Long story cut short... Many years ago when we first moved here we used an American Motorhome both for transport from the UK and as a temporary home while our House in Granada was being refurbished. The MH broke down near San Sebastian in Northern Spain and we had to organise a long haul heavy recovery vehicle to transport it from there to the Granada Camp site we were going to stay at. For insurance reasons we were not able to travel with the MH. The young lady who organised the recovery also arranged one way car hire for us from S.S. to Granada. She picked us up with a few essentials and our two dogs and took us from our breakdown site to San Sebastian.
When we arrived at the Car Hire office (Europcar) we completed the documentation and presented a La Caixa Debit Card for payment. They could not / would not accept it... only a Credit Card would do and they were quite adamant about it. Same story with an offer of a cash payment. No CC, no car... We didnt have a CC so in theory were stuck in San Sebastian. Onward travel to Granada by air or train was a non-starter because of the dogs plus we had to be in Granada to take delivery of the MH when it arrived on the back of the transporter.
The young woman from the recovery company took pity on us... she didn't have a CC either, but her Mum did... This young woman who didnt know us from Adam, other than as a client of the family recovery business, asked us to wait at the office while she went home to fetch her Mum...
40 minutes later she returned with her Mum and her credit card which she presented to the Europcar receptionist. We gave Mum and Europcar a verbal assurance that we would pay in cash for the entire hire when we returned the car to the Granada office of Europcar. This was an acceptable proposal to both Europcar and the lady in question. Once we had loaded our worldly goods and our two dogs into the hire car, with much mutual besos y abrazos, the young lady and her mum drove off with usin hot pursuit as she piloted us out of the centre of SS and onto the main carreterra to Madrid and all points South. Two days later we handed the car back to Europcar in Granada and paid the account in full using the Debit Card!
Subsequent car hires made both of Europcar and other companies have all insisted on Credit Cards; furthermore, some insist the name on the CC must be that of the hirer and main driver... which poses an occasional problem because we only have one credit card and that is in my wife's name and she doesnt drive...
Poppyseed... I hope all goes well for you, fingers crossed...