What is paid when, and to whom
Almost every misunderstanding about paying for a rental in Oman comes from treating the advance and the deposit as the same thing. They are not. The advance is money that leaves your account; the deposit is money that never does, unless something goes wrong.
| Advance payment | Security deposit | |
|---|---|---|
| When | At booking, online | At pickup, at the desk |
| What happens | Charged to your card | Blocked on the card, not charged |
| Paid to | The booking system | The supplier |
| Returned | Only under the cancellation terms | Released after the car is returned undamaged |
| Cash accepted | No | Some suppliers, on selected cars |
The reservation is confirmed once the advance is paid by card at the time of booking. Cash is not accepted for it, and neither is a transfer on arrival - without the advance there is no confirmed booking, only an intention. The remainder of the rental is settled with the supplier under the terms in your voucher.
The cards normally accepted for the advance are Visa and Mastercard, credit or debit, issued in your own name. The name on the card and the name of the main driver should match; a mismatch is one of the more common reasons a handover stalls.
At pickup the supplier blocks an amount on the main driver's card. Nothing is taken from the balance; the sum simply becomes unavailable until the car is returned and checked. Banks typically release the hold within a few days, though some take longer, and that timing is set by your bank rather than by the supplier.
Two things about the deposit are worth checking before you book, and both are visible in the offer conditions: how large it is, and whether it must sit on a credit card specifically. On a family trip a large hold competes directly with the rest of your holiday spending, which is why we show it before booking rather than after.
Part of the fleet in Oman is listed with no deposit at all, and part of it is available to travellers holding only a debit card. These are supplier-level conditions rather than a site-wide promise: they appear and disappear with the season and with the model. Use the no-deposit filter in the search form and read the card requirement in the offer you are about to take, since it is stated per offer.
Cash appears above because some suppliers accept it for the deposit on selected vehicles. It is never accepted for the advance.
Prices in the search are shown in the currency you select, while the supplier settles locally in Omani rial. If your card is issued in another currency, your bank applies its own conversion, and a card offering dynamic currency conversion at the terminal will usually cost you more than declining it.
Charges that may appear on top of the rental itself are set by the supplier and stated in the offer: additional driver, young driver surcharge, one-way relocation, cross-border permission, extended or off-road insurance, and child seats. None of them is added by us.
Cancellation terms are attached to each offer rather than fixed across the site. Many offers can be cancelled free of charge up to a stated point before pickup, and some cheaper rates cannot be cancelled at all. Whatever applies to your booking is written in the voucher - read that line before you pay, not after.
Questions about a specific payment go to [email protected] with your booking reference to hand. The full conditions are in our terms and conditions.
Deposit conditions are visible in the search itself - open car hire in Oman and the amount is shown against each offer.