sixt take debit card (we have a car booked for our holiday in Spain and don't have credit cards either!).

In fact, I've hired a few cars over the years and I have never had a credit card, so you might have more choice than you think if you go direct to the hire company rather than a third party.

Avoid using third party sites or the big car rental places. Local firms are much less likely to ask for a big deposit than the chains like Europcar. I had a quick look and this one says no deposit and has good reviews: www.centauro.net/alquiler-de-coches-baratos/espana/madrid-chamartin/