Payment made Simpler and Safer

Out with the Old...

Over the 40 odd years that Vineyard Car Hire has been in existence, we like the bulk of car hire companies in South Africa, have insisted on payment via credit card. Due to the risky nature of car hire, the credit card has offered us flexibility in terms of payment and recourse if something happens to the vehicle such as an accident or theft. To achieve this, we obtained a pre-authorisation amount (or reserve amount) on the credit card as security and an imprint of the card on the rental agreement. Payment at the end of the hire was done manually by entering the credit card details on a speedpoint machine. Needless to say, in times of rampant credit card fraud, we felt the need to change the way we transacted to something that is both easy to use and secure, providing the card holder with greater peace of mind.

Credit Card Security

To provide some background, the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a security standard mandated by the credit card brands but administered by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. The standard was created to increase controls around cardholder data to reduce credit card fraud. We realised that Vineyard Car Hire did not meet these standards especially around the recording and storage of card data e.g. credit card number and expiry date. It is with this in mind that we commissioned a rebuild of our website early in 2020 with a view to changing the way we transacted from manually entering the credit card information to transacting on a secure payment gateway on our website. We therefore eliminated the need to hold or store customer’s credit card details.

Using the Payment Gateway

So how does it work? When accepting the amount quoted on the website, the hirer will be guided to the payment gateway where they will pay for the hire amount. They will enter their credit card details and will perform a 3D Secure check to ensure that they are in fact the credit card holder. This is normally done by issuing an OTP (One Time Pin). Some bank apps are even using facial recognition. This way we can ensure that the credit card belongs to the card holder and is not being used fraudulently. On the ‘back end’ of our website we can view and record the transaction as well as the card holder’s name, the last four digits of the card and the expiry date. In addition, once the transaction has been made, tokenization provides us with the ability to debit or refund the credit card within the constraints of the rental agreement.

The payment gateway is simple and easy to use, simply enter your card details from the convenience of your own device.

Watch a Video Tutorial

Benefits

To summarise the benefits, the hirer no longer needs to provide his/her credit card details, the payment process is executed using a secure payment gateway and it is all accomplished prior to receiving the hire car making the hand-over process easier and quicker. Ultimately, the hirer’s credit card details are secure with no chance of fraud. In addition, we are now able to accept hybrid card such as cheque cards opening car hire to a wider customer base.

For more information on the payment process, click here.