Car hire fuel policy should be stopped!

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  • veryverynewmoneysaver
    veryverynewmoneysaver Posts: 10 Forumite
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    Several people have suggested not hiring a car at all. However, when I stay at my brother's apartment near Alicante, I really have no choice as I have considerable mobility problems and simply cannot manage without a car. I also need to rest a lot and cannot drive far, so use very little fuel. I am thinking of travelling in May, but can't find any company with a full/full (or half/half, etc) policy. I have booked with Holiday Autos the last few trips because their policy was fairer, but even they seem to have followed the crowd.
    BTW, car hire companies used to make money on full/full because you pay a lot more than the pump price, and they can earn interest on your money for the period of the hire, but they have become greedy. Of course, interest rates are low now, but I bet it won't change when interest rates rise again.
    We are now considering not going at all, so they are shooting themselves in the foot.
  • vikingaero
    vikingaero Posts: 10,920 Forumite
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    My brother in law was peeved with the pay for a full tank - return empty when he went to a wedding in Italy. He still had 1/2 a tank left and offered the fuel to a local cabbie if he could siphon it off.
    The man without a signature.
  • MarkyMarkD
    MarkyMarkD Posts: 9,912 Forumite
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    veryverynewmoneysaver wrote: »
    BTW, car hire companies used to make money on full/full because you pay a lot more than the pump price, and they can earn interest on your money for the period of the hire, but they have become greedy.
    Grow up. How are they making money on the interest when they are supplying the car with a full tank? D'oh!

    And interest on £50 for a fortnight = 3/4 of sweet FA. :rolleyes:

    And they don't make any profit, whatever the "price" on full/full, if you return it full.
  • greyteam1959
    greyteam1959 Posts: 4,576 Forumite
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    veryverynewmoneysaver wrote: »
    Several people have suggested not hiring a car at all. However, when I stay at my brother's apartment near Alicante, I really have no choice as I have considerable mobility problems and simply cannot manage without a car. I also need to rest a lot and cannot drive far, so use very little fuel. I am thinking of travelling in May, but can't find any company with a full/full (or half/half, etc) policy. I have booked with Holiday Autos the last few trips because their policy was fairer, but even they seem to have followed the crowd.
    BTW, car hire companies used to make money on full/full because you pay a lot more than the pump price, and they can earn interest on your money for the period of the hire, but they have become greedy. Of course, interest rates are low now, but I bet it won't change when interest rates rise again.
    We are now considering not going at all, so they are shooting themselves in the foot.

    Hope this post is of more help than that of MarkyMarkD.
    Try these people I have used them for years......
    www.economycarhire.com
    If you get a quote online then look at the left hand side of the quote page you will see a box 'which supplier'....put your details in here then click on book.
    When you get the next page up it will show you the car hire company you will get your car with.......scroll down toAvailable Extras & Information.
    Look at the fuel policy for that company.
    Auriga Crown are one of the few companies that are now offering full / full on car hire
    Hope this helps.
    Edit- Be aware that you might be better paying slightly more for the hire and getting a full / full fuel policy.
  • MarkyMarkD
    MarkyMarkD Posts: 9,912 Forumite
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    It's certainly more helpful than the post of veryverynewmoneysaver. Thanks for the info, mervyn.
  • joebouk
    joebouk Posts: 1 Newbie
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    Had 2 weeks in Rhodes in June/July, borrowed a Focus Cmax for £300 from Alamo/National for the full period with excess insurance included(covered by holiday auto's)

    No add ons at the airport and a 1/2 / 1/2 return policy. Can't recommend them enough.
  • kara_p_uk
    kara_p_uk Posts: 83 Forumite
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    This seems quite fair to me unless I'm missing something. We're quite happy to refuel before returning the car rather than the full to empty thing, only thing is if you refuel outside of the airport you're going to use some getting to airport - does that mean they'll sting you for the 15 eur surcharge for 2 eur worth of fuel?

    Clients will be provided with an amount of fuel, for which a charge will be made. This will be refunded when the vehicle is returned with the same amount of fuel. If the vehicle is not returned with the same amount, a refuelling charge of 15 EUR + VAT will be applied, together with the cost of missing fuel. Please note: due to refuelling logistics you will be charged a higher rate per litre compared to the normal pump price.
    February 2022

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  • MarkyMarkD
    MarkyMarkD Posts: 9,912 Forumite
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    No, this is pretty good. Ideally they don't give you the car full - if it's 3/4 full or whatever, you can slightly over-fill compared to that so that when you reach the drop-off point it's exactly matching when you collected it.
  • CAE
    CAE Posts: 644 Forumite
    edited 6 February 2011 at 6:49PM
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    We hired a car from Malaga airport in January using Malagacarhire.com who are brokers. Their terms and conditions are here
    http://www.malagacarhire.com/our_terms.aspx and their fuel policy states that you leave a deposit for a full tank and return it full. The credit card slip we left for the deposit was returned to us. We did fill up at the airport as missed any garage that was close.

    The company used via the broker was Nisa Cars.

    Had not hired a car abroad before so was extremely wary, but the whole process could not have been easier. Reasonable hire rates too.

    Have also just booked again for a week in March
  • ellie14
    ellie14 Posts: 1,342 Forumite
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    I used Malaga car hire for over 20yrs never had a problem with them in all that time .I now need to hire at Allicante Airport so am reading this thread in detail.
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