The truck rental bid failed when none of the men could produce a valid credit card. All refused to surrender the identification needed to pay cash, the manager of the Flushing U-Haul said.

A team of FBI agents spent 10 hours Thursday combing through the Queens truck rental business.

"We all feel very lucky right now," U-Haul manager Robert Larson told The News.

When the FBI arrived, Larson said, "I was wondering, 'Where is Ashton Kutcher to tell me I've been punked?'"

By the time the agents left, "I realized this is crazy, this is real, it's not a joke," Larson said.

The feds turned up at the U-Haul in Jamaica around 11 a.m. Thursday as authorities continued tailing and interviewing suspects linked to the reputed Denver cell.

At least three Afghan men - including Ahmad Afzali, a Queens imam identified by a U-Haul employee as one of the would-be renters - were questioned in New York by FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, sources said.