Cheap car hire article discussion

Antony_S

In summary, NEVER, EVER USE Goldcar FOR CAR HIRE!!

It seems 2 hours is the standard queue time, and the terrible staff are endemic throughout the company.

Having waited the obligatory 2 hours, the desk jockey chose to amuse her friends before deeming to look at me. The usual scams ensued: excess insurance (I trumped this with an annual policy); but then we had the tank of petrol scam - 110 Euros for a Ford Focus! must have been liquid gold. But then a sneaky one I hadn't been ready for - they converted the 110 Euros to sterling and added another 2% without asking (even though the form said they had). I then had to go to another office in the car park, wait another 15 minutes before getting a key, to then wander around the car park to find my car.

When retruning the car, I expected another lenghty wait, but luckily it was a Friday, and fairly quiet. However, the spotty youth designated to 'check me in' was too busy texting to even bother looking up, and just took the key and wandered off without a word.

Needless to say, my credit card company is on hand to stop any excess charge that is posted.

In summary, NEVER, EVER USE THIS COMPANY FOR CAR HIRE!!

Happyjules1982

Hi all

I recently tried to hire a car in Spain for 4 days. I booked an automatic Ford Focus with Goldcar, which I found via rentalcar.com. I noticed the following on the booking voucher:

Fuel Policy

Fuel should be paid for on arrival and it is not necessary to refill the tank before returning.

Refunds are given for unused fuel for rentals of 1 to 3 days
The charge for a full tank of fuel varies depending upon the vehicle type. Please note: Due to refuelling logistics the price charged will be at a higher rate per litre than the pump price available locally.

On arrival at the airport, the agent informed me that I would be charged 120 EUROS!!!! for the tank to be filled. I have a Ford Focus 1.6 and it doesn't cost more than £50 to fill up. Given that I was only paying £75 for the car hire, I actually decided not to take the car, as this practically doubled the price. It was a horrible start to my holiday.

On return to the UK I have emailed the company and asked for refund, which they refuse to give, saying that I agreed to the fule policy when booking (note the fuel policy comment says nothing about price). Oh and they are sorry that I am not completely satisfied. Ha!!

Has anyone else had problems with this company? Any luck in getting refunds etc? I'm thinking of contacting consumer advice, as I just feel it's completely misleading.

Thanks for any advice

Happyjules1982

Wow - just read the post above which you must have posted whilst I was typing mine...don't use Goldcar people!!

legacym

I go to Tenerife a lot and would agree on Goldcar the fuel charges are extortionate - you would need to drive around the island every day to use a tank in a week! I use Autoreisen.es they are in the airport include CDW and ARE THE ONLY ONES that don't charge for fuel. Also my car got hit once and they sorted it all instantly with no hassle.

They don't appear on comparison sites.

DrZork101

we recently went on holiday to nice and got car hire from Zopica ~£210 for the week so saved about £40 off the most expensive supplier.

It was the first time we hired so maybe I was being naive about the excesses. When booking it said it included a collision damage waiver CDW, which I found out when reaching the car hire desk meant an excess of 1500 euros!! I dread to think what it would have been without the cdw.

also had another heart in the mouth moment when we found a scratch along 2 panels the day before we returned the car (the french do NOT like you parking in 'their' spot). luckily this was glossed over in the inspection.

i guess just read the small print very thoroughly..:eek:

robd831

Mayrichie

I used the Travel Supermarket.
Then once you have the reference and prices use Quidco or another cashback site to try and get is cheaper.
You can also then ring up the major companies and some will match the price of a cheaper quote.

Having read the above problems with paying for fuel up front, I would try and stick with the major hire companies, they will always say who they are with and don't forget to read the small print.

rossk26

Hello, I've just read though the T&C's of my rental with Auto Europe. And this one struck me:

* Please note, regardless of the method of payment used to make this booking, you will be required at time of pick up by the local
supplier to leave a security deposit for the vehicle. This takes the form of an amount (minimum: excess+fuel+vat) being blocked
on an international credit card in the name of the primary driver (cash deposits , maestro, switch, visa electron, prepaid credit
cards and all debit cards are not accepted). The blocked amount will be returned in full at the end of the rental provided the
vehicle is returned in the same condition as rented.

I don't have a credit card! What should I do? I need help urgently!

AlexMac

Hi Mayrichie - you ask 'does anyone know of a good car hire comparison website ?' We used to hire Hertz (usually via the discount car hire linnk on the Ryanair website but that only covers their destaiantions, altho' you don'y have to fly Ryanaier), but we've switched to the broker 'Carhire3000' (who have recently merged with another firm, but their original name still works on a web search ). We have been delighted with their service over a few years, and it's reassuring to deal with a UK (Manchester) based firm as you can ring 'em up. They use mainstream providers like AVIS, HERTZ or rated local renters. A million times better than Easycar whose local partner Advantage ripped us off at Malaga airport with the old fulltank out non-refundable fuelling charge- for a car we only planned to drive for 100km or so!

szturc

Just hired a car in Miami from Dollar (cheapest on comparison web sites). Had to buy a full tank and return empty. When I protested to the agent that I'd never had to do this in the States before he said by doing this it allowed them to top the comparison sites. Their tank of fuel was considerably more expensive than buying at a pump and meant that other renters would in fact have been cheaper.
Their other scam is to charge in excess of $40 per week for a sunpass (some toll roads don't have a cash lane and require a transponder to work) The tolls from Miami to the Florida Keys are in the order of $3.50 so you'd be pushed to spend more than $10 per week.
A Sunpass can be bought in lots of local stores for $4.99 and costs $10 to validate on line.

Yuiop

I think these websites are a good idea in principle and I saved approx £100 by booking through carrentals.co.uk, going through the link on MSE, but I was very dissatisfied with the service given to me by erentals.co.uk, with whom I booked. Their partner, Advantage, had incredibly bad customer service and my partner and I even felt threatened by the demeanour of the official to whom we returned the car, and the amount I ended up paying in extras exceeded what I would have paid had a booked directly with Hertz or one of the other big car hire companies. I have complained repeatedly to Erentals but they have failed spectacularly to give me any feedback or comments. I won't use a car hire comparison website again and will in future just book with a well known car hire company via Expedia. Be warned!