Cheap car hire article discussion

EveryWhere

tgon wrote: »

Generally speaking, is this the wisest approach? I’m looking to rent a full size car for 3 weeks from Melbourne Airport in November. Skyscanner is a great accumulator which then passes results onto a selected broker who then contacts a rental company and prices seem to be lower, I assume, because of some referral partnership. Same with booking through an airline carrier that has some air miles type partnership.

I prefer the direct approach personally and if it’s the most prudent approach then I lose on potential discount but I guess that’s the price for simplicity.

First of all, you missed the point. We were discussing a particular type of car rental company. Let's call them GoldCar for the purpose of the discussion. If you are going to book a GoldCar vehicle, it's best to do it direct.

If you are referring to mainstream companies, personally, I book direct too in this case, but use promo codes provided by the companies themselves. Plus there may be cashback available.
So I don't lose out on any discounts.

unethical

Hi,
I’m going to Vegas in sept and have hired a car. I normally also buy excess insurance in case I need to recoup any losses. I checked my car hire details this morning and saw that my policy has $0 excess....they will take a deposit of up to $2500 still though. Would I be correct in my logic that a $0 excess means that I don’t need to buy excess insurance as any damage, whilst they’d deduct it from my deposit initially would be covered 100% by the actual hire policy I already have.

I queried the company direct but they weren’t very helpful so I’d appreciate it if anyone else has had this situation before could confirm or correct me.
Thanks in advance

EveryWhere

unethical wrote: »

Hi,
I’m going to Vegas in sept and have hired a car. I normally also buy excess insurance in case I need to recoup any losses. I checked my car hire details this morning and saw that my policy has $0 excess....they will take a deposit of up to $2500 still though. Would I be correct in my logic that a $0 excess means that I don’t need to buy excess insurance as any damage, whilst they’d deduct it from my deposit initially would be covered 100% by the actual hire policy I already have.

I queried the company direct but they weren’t very helpful so I’d appreciate it if anyone else has had this situation before could confirm or correct me.
Thanks in advance

Post details containing with whom you booked etc. Otherwise we would be guessing

HSA

Hi

Thanks for the advice.

However I being asked 3 weeks after the rental for additional payments for existing scratches and interior marks.

When taking the car, the person at the counter said it was fine to take pictures if I saw marks, she convinced me to upgrade. I signed the document without seeing the car, as we had to get to another level. I took pictures as there were numerous marks. They are logged and dated in my cloud.

Now Firefly are stating that they wont accept the pictures and video. They have stated I signed that I have accepted the car without marks.

The good thing is they cant take money out of my account and keep asking for me to transfer the amount.

Where do I stand on this as they havent told me who i can complain to? I would accept to pay for a clean of the car as there was sand in it from the beaches, but I wouldnt define it as a major valet job.

To be honest this has put a sour taste to what was a wonderful holiday.
Thanks

Harvey

brianposter

HSA wrote: »

Now Firefly are stating that they wont accept the pictures and video. They have stated I signed that I have accepted the car without marks.

"It is normal for hire cars to be signed out as undamaged where the damage is unimportant. Consequently a set of photographs provides a better record of the condition of a hire car than the signed documents."

Simply insist. The last hire car I received (from Firefly) was covered in peculiar marks but signed out as undamaged.

Bedspring

I have booked a car via Holiday Autos with Interent, for 8 days end of January, £7.33, I feel doomed.

AlexMac

All is not lost- you could still decide to cancel and book with someone decent?

Bedspring wrote: »

I have booked a car via Holiday Autos with Interent, for 8 days end of January, £7.33, I feel doomed.

If it sounds too good to be true... it's schnide

I've not read all the above thread, but I know that some rental companies (such as Goldcar- who I think are linked to Holiday Autos- and Europcar) have the reputation of routinely scamming clients- almost half a million dreadful reviews on Google, many tens of thousands of them on the Spain Tripadvisor Forums - go on TA Forums and use the search bar.

So probably best to go on TA Forums for your destination region or country and search past recommendations. I'm going to Malaga region in Feb, and used one of the two recommended renters (Malaga Car and Helle Hollis) and got 10 days for under 115 Euros.

Even better, I just renewed my domestic car insurance with AVIVA Plus and their (very cheap) premium policy throws in Annual Car Hire excess cover for free! So I don't even have to use one of the low-cost stand-alone excess policies (essential if you don't want to use the renters' expensive own brand)

Good luck

lean&mean

I've had an annual excess policy for a few years now and saved hundreds of pounds that would have gone to the car hire company.

However, when choosing your car hire excess policy do check the exclusions. I've noticed in my last two annual renewals that some firms no longer cover the car hire company GreenMotion. GM seem to have a bit of a reputation of charging for pre-existing damage though I've never fallen foul of this with their Bristol branch.

However, I did get stung with having to take out GM's insurance once, when I forgot my passport as ID. If booking through a broker they only accept a passport, even if you have your photo ID driving licence.

I'm surprised that Goldcar isn't on the excess insurers exclusions list, as Which? claimed they had the most complaints.

The big boys aren't immune from dodgy tactics. I once got charged by Hertz in Corfu for some pre-existing damage. I hadn't spotted it but they knew exactly where to look, under the front bumper, when I returned it. Luckily, my excess cover insurer (insurance4carhire) refunded it in full after about three weeks.

tdastaff

Gold Car Crazy Deals

Beware of this companies Cray Deal offers as they are refundable and they keep your money as "compensation" as Ihad one booked for a month that has cost me £400. My fault really they are known for trying to get money out of you if you click on the little! next to price it does tell you these are non-refundable bookings and you can't even move the booking to a later date.

jimmyjackhaynes

I've had this note when I tried to cancel a car rental "As per the Terms and Conditions of your reservation, Auto Europe would like to remember that we will not charge any cancelation fees up until 48 hours prior to pick-up, however due to the higher cancellation volume caused by the Covid-19, Auto Europe will be charging a small fee of £20 to cover payment fees and processing the cancellation. "  Is this legal?