HELP! Can't find a car hire company in Greece that will allow you to pick up a car without a credit card!

[libralady]

I am now getting pretty stressed out. I am currently 29 weeks pregnant and we booked a bargain holiday to Kefalonia to have some R&R before babba is born. Have sorted out the insurance and car parking at the airport, but have now found out we cannot hire a car in Greece without a credit card!!
In this financial climate we do not have a credit card and do not want one. We have debit cards and plenty of money in our accounts to cover any deposit needed. Has anyone else had any experience of this? We go to Greece most years and have never ever come across this before. I am so pissed off at the thought of having to stay at the apartment for a week. (Can't even get to the apartment from the airport as we'd cancelled the transfers as we thought we'd pick the car up and in Kefalonia, you need a car to get around!)
Any suggestions? Does anyone work for any car hire firms that can give advice? Please, I am desperate!!!!!!

AFAIK you can't hire a car anywhere these days without either a credit card or a whacking great cash deposit.

Get a credit card. Use it for this only. Job done.

I can recommend the broker we used recently to hire in France - carhire 3000 - they use all the big companies, have an 0800 number for all communications, and seem v good and efficient.

One of their FAQs (in the Help section) is

If you go with them, pay the extra for their Damage Excess Refund - I paid about £15 on top of the rental, our car was hit by a deer and the hire company has taken nearly £500 from our credit card but we will get it back.