Cheap car hire article discussion

richve

May also apply to other countries
You need plenty of time
When you go through Martin's links,regardless of which you use you get to car del mar
They then have to try the rental company. You have to wait 3 days for an answer. The car I requested was not available
I then phoned car del mar and they said they would do a search and I received email stating they would be back in max of 3 days. After 4 days I phoned to be told they had tried to contact me on phone ( which is usually on). No message had been left and again the car was not available
They were using car rental firm called LUCKY. I looked up this firm on line. They did not have any cars only vans and camp ears

I then went direct to another intermediate company called ECONOMY
They came back within 12 hours with the car I had requested

trevjl

Below is an email I have just sent to Avis. pretty much sums it up. just as a warning to others. my original BA paid voucher for "everything" was $128, final charge was $370. Not BA's fault though. just a rogue Avis agent at MCO.


rental number 612168130


When I arrived at MCO to pick up the car which I booked through British Airways, He told me that they were short of small cars and would I be OK with an impala. I had no idea what the heck an impala was - I don't do cars, 4 wheels and an engine is all I care about - I said yes. The agent then said would you like the insurance. I said I want all car insurance.
I signed where he told me to on the machine, but I had no idea what I was signing for. yes I should of read it, but I had just flown 5000 miles, was a bit tired and he just said that's for insurance, that's for fuel etc etc as the signature boxes came up.
When I went to collect the car, I found it was in the premium lane. I looked opposite and there were at least 20 compact cars there, which I fund a bit strange as he had told me they were short.
Upon dropping of the car I was issued the receipt. A while later I looked at the receipt and found I had been charged for an "agreed upgrade" I had agreed nothing of the sort. I found I had also been charged for personal accident insurance and personal effects insurance. Neither of which I needed as I am covered by my company insurance.
I telephoned customer services and spoke to a George. he said he could refund me 3 of the 4 days upgrade and the extra insurances as he understood as he had had exactly the same issue.
I now find upon receipt of my credit card statement that I have not been refunded as agreed. Also, I was not sent the updated receipt as promised.


My main complaint is that the agent at the desk was blatantly ripping me off. He knew exactly what he was doing and has probably been getting away with it for ages. I assume he is on some sort of commission.


I am an Avis preferred member and had previously been happy with the service. I have to travel back to Orlando this weekend and will be renting a car to do so. Do you think I will be using Avis ?? Not a chance.


This email has been copied to British Airways and posted on various UK travel websites to warn other travellers.


regards

tobester

Hello all,

I've always used economycarrentals.com for holiday (and in fact UK) car rental.

Someone told me about this website about 5/6 years ago and it consistantly beats all the others recommended here. I've finally got round to sending in an email to this thread!

Example: just booked an intermediate car for 7 days in Madeira, price was £169 inc all the usual cover (bar the excess of course!). Best elsewhere was coming in at £194.
:beer:

climcc

I booked car rental with Expedia last June for £119 for August 2016 in Ljubljana. I was shocked when I checked my credit card statement in December to find that Sixt car rental has charged £223 without notifying me or sent me any invoices. I contacted Expedia customer services and was asked to email to travel support team but all I received was there is nothing they can do despite informing them that I was charged without any notification. The reasons for the charges were damage to the front bumper, late in returning the car and road side assistance which were all false claim. I even tried to send evidence of photos of the car returned with time on it as I took it when I returned the car but no reply after which I am very disappointed with Expedia. I returned the car early of hours hence no one to mend the desk but I took photos on my mobile with dates and time on despite this Expedia has not responded nor resolved. Any advice from anyone would be appreciated as £223 is a lot on money to be charged in additional to initial booking of £119. I cannot even submit excess claim which I have cause there is no documents to submit for the claim.

eDicky

climcc wrote: »

I booked car rental with Expedia last June for £119 for August 2016 in Ljubljana. I was shocked when I checked my credit card statement in December to find that Sixt car rental has charged £223 without notifying me or sent me any invoices. I contacted Expedia customer services and was asked to email to travel support team but all I received was there is nothing they can do despite informing them that I was charged without any notification. The reasons for the charges were damage to the front bumper, late in returning the car and road side assistance which were all false claim. I even tried to send evidence of photos of the car returned with time on it as I took it when I returned the car but no reply after which I am very disappointed with Expedia. I returned the car early of hours hence no one to mend the desk but I took photos on my mobile with dates and time on despite this Expedia has not responded nor resolved. Any advice from anyone would be appreciated as £223 is a lot on money to be charged in additional to initial booking of £119. I cannot even submit excess claim which I have cause there is no documents to submit for the claim.

It's unlikely thatExpedia would be able to help, and as you booked through them a chargeback or S75 claim via your card provider is not so easy. Contact Sixt UK directly and explain the circumstances clearly as you have here. The least they should provide is invoices for the (bogus?) charges by their Ljubljana office with which you could make some claim to your excess cover provider. Let us know if any progress please. There are some (perhaps toothless) recent EU stipulations for the major firms at least to desist from this kind of activity.

leylandsunaddict

Laurent_62 wrote: »

On my arrival in Marseille (France), the Goldcar agent tried to sell me its own insurance. I said that I was already insured, but he forced me to pay extra insurance at the desk. After several unsuccessfull e-mails with Goldcar, I decided to start a claim on the website of WECLAIM :

… And I won !

Take a look at this article published in Le Monde : they talk about Weclaim and its big victories in Court against Goldcar !

Yet more spam and advertising by Laurent.

Another, or even the same employee with a different name, was spamming TA this morning with exactly the same message. After spamming 35 different forums they got banned

Villz

Caroline_Sowerbutts wrote: »

We hired a hire car for 2 days in Gran Canaria with Orlando rent a car, who we've used before in Tenerife. No problems, but the deposit was taken from my husband's credit card, then refunded the next day when we returned the car. This incurred exchange rate and transaction fees of over £22 on a car hire of £55! This has not happened to us before - previously the car hire company just held the credit card details until we returned the car safely. Is this now standard practise? PS I made a fuss through Holiday Autos and got a refund, but need to know for future bookings.

I too had the same problem for the first time and this booking like you was made withHoliday Autos in Jan this year.
Despite several exchanges of emails and a promise of a full refund by HA/Budget I am still waiting! My credit card has never been charged before and I have hired lots of times. If I hadn't checked my credit card statement I wouldn't have noticed. If necessary I shall have to go through my credit card company but what a pain!

Also be warned: until now I have always been assured that breakdown insurance is included in the hire price (even though I never purchase the excess cover when I book - I have my own cover) but checking for car hire from GVa as I'm currently doing, it seems that it isn't so BEWARE!

Fridge03

Evening all,

Heading out to Italy for a friends wedding and will be requiring a car for the week.

Never hired a car abroad before (normally taken my own across).

So much information to take on.

What should I be looking for with all the insurance and excess protection stuff?
And does anyone have any recommendations? I would usually use a comparison site and aim for the big names for safety?

dini_2

I am flying to Dublin tomorrow morning. I've booked a car through Budget/Expedia
Will be buying the super insurance, but am wondering how much will be blocked on my credit card as a deposit. I can't see any figures on Budget website, and I'd like to have an idea of what to expect. From complaints around the web, seems that if you don't buy the insurance, they block off 1300 ish euros. My limit isn't that high!

Victoria211

On my last visit to Spain I hired a car from Europcar via Hoilday Autos and I had the option to pre-pay or return full.