Spain car hire horror??!

cubegame

The golden rule is pre-pay on credit card. If you do this you have them by the short and curlies.

A friend of mine arrived in Menorca in early July only to find no car available. There had been an error on behalf of the booking agent and the company had no cars to offer for the appropriate dates.

Having booked on credit card, he walked to the next desk two desks down to get quotes on their cheapest vehicles and then chose the cheapest of the two which suited their needs. It was one hell of a lot more expensive than the original booking but he was able to claim it back from the credit card company back in the UK.

tece

cubegame wrote: »

The golden rule is pre-pay on credit card. If you do this you have them by the short and curlies.

A friend of mine arrived in Menorca in early July only to find no car available. There had been an error on behalf of the booking agent and the company had no cars to offer for the appropriate dates.

Having booked on credit card, he walked to the next desk two desks down to get quotes on their cheapest vehicles and then chose the cheapest of the two which suited their needs. It was one hell of a lot more expensive than the original booking but he was able to claim it back from the credit card company back in the UK.

Thank you cubegame you've put my mind at rest.
I've booked a car with Sixt arriving next weekend at Barcelona which is prepaid on the cc. Reading all the car hire horror stories over the last few weeks has really made me fret about the booking but I'm now re-assured knowing if there is a problem that I should have some re-dress via the credit card company.

louise3965

Its Auriga the problem is with, we're just back booked with Goldcar no problems whatsoever

fifeken

All of Europe is being affected by a shortage of hire cars and Spain seems to be the worst hit. The BBC are running a news story about it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8200087.stm

plane_boy2000

OK - getting worried here. I have a car booked through hispacar. The supplier is National Atesa in Valencia. We need a seven seater and it took a while to find one for our dates.

Anyone used these guys, and should I be worried? We paid a deposit only to hispacar with the balance to paid upon collection of the car...

plane_boy2000

OK - checked with broker and had an email back saying they had had no cancellations through their car hire partner this year so fingers crossed

peterbaker

Used hispacar this year for rental in Palma and this is my experience:

(a) Hispacar debited my "deposit" of 20 Euros twice. They admitted in an email when I noticed it a couple of months later but did not refund it as promised. I reminded them by email just before our holiday and they then asked for details of a bank account for the refund. I provided the details over a montha go but still no refund. It will now be followed up by my credit card company.

Edit: Only fair to say here that Hispacar sorted this out admirably in the end without me needing to use the credit card company to bash them over the head. I eventually received my refund in cash by traced post direct from Spain as we all agreed it was simplest in view of FOREX issues - the service in sorting out my complaint was absolutely first class in the end. Thanks Cristina, Belen and Sandra :T

Meanwhile...:p

We went on holiday, not to Valencia (that was last year ) and our experiences continued thus:

(b) We were booked by hispacar with hiper rentacar (very similar name but different outfit, and one which we found had a relationship with Marriott Hotels so can't be bad). Hiper Rentacar was one of those which has a rep outside the arrivals hall with a clip board who ticks off your name and points down the road to where their shuttle bus will pick you up. It did pick us up but when we got to their off airport office there was a hell of a queue. I was last man in it :rolleyes: It took an hour to get served.

(c) The guy that served us at about midnight was the same guy with the clipboard at the airport (Hi Christian!) I smiled and tapped my watch and said "Must be a Mercedes by now, eh " (I was booked for a VW Polo or similar). He smiled back "Let's see what we can do". For original price he found us a 7 seat VW Touran which was brilliant because we were meeting friends who had arrived a few days earlier and that meant that instead of using two cars for some trips together, we used just one.

(d) We have on previous holidays booked 7 seaters from the outset, but even when booking in advance the price has always been more than double the price of two 5 seat aircon cars. The VW Touran that fell in our lap is a very nice drive but if you booked one of those or a Zafira and are 7 at the airport then there wont be any room for your luggage except piled to the ceiling on your laps. A Seat Alhambra (like a ford Galaxy or VW Sharan) is a modest improvement - done a lot of mileage in those. The KIA equivalent is a bit bigger. A VW Transporter like we had in Valencia last year is much more roomy - I think actually it was a 9 seat -(less easy for some to park). Which did you book?

(e) Final point (assuming you actually get the vehicle you want, when you want it) ... do check the renter's refuelling policy before you sign. Hiper Rentacar gave us paperwork which was ambiguous so we did what was best for us - we started full (as you usually do at an airport pickup) and so we brought it back full (the needle said so! ), so we only paid for what we used :money:.

Had the paperwork been clear then we could have lost 75 Euros worth of prefilled fuel which they charge you for as an "extra" above your quoted price when they give you a car with a full tank. On hires longer than 7 days the renter often says you are to bring it back empty and forfeit your entire "fuel deposit" irrespective.

The ambiguity worked fine for us as our friends also used hispacar with hiper rentacar and because their car was little used their tank remained almost full for the whole two weeks. That would have been up to 2 x 75 Euros fuel deposit at risk. In fact we only used about 80 Euros of fuel in total which we had put in the tanks ourselves to top up to full, and then we easily persuaded Hiper Rentacar to agree to refund the original fuel deposits on both vehicles as they couldn't deny the ambiguity in the papers they'd given us.

But that was Palma 2009 ... seems ages ago, but it is merely a couple of weeks :rolleyes:

Good luck with Valencia :beer:

mystic_trev

eyelash wrote: »

Slightly related ...but wanted to share my experience some how.....I used Martin's tips on using car hire comparison sites and booked at least 2 months in advance to ge the best deal at Barcelona airport uisng SIXT car hire- not advisable- had to get a shuttle bus to a hotel as there was no desk at the airport- nightmare finding hotel when returning car and also they had a fuel policy which is not included in the price quoted- they give you the car full of petrol and you return it empty and get charged for the full tank- I only used the car to get to our Villa and back to the airport so wasted about 40 Euro and felt conned........staff and car were fine but thought I should warn anyone going to Barcelona.

Strange I've used SIXT regulary, and they've always had a full returned full policy - one of the reasons I use them.

tece

mystic_trev wrote: »

Strange I've used SIXT regulary, and they've always had a full returned full policy - one of the reasons I use them.

Hi Trev I'm picking up a car next weekend from Sixt at BCN and can confirm the fuel policy as a full tank of petrol will be charged locally at regional prices for over 5 days rental - pick up full : drop off empty - no refund for unused petrol. It is clearly stated on the prepaid-voucher and I'm certain it was also in the T&C's when I booked.

mystic_trev

Thanks tece - must be a Spanish thing then?! I've used SIXT in Portugal, twice in the last year, the last time a few weeks ago. Hired in Lisbon, dropped off in Faro, on a full returned full basis, the same as I've done in the rest of Europe. I wonder why Spain's an exception