Deposit and excess explained

The refundable deposit

A deposit is a sum held against a credit card in the main driver’s name at pickup. It is held, not spent: think of it as a temporary hold your bank reserves, not a payment you have made. When you return the car in the same condition, the hold is released. The amount depends on the car class, and, importantly, you see it before you book, so there are no surprises at the desk. Debit cards are not accepted for the deposit hold — if you only carry a debit card, contact us before booking rather than finding out at the desk.

The deposit is there to cover things like damage that falls to you or a returned tank that was meant to be full. Return the car as agreed and there is nothing to settle: the hold simply drops off your card. Please note the deposit is separate from your rental charge, which you pay at the desk on pickup.

The excess and what CDW covers

Every Nova Drive rental includes Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) and third-party liability cover as standard. Third-party liability covers damage you might cause to other people or their property. CDW limits what you would pay towards damage to the hire car itself, but it does not reduce that to zero: your share is called the excess.

The excess is the maximum you would normally be responsible for towards repairing damage to the car, up to that capped amount. It is a standard part of hire-car insurance across the industry. The excess figure for your car is shown before you book, so you know where you stand from the start rather than finding out only if something goes wrong.

The optional excess-reduction upgrade

If you would rather have less at risk, you can add an optional upgrade at checkout — Super Gold Protection — that lowers your excess. To be completely clear: this upgrade reduces the excess, it does not remove it, and there is no such thing as zero excess. What it changes is the size of the amount you would be responsible for, bringing it down for extra peace of mind, and it is priced per day so you only pay for the days you hire.

There is one more figure to know if you are a younger driver. A young-driver surcharge applies to drivers under 25 (the minimum age to hire is 21, with a full licence held for at least 2 years). It is a per-day charge that reflects the higher risk insurers attach to younger drivers, and, like everything else, it is shown clearly before you pay. You can see how this fits the rest of a booking on our Malta car hire guide, and the low, honest headline rate on our affordable car rental page.

Seen “no deposit” car hire offers? What they usually mean

You will sometimes see car hire advertised as “no deposit”. It is worth knowing what that usually means in practice, because the money rarely disappears — it is handled a different way. Three mechanisms are common in the market:

• A broker guarantee product: a comparison site or broker sells you a cover that stands in for the deposit, but the rental supplier can still hold a deposit at the desk and the broker reimburses you afterwards, up to a limit.
• A cash or alternative payment option: some operators take a cash guarantee instead of a card hold, refunded later, often less bank or admin charges.
• Cover priced into the rate: the deposit-style risk is built into a higher daily price, so you pay for it up front rather than having it held.

Nova Drive instead uses a straightforward refundable hold, with the amount shown before you book and released after you return the car in its agreed condition. We think that is clearer than a headline that hides where the money goes — and we would rather explain it here than have you find out at the desk.