Holidaying in southern Spain at start of the school holidays for 10 days.
Fly in and out of Malaga and need to hire a car.
Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Looking at focus sized car.
Prefer to pay one cost and no extras when we turn up.
Have heard some Malaga car hire companies can have some terrible queues so want to avoid these companies.
Willing to pay extra to get quick, good honest service.
Thanks in advance.
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Comments
If you look on the internet, you'll probably find plenty of iffy reviews for Goldcar. It's the same for all of the rental companies. If I was you I'd go for the cheapest deal and cross your fingers re the service.
IMO, the best car hire firm, who are extremely competitive, are AutoReisen but I've a feeling they may only be in the Canary Islands not Spain mainland.
As long as you politely decline the excess insurance/personal insurance at the car rental desk, there should be no extra charges with Carjet. My car was actually provided by Centauro who are fine. The only (slightly cheeky) add on is a "fuelling charge" and a pre-payment for the full tank of gas which you get back on a pro rata basis depending upon how much fuel is in the tank when you take the car back. I've also used Goldcar a couple of times with no issues.
Whoever, unless you've gone for the full fat insurance option, they'll place a hold for the excess (maybe 500-1000 euros depending upon vehicle category?) on your credit card. Make sure you've got a sufficient credit limit to take that temporary hit and still pay for your regular exps. I always decline the excess insurance and tell them if I damage the car I'll put it over a cliff to make sure I get my monies worth. They look a little worried sometimes!
Here's a tip: if you're prepared to take a punt. It's worked for me so far in Spain. Go for an automatic in a lower category than you actually want. Chances are they won't have one and you'll get a freebie upgrade to a larger car! Last time with Centauro, for a 4-day trip in March I specified an automatic ford fiesta and got an automatic seat leon.
A week's cover costs usually a little less than what the hire company will charge you for a day.
Personally I never buy this extra insurance. But you need to ask yourself if you can afford to lose the excess even if only temporarily .
Oh and do a google search on Goldcar super relax cover......
At the end of the day the cheaper option is to get your own insurance, the less hassle option is to pay the car hire company high insurance fee.
I blew a tyre in the first week when I hit a rock on a country road. The company gave me a different car rather than replace the damaged tyre. During the second week car was vandalised overnight with a dent in the tailgate and scratches on the roof. When I took the car back to the airport I expected to have to fill out loads of claim forms but the car hire rep looked at the hire agreement, with the full insurance, and said everything would be OK and
Many thanks for all your help.
As said above though, do not take the extra insurance to cover your excess. It is a complete rip-off. I use carhireexcess.com and pay £38 for a full year's cover (allows you unlimited rentals, up to 62 days on each hire) across Europe.
I always also go for a full to full fuel tank. Sometimes costs a little more at the start, but works out cheaper so long as you do remember to fill up before you drop it off. I was a little short one trip and there's an admin fee (about £25 I think) for them to go and fill it up!!
Last time round, when we took both sets of parents out with us, the wife took the parents to pick up the cases and I sorted the car out. By the time they were coming out with the cases, I'd already sorted all the paperwork and we just had to walk to the car park. Was out of the airport within 10 mins of coming out of arrivals.
First couple of times I drove out there, we had a Diesel Seat Leon, a Focus equivalent. Lovely car to drive, so much so I'd consider buying one now.
Very cheap comparison service where you can spec your preferences and also see which companies are "on airport' - as many hire firms are outside the airport.
We had to wait over an hour at the carpark pick-up point to be taken in a minibus to their collection place which involved another 40 minute queue. Then we had the hard sell on all the insurance and other stuff. They discovered that they'd run out of the size vehicle we'd booked so ended up with something that looked more like a small van for the week as that was 'all they had left'...and that's before we got to their fuel policy where we had to pay for a full tank of fuel (at their inflated price per litre) and then try to claim a refund on any unused.
Doyouspain is very good and flexible for how you hire. Goldcar is usually the cheapest on comparison sites and they are fine but be warned that everybody books with them and often you get very long queues at peak times, we once waited two hours in the queue and were by no means at the end. Almost every other car hire place was empty.
If you can take out your own insurance it will save you money.