is there a massachusetts car rental that allows one to use a debit to hold a vehicle then pay with that card?

Answer 1

Enterprise does, but maybe MA law does not allow you to do what you propose.

Answer 2

Yes. BUT there is a problem. If you rent a car for 5 days at $100 a day they will immediately debit your bank account for $500 before you leave their office. Maybe even more if they really want to be covered against potential problems. If you were low in your bank account and were hoping to stretch your vacation funds to last until you were done you are surprisingly and seriously down in bank account cash. Woe is you if you have checks that are supposed to be paid out of those funds also. Of course it is worse if you use the same card in a hotel. They say $75 per day times the estimated 10 days and $750 leaves your checking account (on another debit-card hold) before you even get into your room).

If you get into an accident they could pull thousands out of your car rental debit card just to be sure the damage is covered.

Don't vacation on debits unless you want to live dangerously. I had a friend who did and they wouldn't let her and her kids back into the room from the swimming pool because she had exhausted her debit card account earlier that day with room service.