car hire in europe- any advice appreciated!

whizzkid_3

you would think hiring a car for a week in august in cyprus would be easy

indeed it could be unless you start looking more closely

is air conditioning worth the extra cost?

is zero excess or refundable excess worth paying extra for?

do they all charge you for fuel upfront?

any comments appreciated-

is autoeurope one of the best rental firms?

thankyou in advance!!

kenshaz

https://www.carjet.com are the best
air conditioning this time of year ,yes ,but it uses more fuel ,but your on holiday

Sometimes ,tank is full return full ,or half full return half

price is all in ,insurance covers any damage except underneath

whizzkid_3

carjet seem to have an excess on their insurance of about £120 which is putting me off slightly!

kenshaz

must be unique to Cyprus

whizzkid_3

i'm still seeking advice about the excess on car hire insurance!

anyone had to pay excess and not been happy about it?

is it worth paying £30 extra for a zero excess option?

thanks

kenshaz

would you pay £30 to save the chance of not paying £120.NO I would not ,that is expensive insurance for insurance,why not be a devil ,the problem is if you leave the car parked and come back,and it is bumped

Anastasia

I shopped around for a trip to France last year. We eventually went with AVIS. We paid for zero excess but the excess was greater than £120. Other cheaper car rental firms were more complicated - some you had to pay up front for a claim against the insurance and then claim it back. Also we wanted to pick up and drop off at the airport.

LesD

Yet again we need to point out that Carjet are BROKERS. The insurance excess is levied by the renting company. I think you'll find that all renters in Cyprus have an excess. Most will allow you buy it out (or part of it).

Or you can buy an annual policy in the UK which will refund any costs which may be incurred.

Dasnookster

Most car hire companies that I have come across charge extra to waive the excess - even though it looks quite expensive, in my opinion it is certainly worth it. If you ask the car hire company direct most will tell you that their excess is between £500 and £800, so really £120 is not as bad as it first seems to waive it, meaning you would pay nothing even if the car was a complete right off.

This is something completely separate to the normal insurance you have to pay and some car hire companies do not even tell you about it - that is, until you have an accident and have to stump up. I ask if there is an excess every time and there always is, as I said mostly between £500 and £800 - shocking!!!

I have recently come back from Cyprus and it was the same there.

brenda34

We go to Cyprus regularly and use a company called Petsas for our car hire. They have offices at both Paphos and Larnaca airports. Very competitive prices and can be booked online before you go. You pay on arrival. If you are going in August I would say that A/C is a MUST. Usually the car hire firms charge you for a full tank of petrol and you take the car back empty (you can see how they make a bit extra money on this as obviously no-one ever takes the car back completely empty). Hope this is of some help.

joho

brenda34 wrote:

We go to Cyprus regularly and use a company called Petsas for our car hire. They have offices at both Paphos and Larnaca airports. Very competitive prices and can be booked online before you go. You pay on arrival. If you are going in August I would say that A/C is a MUST. Usually the car hire firms charge you for a full tank of petrol and you take the car back empty (you can see how they make a bit extra money on this as obviously no-one ever takes the car back completely empty). Hope this is of some help.

Are they only at the airports? Any branches in Paphos town? We are off there in September and it is useful to have recommendations beforehand! Thanks Brenda.:D