2026 Edition: Best Cards for Car Rentals

Singaporean drivers are renowned for being well-mannered, considerate, and not-at-all-impatient on the road, so it’s always great to share our driving culture with the rest of the world when on holiday.

So if you’re planning to rent a car for your next trip, here are the credit cards that will earn you the most miles, as well as some pitfalls to watch out for.

How do car rentals code?

The MCC for car rentals depends on how you make your booking, but in general, there are two possibilities:

• For direct bookings: MCC 3300-3499, or MCC 7512
• For OTA bookings: MCC 4722

Most major rental car companies will code in the MCC 3300-3499 range. For example, Sixt is MCC 3355, Hertz is MCC 3357 and Avis is MCC 3389. Those interested in seeing the full list of rental car MCCs can consult this document.

However, there’s also the possibility of it coding under MCC 7512 if it’s a smaller or non-traditional agency, like Burswood, Centauro, Omega Car Rentals, or Turo (where pre-authorisations code as MCC 4789 but final bills code as 7512).

If you make the booking through an OTA like Trip.com or Klook, the transaction will code as MCC 4722.

In case you’re uncertain about the MCC, here are three ways of looking it up before making a purchase:

Booking car rentals directly

For rental car bookings made directly with the agency, you can use any of the following cards.

🚗 Best Cards for Rental Cars (Booked Direct)
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd Online only	Max S$1K per c. month Review
HSBC Revolution Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1.5K per c. month*. MCC 7512 is not included Review
Maybank XL Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd FCY only	Min. spend S$500 per c. month, capped at S$1K per c. month Review
UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Apply	4 mpd	Max. S$600 per c. month. Must pay via mobile contactless Review
UOB Visa Signature  Apply	4 mpd FCY only	Min S$1K, max S$1.2K FCY spend per s. month Review
StanChart Beyond Card Apply	3-4 mpd FCY only	3 mpd for regular, 3.5 mpd for PB, 4 mpd for PP. No cap Review
Maybank Visa Infinite Apply	3.2 mpd FCY only	Min. S$4K spend per c. month Review
Maybank World Mastercard Apply	3.2 mpd FCY only	Min. S$4K spend per c. month. 2.8 mpd with min. S$800 spend per c. month Review
StanChart Visa Infinite Apply	3 mpd FCY only	Min S$2K per s. month, no cap, otherwise 1 mpd Review
BOC Elite Miles Card Apply	2.8 mpd FCY only	No min. spend or cap  Review
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Apply	2.8 mpd FCY only	Min. retail spend of S$800 per c. month. No cap. Review
*From 1 April 2026, bonuses will no longer be awarded for rental car and other travel-related spending.

The only card to explicitly whitelist rental cars is the HSBC Revolution, but do note that MCC 7512 is not included. This could be a potential gotcha if you’re renting with a smaller agency!

However, even if you don’t have this card, you can still take advantage of online (assuming you prepay in advance on the website) or foreign currency spending bonuses (assuming you’re renting overseas).

Booked via OTA

For rental car bookings made through an OTA, you can use any of the following cards to maximise your miles.

🚗 Best Cards for Rental Cars (Booked via OTA)
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd Online only	Max S$1K per c. month Review
Maybank XL Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd	Min. spend S$500 per c. month, capped at S$1K per c. month Review
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month. Must choose Travel as bonus category Review
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply	4 mpd	Max S$750 per c. month. Must choose Travel as bonus category Review
UOB Visa Signature  Apply	4 mpd FCY only	Min S$1K, max S$1.2K FCY spend per s. month Review
StanChart Beyond Card Apply	3-4 mpd FCY only	3 mpd for regular, 3.5 mpd for PB, 4 mpd for PP. No cap Review
Maybank World Mastercard Apply	3.2 mpd FCY only	Min. S$4K spend per c. month. 2.8 mpd with min. S$800 spend per c. month Review
Maybank Visa Infinite Apply	3.2 mpd FCY only	Min. S$4K spend per c. month Review
BOC Elite Miles Card Apply	2.8 mpd FCY only	No min. spend or cap  Review
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Apply	2.8 mpd FCY only	Min. retail spend of S$800 per c. month. No cap. Review

Be careful with Amaze!

When collecting your car, you’ll often need to provide a credit card as a guarantee against any damage. This is not the right time to use your Amaze. 

Amaze, you’ll recall, is actually a debit card (even if it passes transactions through to a credit card). When the rental car company puts an authorisation hold on Amaze, that becomes an actual transaction billed to your credit card. When the hold is later released, the amount credited may not be the same as the amount debited due to FX charges and movements (it really boils down to how the reversal is done).

I’ve written about this problem in the article below.

PSA: The pitfalls of using Amaze for hotels or rental cars

It’s always better to provide a credit card at the time of rental, and then provide your Amaze when the rental is over for final billing. This will mean you need to visit the counter after dropping off your car, however, and may not be an option for after-hour drops or contactless drop-offs. 

Beware of DCC!

Rental car companies are fond of DCC scams, and I’ve been hit more than a few times. 

Googling “rental car automatic DCC” will turn up plenty of reports of companies automatically opting customers into DCC, hiding the option to opt-out in the fine print or making it overly complicated to do so. Why? Because it makes them money, of course. The rates offered via DCC are vastly inflated over what you’d pay through your bank.

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot you can do about this, except to be extra vigilant or use an American Express card, because AMEX does not support DCC. On the flip side, you won’t earn quite as many miles with AMEX cards; the best option would be the UOB PRVI Miles AMEX at 2.4 mpd.

Alternatively, you can consider booking your rental car through an OTA and paying at the time of booking, so the rental car company has no further charges to make.

What about car rental insurance?

Given how expensive it can be to purchase insurance from the car rental company itself, I often look at getting third-party insurance. 

One company I’ve used before is Worldwide Insure, which offers single trip plans, or an annual plan for £129 (~S$225) that covers rentals of up to 60 days. The Deluxe tier will reimburse any excess up to £50,000 (~S$87,000), with a deductible of £75 (S$130).

The main thing to flag is that Iceland is excluded from coverage. Also, I’ve never had to make a claim before, so I can’t speak to how easy the process is— that said, there are a few success stories in the MileChat from other users.

Another option is RentalCover.com, which quoted me US$9.70 per day for a car rental in the USA, with no deductible. 

The newly-launched AAS RoadPlus+ is also an option, but it does require you to purchase the rental car company’s basic CDW- which I feel defeats the purpose.

AAS RoadPlus+ overseas rental car insurance: Not what I was hoping for

Conclusion

While there aren’t many cards which explicitly whitelist rental car transactions, you can circumvent this restriction by booking through an OTA, or taking advantage of foreign currency spending bonuses.

Do be mindful of the ever-present DCC scam, however, as well as authorisation holds if you’re using Amaze (or any other debit card for that matter, including Revolut and YouTrip).