Cheap car hire article discussion

richardw

trixxi wrote: »

Hi,
I am looking for car hire from alicante airport. 4 adults and luggage was hoping we could all drive the car whilst there.
doea anyone have any advice on who to use or not to use please.
Dates are 9th August till 21st Aug
Thanks

Enterprise.co.uk seem to be competitive for your dates.
Avoid Goldcar and Inter rent.

richardw

Europcar owns Interrent and has now acquired Goldcar, it seems they want a big chunk of the market, it'll be interesting to see if their prices creep up.

dnpark38

That's a worry for me now as I have a car booked with Europcar and Goldcar have a branch at same location. Europcar have a good reputation but Goldcar haven't in fact everyone says they are a rip off with finding fictitious damage and taking CC payment for it.

richardw

On my last five car hires I've found competitive prices direct with the car hire companies and have received good service.
It's certainly well worth researching fully before booking.

dnpark38

Yes agree with doing the research usually find the agencies have same price as direct website ones.
I used to find earlier one booked then you got cheapest quote now finding the later one books the cheapest is obtained.
EG last year my quote was £400 'ish I waited until 2 weeks before and paid £200 'ish. the usual price payed before.

sunburnedabit

I would avoid all car hire firms within Alicante airport. We have used Drivalia three times now, no hidden "extras" Good outfit. Full to full tank.

hybernia

Not sure if there's any such thing nowadays as 'cheap car hire' (as per the title of this sub forum.) This has less to do with the price of rentals as the exchange rate £GBP to Euro.

(Ironically, we stumbled across the other day an old hire car contract document of ours from July of 2003. The rental was for 2 weeks and the exchange rate was 1 Euro = 69.5p.

We're today newly returned from Almeria, where our car hire has worked out at over £280 for 14 days rental of a tiny (very tiny) Citroen C1, so small that you can't get an aircraft-hold-size suitcase into the boot but must pop it onto the back seat. God knows what people are paying for larger size cars; our experience seems to indicate that £20 per day (on present exchange rates) is the going rate.

As to our rental. We booked via a reputable third party which led us to OpenCar of Alicante. Perhaps if we'd booked direct with OpenCar it would've been cheaper.

We flew into Murcia San Javier and were met by the OpenCar representative. The little Citroen C1 was virtually brand new. It included a full tank of petrol (and at 50mpg, that was fine for us.) The price covered everything, including 2 Euros per day for a named second driver. Insurance was fully comprehensive. We have an annual excess damage waiver thingie insurance policy and OpenCar were perfectly happy with that and made no attempt to sell any financial product of their own.

We've never used OpenCar before (head office is in Alicante) but were very impressed with the straightforwardness of the contract; the quality of the vehicle; and the fuel policy. You can find them on the 'Net. Whether you choose to go with them or not is up to you, but whatever you do; AVOID GoldCar.

Doesn't matter if it's been sold on to some other company or not; it's definitely not a brand you should have anything to do with -- and certainly, should never, ever, rent from: they're even that stupid that they plaster their rental cars with GOLDCAR stickers, just to let every potential thief know that here's a tourist's car, ready for the taking.

richardw

At £20 a day, incl full tank of fuel, you weren't ripped off hybernia.

hybernia

Thanks, Richard. Nice to be reassured, though to be honest we didn't think OpenCar had charged an exorbitant rate, more that the way the exchange rate is nowadays is making for considerably more expensive car hire than we've been used to.

Our little C1 was an absolute gem for two people, and OpenCar'sservice (which seems to be posited on 'trust the customer') was first-rate -- we actually needed to phone their office about something and the query was dealt with immediately by someone seemingly more fluent in the English language than even we are.

We particularly liked being able to leave the car at the airport on departure: "make sure you've collected all your possessions, put the airport parking ticket in the boot, and then, with the boot lid still open, lock the car using the remote on the key, place the keys in the boot and close the lid. We'll collect the vehicle later."

This contrasted markedly with a massive delay we faced at Almeria airport a few years ago when returning a Hertz rental. First we had to queue at the desk. Then had to wait until a staff member was free to go out to the airport car park to check the car hadn't been wrecked. Then had to wait until the staff member returned from a seemingly lengthy inspection.

OpenCar's leave-it-lock-it-have-a-good-flight-home made a refreshing change. (And as noted, the £20-per-day equivalent did include a brimmed-full fuel tank and a 2 Euro per day charge for the second named driver.) We have absolutely no connection with this firm, but will certainly use it again, whether flying into Alicante -- an airport we really don't like -- or Murcia San Javier, one of the smallest, cosiest and friendliest in all Spain and definitely, our favourite.

jjayp

I recently hired a car through Centauro in Spain.
Car was fine, rental was cheap, however I believe the following is wrong.
Firstly I opted for the full to full option no deposit when online but at Centauro the chap said it was 3/4 to 3/4 with a 60Euro deposit. This is a notorious rental (and garage) scam, firstly unless you know how many litres the tank takes its harder to fill a car to 3/4 than full. So they end up either siphoning off the over fill or taking your 60Euros for being under filled.
Secondly when I was asked if I wanted the protected excess I said no I had already got extra cover with AXA (for £36) - Centauro wanted over 150Euros - he said well if i don't take it I won't get any breakdown cover. This cannot be right can it? I didn't take their insurance, but surely they can't use this as black mail? Interesting to hear if this has been said to anyone else.