Trust and bitcoin

[fryarminer]

I rented three cars in the past week. At one of the rental offices there was a notice saying: "For all forms of payment that are not credit card, we require two proofs of residence and a copy of your last pay stub. $500 will be withdrawn from your bank account until the car is returned."

Obviously these measures are to assure that the cars are not stolen etc.

What would it take to have a rental agency such as this accept bitcoin payments? How could a level of trust be guaranteed? A third party initiative that could create the reassurance that credit cards provide would be greatly beneficial for bitcoin in these situations.

[Amph]

I rented three cars in the past week. At one of the rental offices there was a notice saying: "For all forms of payment that are not credit card, we require two proofs of residence and a copy of your last pay stub. $500 will be withdrawn from your bank account until the car is returned."

Obviously these measures are to assure that the cars are not stolen etc.

What would it take to have a rental agency such as this accept bitcoin payments? How could a level of trust be guaranteed? A third party initiative that could create the reassurance that credit cards provide would be greatly beneficial for bitcoin in these situations.

yeah basically they need an escrow in this case, could be a thing like coinbase or another kind of exchange

the escrow can be one of their man, just like in this case, with your 500 usd, the rest is the same(id and proofs of residence)

[pedrog]

I rented three cars in the past week. At one of the rental offices there was a notice saying: "For all forms of payment that are not credit card, we require two proofs of residence and a copy of your last pay stub. $500 will be withdrawn from your bank account until the car is returned."

Obviously these measures are to assure that the cars are not stolen etc.

What would it take to have a rental agency such as this accept bitcoin payments? How could a level of trust be guaranteed? A third party initiative that could create the reassurance that credit cards provide would be greatly beneficial for bitcoin in these situations.

yeah basically they need an escrow in this case, could be a thing like coinbase or another kind of exchange

the escrow can be one of their man, just like in this case, with your 500 usd, the rest is the same(id and proofs of residence)

It has to be an escrow that immediately sells the coins at the fixed price, something like Bitpay, and when you deliver the car you receive the money in fiat, if you receive bitcoins it will be a different value, it can be more bitcoins or less, and this is probably a problem.

I think it's awful that car rent agencies only accept credit cards, it's invasive and not everyone has them, but I don't see how bitcoin can facilitate this particular problem.

[Professor Plums]

snip

What would it take to have a rental agency such as this accept bitcoin payments? How could a level of trust be guaranteed? A third party initiative that could create the reassurance that credit cards provide would be greatly beneficial for bitcoin in these situations.

Why would it not be the same with bitcoin? You would probably just pay a deposit as normal, but there will likely be payment processors that may cover this sort of stuff.

[fryarminer]

snip

What would it take to have a rental agency such as this accept bitcoin payments? How could a level of trust be guaranteed? A third party initiative that could create the reassurance that credit cards provide would be greatly beneficial for bitcoin in these situations.

Why would it not be the same with bitcoin? You would probably just pay a deposit as normal, but there will likely be payment processors that may cover this sort of stuff.

I guess what they really need is the value of the car, if the car is stolen. By getting copies of proof where your family lives, they know where to come after you. And by withdrawing money from your bank they can withdraw more I suppose. The only way I can see them doing this is if they demand the value of the car in btc, and keep it until you return the car.

[Amph]

I rented three cars in the past week. At one of the rental offices there was a notice saying: "For all forms of payment that are not credit card, we require two proofs of residence and a copy of your last pay stub. $500 will be withdrawn from your bank account until the car is returned."

Obviously these measures are to assure that the cars are not stolen etc.

What would it take to have a rental agency such as this accept bitcoin payments? How could a level of trust be guaranteed? A third party initiative that could create the reassurance that credit cards provide would be greatly beneficial for bitcoin in these situations.

yeah basically they need an escrow in this case, could be a thing like coinbase or another kind of exchange

the escrow can be one of their man, just like in this case, with your 500 usd, the rest is the same(id and proofs of residence)

It has to be an escrow that immediately sells the coins at the fixed price, something like Bitpay, and when you deliver the car you receive the money in fiat, if you receive bitcoins it will be a different value, it can be more bitcoins or less, and this is probably a problem.

I think it's awful that car rent agencies only accept credit cards, it's invasive and not everyone has them, but I don't see how bitcoin can facilitate this particular problem.

now that i think about it, he hasn't used an escrow with fiat, and banks does not always protect you, so why he should with bitcoin? he basically trusted the vendor with fiat he should do the same with bitoin

[Hazir]

It is really simply. You provide agency with information they wanted: name, address, others credentials and pay with bitcoin. If they require a deposit in BTC there is no reason to decline. Just pay.
In car renting business they probably won't run with your money overnight like standard online BTC scammers do.

[Q7]

A few possible scenarios. May the car rental service can impose something like paying twice the upfront deposit (when paying in bitcoin) and then return back the balance amount once the car has been returned in good condition. It's not an ideal solution as the business owner is still at risk here but other than that, can't seem to think of a better way.  

[fryarminer]

It is really simply. You provide agency with information they wanted: name, address, others credentials and pay with bitcoin. If they require a deposit in BTC there is no reason to decline. Just pay.
In car renting business they probably won't run with your money overnight like standard online BTC scammers do.

This does sound the most logical. I just find it hard to see agencies like that getting willing to accept bitcoin.

[redsn0w]

It is really simply. You provide agency with information they wanted: name, address, others credentials and pay with bitcoin. If they require a deposit in BTC there is no reason to decline. Just pay.
In car renting business they probably won't run with your money overnight like standard online BTC scammers do.

This does sound the most logical. I just find it hard to see agencies like that getting willing to accept bitcoin.

Or you can use an escrow with multi-signature address 2 of 3. Only as security, you will keep one of the private key, one the escrow and the other the rental agency but remember the escrow should not 'work' at the rental agency.

However I think it is 'still' difficult to issue a rental agency work also with bitcoin (not bitpay) real tx bitcoin into the multiSig. address.

[687_2]

I rented three cars in the past week. At one of the rental offices there was a notice saying: "For all forms of payment that are not credit card, we require two proofs of residence and a copy of your last pay stub. $500 will be withdrawn from your bank account until the car is returned."

Obviously these measures are to assure that the cars are not stolen etc.

What would it take to have a rental agency such as this accept bitcoin payments? How could a level of trust be guaranteed? A third party initiative that could create the reassurance that credit cards provide would be greatly beneficial for bitcoin in these situations.

I think don't think credit cards are going away anytime soon because of this exact issue - the CC is really just and easy way to do escrow. The banking aspect will disappear though - it would be trivial just to send the agency an XBT deposit and then they could return it when you return the car.

Has anyone tried renting a car using a CC issued through XAPO yet?

[fryarminer]

I rented three cars in the past week. At one of the rental offices there was a notice saying: "For all forms of payment that are not credit card, we require two proofs of residence and a copy of your last pay stub. $500 will be withdrawn from your bank account until the car is returned."

Obviously these measures are to assure that the cars are not stolen etc.

What would it take to have a rental agency such as this accept bitcoin payments? How could a level of trust be guaranteed? A third party initiative that could create the reassurance that credit cards provide would be greatly beneficial for bitcoin in these situations.

I think don't think credit cards are going away anytime soon because of this exact issue - the CC is really just and easy way to do escrow. The banking aspect will disappear though - it would be trivial just to send the agency an XBT deposit and then they could return it when you return the car.

Has anyone tried renting a car using a CC issued through XAPO yet?

Oh yeah, the rest of that notice said something about the same requirements applied for prepaid Visa etc. so I guess that would include Xapo cards.