I don't know anyone personally that owns a "credit" card. Virtually nobody uses them here in France and I think in the rest of Europe, it's always debit card. Never had an issue with renting cars.

It is a common issue for French people renting cars outside of France - search on Google, there are hundreds of angry people who ended up with no car because agencies in other countries refuse debit cards (debit immediat)

Why would renting agencies refuse debit cards? You get your money, just like credit cards...

My guess would be single message (debit) vs dual message systems. They probably want to hold / authorize a large amount first as insurance.

What's strange is that you can authorise on debit cards (at least french ones)...

I should have been more specific, In the past few years I have rented cars in Europe, in the US, in South Africa and in Australia. Never had an issue. I generally use Avis or Budget, sometimes a local company.

>Virtually nobody uses them here in France and I think in the rest of Europe,

Definitely not the case here in the UK, credit cards are very common.

Other than renting a car or a hotel room, it seems you can conduct most if not all of your affairs without a credit card. Credit cards can be relegated to those limited transactions.

Most of the large car rental companies in the US will let you rent with a deposit on a debit card.