Cheap car hire article discussion

ascoandy

Being aware of the "hire full, return empty" scam that enables some companies to charge lower headline rates I was looking to hire from Atlas Choices as their standard terms and conditions state "all cars supplied with a full tank of fuel and to be returned refilled"

Almost at the end of the booking process there was a requirement to accept the terms and conditions again before completing the booking.

Guess what? The terms and conditions for hire included this

"Fuel Policy Collect Full Return Empty
There is a fuel deposit of EUR 60.00 - EUR 100.00 .
Fuel is not included in the rate for this vehicle and must be paid for at time of collection"

Beware of this much used scam!!! (unless you intend to use the full tank during your stay of course!)

Clairecalls

Hi all need some questions answering if anyone can help
We are travelling to spain there is 6 of us adults and 1 infant we was looking at
Hiring a car but as we do not have a credit card is this at all possible with deposits ect as as far as i can see they all need a credit card number
For this .

iain_1

I did a search with Travel supermaket and have been quoted via expedia £39.55 for 8 days car hire in Malaga (Spain). The company is firefly and the vehicle is a Firefly Midsize Air conditioning, manual transmission, unlimited mileage, Collision & Damage Waiver, Theft Protection, Third-Party Liability Insurance, City/Airport Surcharges, Road Tax, VAT/Tax,

I checked with and it will be buy tank return empty, but most companies seem to have this for longer than 3 days hire from Malaga. The next nearest I can find is with Atlas choice which is £76 total for a 4 door (have little people to transport).

So is this TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?

expedia are a solid company as far as I know. Thoughts advice?

Bri1

For USA

http://www.americacarrental.com/

Have used these a couple of times, will beat any quote, UK based & phone number, Topcashback varies between 6 & 15 percent, found them to be very good

tonyberk

I travel a lot for work and rent cars all around the world. There is one thing for sure you should always do; use car rental comparison sites that shop the best deal for you.

Example when renting a car in Italy italy.rentalcargroup.com

Hope this helps

GreenfingersXX

ascoandy wrote: »

Being aware of the "hire full, return empty" scam that enables some companies to charge lower headline rates I was looking to hire from Atlas Choices as their standard terms and conditions state "all cars supplied with a full tank of fuel and to be returned refilled"

Almost at the end of the booking process there was a requirement to accept the terms and conditions again before completing the booking.

Guess what? The terms and conditions for hire included this

"Fuel Policy Collect Full Return Empty
There is a fuel deposit of EUR 60.00 - EUR 100.00 .
Fuel is not included in the rate for this vehicle and must be paid for at time of collection"

Beware of this much used scam!!! (unless you intend to use the full tank during your stay of course!)

Funnily enough I had exactly the same problem when trying to book with Budget last night. I used Auto-Europe to find hire firms in Majorca who do not have a mandatory "full to empty" fuel policy (as the MSE cheap car insurance guide recommended), which brought up very reasonable options from Budget.

I then went direct to the Budget website and checked the fuel policy options within their Help section. It stated stated there were three options; full to full, full to empty, & "let us fill it up for you when you return it at our rate". I was happy with that so went through the online booking process.

After you have entered your details, including credit card info, there is a "final checklist" box in which it states the full to empty fuel policy is mandatory for all rentals of over 4 days in Spain. The box is literally just before the "book now" button. I feel really, really conned as Budget have hidden this from consumers all through the booking process. I don't mind them having the policy (well I do, but it seems to be standard these days), what I resent is the underhand way it has been hidden! As you can guess I bombed out of the booking process and am currently looking elsewhere for my hire car!!!!

lucevdw

Used MoneyMaxim featured site I got £155.95 but when I click More Info to book this car it does to AutoEurope which gives higher price £168. (Olbia Airport, 20 - 26 April, category mini, pickup 12noon, dropoff 8am)
AutoEurope site banner says it is MoneyMaxim site - looks like false advertising.
I queried this but all I got was a long waffling nonsense reply from their online chat. They say it's 'complicated' to offer the same price. Disreputable. Why should this company feature so prominently on MartinLewis' previously excellent site?
Disappointed.

NellyN

Why does the article say that mostly Sixt and big companies have free extra driver and this advantage is not included on comparison sites. Thats not true... carrentalsnet.com site also has free additional driver.

angel00079

I can't believe that I am thinking about using Hertz again after last year but they have a car I really want to hire.


Has anyone had any joy with a discount with Hertz? It seems the only way to potentially get a discount is to call but only offered a £4 discount. When questioned the agent said that not using internet prices.

Andy7856

For my trip to the USA, I used Economy Car Hire (who then used Dollar), very reasonable prices, plus Free 2nd driver.


Also always booked the economy car model, chances are when you get there they wont have one, and will give you pretty much the next car that is available. We was offered a monster people carrier, but declined it for a more modest saloon.