Questions and answers

No. Odovera is an independent travel agency, a brand of Affluence Hospitality LLC. We arrange car rental reservations with third-party rental suppliers on your behalf. We do not own, operate, insure or maintain vehicles, we do not staff rental counters, and we are not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any car rental brand. Your rental agreement is signed directly with the supplier at the counter, under that supplier’s own terms.

It can be, provided you know who you are dealing with and what you are actually holding. The complaints people report about online booking middlemen tend to come from the same three places: a reservation that never reached the rental company, a headline price that was not the real total, and nobody to call when the counter says no.

Judge any agency on those three points, including us. We send you the rental supplier’s own confirmation number, not just our internal reference, so your booking exists in their system and you can verify it with them yourself. We put the all-in estimated total in writing, with the fees named, before you commit to anything. And your booking has a named agent whose contact details are on your confirmation. Our legal entity, registered address and phone number are on the contact page, and our terms set out exactly what we are responsible for and what the supplier is.

This is the classic third-party booking failure, and the protection against it is the supplier’s own confirmation number. Once your reservation is placed we send you that number, issued by the rental company, in your name. It lives in their system, not only in ours, and you can check it with them directly before you travel — we would rather you did.

If you are standing at the counter and something is wrong, call your agent before you sign anything or accept a different rate. That is the moment an agency is most useful, and it is much harder to fix afterwards.

Usually not, and you should hold us to it. On most bookings the supplier pays us a commission out of the rate you were going to pay anyway, so the amount you pay is the same as booking that supplier directly. Where a service fee applies instead, it appears as its own labelled line on the quote before you approve anything.

There are cases where booking direct genuinely wins — a corporate rate, a loyalty discount, a members-only promotion we cannot access. Where we can see that is the case, we tell you rather than quoting around it.

On most bookings we are paid a commission by the rental supplier, at no additional cost to you. Where a service fee applies instead of or in addition to that commission, it appears as a separate, clearly labelled line on your written quote before you approve anything. You will not see a charge from us that was not on the quote you agreed to.

Call us first, at any point before or during the rental. Your agent knows your file, knows what was quoted, and can escalate to the supplier on your behalf.

Two limits worth being clear about. At the counter, the supplier decides whether to release a car to you, and we cannot overrule that. And once you have signed their rental agreement, charges they assess afterwards — fuel, damage, tolls, penalties — are raised by them and resolved with them. We will advocate for you and chase them. We cannot waive their charges.

No. The search form sends a quote request to an agent. It does not take payment, does not display live supplier inventory and does not reserve a vehicle. A reservation exists only after an agent has sent you a written all-in total, you have approved a specific option, and we have sent you the supplier’s confirmation number.

You do not enter card details anywhere on this website, and there is normally nothing to pay to place a booking. Most reservations we make are pay-at-the-counter: you present your card to the rental company at pickup, and they take the rental charge and the security deposit.

Where a rate is prepaid, or where a service fee applies, your agent tells you before you approve it and explains how that payment is collected securely. If anything claiming to be Odovera ever asks you to type a full card number into a web form, it is not us — please report it to us.

Yes, every time. Each quote names the rental supplier, the exact pickup location, the vehicle class and the estimated total. We do not book anyone with an unnamed “supplier to be confirmed”. If you would rather not use a particular company, tell your agent and we will quote around it.

You can, and sometimes that is the right answer — if you hold a corporate rate or real loyalty status with one brand, booking direct is hard to beat. What a rental company’s own website cannot do is tell you that a different brand is cheaper at that airport on your dates, that its deposit is half the size, or that its counter will not accept the card you are carrying. We check several suppliers against each other, put the all-in total for each in writing, and tell you which one we recommend and why — including when the answer is one that pays us less.

A valid, unexpired driving licence in the main driver’s name, held for the minimum period that supplier requires; a payment card in that same name, ideally a credit card; and, for visitors from outside the US, your passport and often an International Driving Permit. Anyone else who will drive must be present with their own licence and be added to the agreement.

Requirements vary by supplier and by location, which is why your agent confirms them for your specific booking in writing. Full detail is on our rental requirements page.

Sometimes, and the rules are set by the supplier and the specific location, not by us. Many locations accept debit cards only with additional identification, a credit check, or proof of a return flight; many restrict which vehicle classes you may take; and some decline debit cards entirely, most often at airport locations and for premium classes. Tell your agent before booking if you will not have a credit card in the main driver’s name, and we will confirm the rule for your location in writing before you commit. See our rental requirements.

The deposit, or authorisation hold, is set by the rental supplier and varies by location, vehicle class and payment method. It is held against your card at pickup and released after you return the car — release timing is controlled by your bank, not by the supplier or by us, and commonly takes several business days. We confirm the expected hold amount for your specific booking before you approve it, because a hold on a debit card removes money from your available balance for the length of your trip.

Usually yes, from age 21 in most US states, with a young-driver surcharge charged per rental day by the supplier and restrictions on which classes you may take — premium, luxury, full-size SUV and specialty vehicles are commonly excluded. Some states set different minimum ages, and a small number of locations rent from 18 with additional conditions. Tell us the driver’s age up front and the surcharge sits inside the total you are shown rather than appearing at the counter.

No, and neither will any rental supplier in the United States. US rentals are booked by vehicle class, and every confirmation in the industry reads “or similar”. What we can do is tell you honestly what a class typically contains, and put specific requirements — three real rows of seats, a tow hitch, all-wheel drive — on the reservation as a supplier request, with a clear statement of whether the supplier has committed to it or merely noted it.

That depends on cover you may already hold, and we are not able to advise you on it — Odovera is not an insurer and does not sell insurance. What we can do is tell you what the supplier offers at your location, what each product costs per day, and what the supplier’s own terms say about your liability.

Before you travel it is worth checking two things you may already have: your personal car insurance policy, which in the US often extends to rentals, and your credit card’s rental benefits, which frequently include collision cover when the rental is paid with that card. Many travellers buy at the counter what they already own.

Yes on free-cancellation bookings, and the supplier’s own terms always govern. We do not charge a cancellation fee on a standard booking. Prepaid and promotional rates may carry supplier penalties or be non-refundable, in which case we say so explicitly on the quote and ask you to acknowledge it before booking. Full detail is on our cancellation and refunds page.

We collect what a booking actually needs — name, contact details, driver age and trip details — and we pass to the rental supplier only what the reservation requires. We do not sell personal information. We do not ask for licence numbers, passport numbers or full card numbers through this website.

You can ask us for a copy of what we hold, have it corrected, or have it deleted. Our privacy policy sets out the detail, and your privacy choices covers opting out of advertising cookies.

Our service is built around US and Canadian pickups. We can quote selected international locations on request, but the counter rules, insurance structures and deposit norms are different enough abroad that we will tell you plainly when a local specialist would serve you better.

Call the number at the top of any page during agent hours, or send your trip details by email and an agent will reply. Every booking has one named agent attached to it, so when you call back you are not starting again with someone new.