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Pre-paid Visa Cards

Posted by (Santa Rosa, CA, USA) on

Just wondering... I will be traveling with friends in France this fall. We are renting a car, which I have done in the past. And while it has always worked out fine, keeping track of who paid for gas and tolls and getting it all straight at the end of the trip is a chore. I was thinking about having each person contribute an equal amount to a pre-paid card before we leave, and use that card to pay for gas and tolls along the way.

Is a pre-paid card accepted in Europe that same as any other credit card? Any thoughts?

Posted by
9100 posts

Prepaid cards are accepted, but you're better off purchasing one once you arrive in France. The cards sold in Europe have the smart chip embedded in them, so you can use it more easily to pay for gas and tolls at automated machines. The US prepaid cards just have the magnetic strip on them.

Posted by
23282 posts

In the past when I looked at pre-paid visa cards that had a lot of fees associated with the card which put the card in the range of 8 to 12%. The pre-paid WalMart card does have lower fees but still more than the fees paid using a standard debit card. Michael's recommendation about buying it in Europe makes a lot of sense.

Posted by
1167 posts

An alternative would be to choose a "designated payer." EVeryone chips a selected amount and that person pays all of the bills. When the money is gone you each add more. Be sure to agree in advance what will and not be paid from the kitty.

Posted by
446 posts

An alternative would be to choose a "designated payer."

I think this is a better idea. The main problem I see with the prepaid card is, you don't know exactly how much you are going to spend on gas. And, what if there is a balance remaining on the card when trip is over? How will you refund that balance to those who paid into the card?

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