D

David Gladstein

Germany

May 24, 2026

One-Dollar Freeze

Let me complain a bit first. I really hate it when a big amount is charged right away when I book a car. On business trips I still need to do expense reports and watch my credit card limit. This time I had a business trip to Munich in Germany. I booked through QEEQ. I planned to pick up a car from Europcar in the city around noon on about May twentieth. It was a small SUV like a Volkswagen T ROC with automatic gear. I would return it in Munich in the early evening around May twenty second. My schedule was already full with flights, hotel and meetings. I felt a bit stressed. If the rental payment also blocked a big part of my card limit I would be even more nervous. When I placed the order I saw a thing called One-Dollar Freeze. At first I was not sure about it. I thought maybe there were some hidden rules later. I still tried it. The system only asked me to pay 1 dollar in advance. When I used my card I checked the bank message. It only showed the 1 dollar booking fee. No other amount was taken. At that moment I felt quite relaxed. At least my credit card did not suddenly lose a big chunk of money. Some time passed. My departure date was getting close. I suddenly remembered that I had not paid the full rental fee. I got a bit worried and thought maybe the booking would be canceled if I forgot to pay. I opened my record and saw that they already set it to charge the rest automatically before pickup. I did not need to click or change anything. I also did not see any extra fees. When it was close to the pickup day I checked my bill. The charge was done and the amount was the same as the one I saw when I booked. There were no strange items. For a business traveler like me this way of only paying 1 dollar first and locking the booking makes the pressure much lower. I can secure the car first and then handle company approval. During this time my credit card is not fully used in one go. So on this Munich trip the whole rental part felt quite smooth. The payment part was actually the easiest part for me.