Beware - Goldcar Car Rentals Spain

park_gate

richardw wrote: »

<snip> ...
and did the car hire company give you the cost of fuel? Isn't it better just to have full/full fuel, so there isn't a hidden cost?

It's extra hassle having to check with the car hire company and no the one time I tried it they were a bit vague about what I would pay and would only give me a range.

I normally hire small cars and I know the over charging should be about 30 euros. The Spanish government puts a top limit on the maximum they can charge. Bigger cars with bigger tanks will have a bigger overcharge. The cheapest full to full hire is another 60 euros so full empty is 30 euros cheaper. That only works if you use all of the fuel.

You need to do the sums to work out what is best for you.

So what car hire company do you use in Spain?

How much do you pay?

What was your experience?

Terry

park_gate

Airedalejoe wrote: »

Mine and I guess most other peoples bad reviews are down to getting ripped off big time, not because I feel ripped off.
A truly awful company.

I not trying to dismiss what you are saying. Another theory I have is they may take advantage of unsuspecting tourists. They see me on their computer screen as a regular and I travel out-of-season so that might make a difference.

Can you put some numbers on how much you were ripped off by?

How much did you pay for the car?

How much did you pay for the fuel?

How much did you pay for the extra insurance?

What car did you get?

When was the car hire?

How long was the car hire?

Did the car have any reliability problems?

All I can say is I’ve not had any major problems and I’ve even hired from Goldcar although the last time was in 2010 and I’m not sure I’d use them again with all the bad publicity.

Terry

park_gate

Found the following information about fines for Spanish car hire companies, interesting reading.

Goldcar has the biggest fine and according to one report Solmar was the company that made the complaint about the other companies.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&sl=es&tl=en&u=http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2013/08/05/economia/1375696400.html

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&sl=es&tl=en&u=http://www.europapress.es/economia/noticia-multa-pactar-precios-17-empresas-dos-asociaciones-alquiler-coches-20130805115822.html

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&sl=es&tl=en&u=http://santiagogarciagarcia.com/2013/08/22/multa-millonaria-al-sector-de-alquiler-de-automoviles/

Terry

NiftyDigits

park_gate wrote: »

Found the following information about fines for Spanish car hire companies, interesting reading.

Goldcar has the biggest fine and according to one report Solmar was the company that made the complaint about the other companies.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&sl=es&tl=en&u=http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2013/08/05/economia/1375696400.html

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&sl=es&tl=en&u=http://www.europapress.es/economia/noticia-multa-pactar-precios-17-empresas-dos-asociaciones-alquiler-coches-20130805115822.html

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&sl=es&tl=en&u=http://santiagogarciagarcia.com/2013/08/22/multa-millonaria-al-sector-de-alquiler-de-automoviles/

Terry

This is old news. Probably already posted in this thread.

No harm in reminding people as to what kind of company they are.

brocoli

Thursday 10th October to Monday 14th October (Barcelona Airport)

We ended up with Goldcars via RentalCars website, our reservation was for a five day car rental of a Ford Galaxy. The process via was straightforward but unfortunately this ultimately turned out to be a very unsavoury experience. We arrived late Thursday into El Prat airport and followed the instruction to meet the Goldcar minibus at the taxi rank. In fact the bus is a hundred meters ahead of the rank, not a big deal but not easy to spot late at night. After a 10 minute journey to their premises we were informed that we were being charged for a full tank of petrol even if we don't use it. This is for rentals over three days, an arbitrary rule from my perspective. We were not driving much on our short break so this was very poor value for money, especially when charged 125 Euro for the tank of petrol. The map provided by Goldcar to get out of the airport is next to useless, and is only of use on the way back if travelling on the C21 (C22 is the most popular road). Upon returning the car they were quick in checking the car back in, which was good. My wife and I used their toilet facilities, one toilet was blocked the other had a floor covered in urine. We had to wait 20 minutes for the bus, which was subsequently driven at 15mph (!). Now I may well have missed some of the small print when booking the car, e.g. The full tank rule and the fact that the CDW booked via RentalCars only covers bodywork (no bumpers, lights etc..), but the whole process is so opaque and their services so inconvenient that it's clear they do not look for repeat custom. My wide called them the 'Ryanair' of car rental firms. She's spot on.

car_rental_victim

I had the same experience with Goldcar last year and Firefly this year. Beware, both firms do the insurance and full tank scams, and offer non roadworthy cars with tyre tread below legal limits. If stopped by the police this will be expensive in Spain plus it's not safe! I had booked them through a broker: rentalcars.com. Beware of this broker!M They will promise full cover and when you get to the airport, the car rental firms will make you pay again, or no car. We tried to get a refund for not fulfilling their contract, still waiting for a reply after mobnths. They did not help us in the slightest when we were trying to sort this out at the rental car station and after.
Never ever use Firefly, Goldcars, Rentalcars.com!!!

BobbyBrownPants

Rented a car in Italy through RentalCars.com and it came back with a reservation for GoldCar. Now, I did research RentalCars.com and found them to be reputable but I didn't do any research on GoldCar as I didn't think that RentalCars.co would sell me down the river.

We arrived and had to wait an hour before we got the front of the desk. We were well prepared with all our documentation ready and it still took 10 minutes to get the keys and a further 45 minutes to clear up the unreported damage.

We had taken out the collision waiver damage cover with RentalCars.com and so didn't want to pay for any excess insurance at the GoldCar counter. The bloke at the counter went through this laminated chart with all the damage excess amounts and the advised us it would cost 80 Euros for the insurance. We told him we already had 3rd party cover and didn't want it. He then said he needed to pre-authorise a card for 1300 Euros against any damage. Basically they've got people over a barrel. Either pay 80 Euros or give em a credit card so they can reserve all your money! Anyway, we didn't take it as I had a spare emergency credit card with a 3k limit.

After we got the keys we went to the car and gave it the once over. There was damage all over it that wasn't marked on the form so we had to go back to the desk twice to get it sorted and then after we'd driven off and parked up for the 1st time we found even more damage that we hadn't spotted as the car was parked up against a wall when we got it. We took photos but didn't call them as it was out of hours and wasn't really an emergency so we didn't want to call the emergency number.

We too also had to pre-pay for the fuel. The car was full the bloke said and that we had to pay £120 Euros and any fuel we didn't use would be refunded. Any way, at this point I get a call from the bank saying are you in Spain Mr Brown? We've just received a rather large pre-authorisation from your card in Spain. I wasn't in Spain, I was in Italy but as it was a Spanish company I figured all the transactions were being made from there.

We took the car back and spoke to this silly woman about the extra damage we found and she said "Well.... you didn't ring us so there's nothing we can do. You'll probably be charged for it. Even though we had time-stamped photos and the damage was so old it had rust!

7 days later and I've had no contact from them at all, not sausage! I have looked at the bank statement and called the bank to make sure but there are no monies reserved on my accounts (We did park the car up against the same wall when giving it back so they must not have seen the same damage we did) Now... The fuel thing. The dude said I needed to pay 120 Euros but they've debited 90.63 in pounds from my account! They've also refunded 85 Euros back into my account. I don't really know what the ins ans outs are but it works out at about £20 difference (we didn't go very far in the car)

Turns out we've had a luck escape from what sounds like and could have been a nightmare car rental. BE CAREFUL WITH THESE ONES!

RosieWright

Hello, i had extra charges on my credit statement, i had contacted the online car company i hired via and Anabela Pereira told me the extra charge was for:

Late return as you returned the car later , as is informed in our terms and conditions \" All rentals are charged on a 24 hour basis. A full day is charged for any portion of a 24 hour period used.\"

We booked to pick the car up at 1400, after queuing which took two hours, collecting the car and finding there was in fact no petrol, we went back to the agents who said they would return the petrol cost and we should take it empty. By this time it was 4pm when we left with the keys to the vehicle. We asked for a map and were told they do not have maps and to locate one elsewhere. We left unhappy!

On return our flight home was at 1325, we arrived at the airport at 1030 and dropped they keys off by 1100. This shows there is no way we dropped the car off late and should not be charged the 24 hours extra.

I asked if they could please arrange a refund.

They later replied via Anabela Pereira again stating:

As per your Voucher the car should had been dropped at 9:00 A.M, and was Dropped at 11:00 AM , that is the reason why you were charged late return, Car need to be delivered in time booked
In those terms and conditions it states:

" All rentals are charged on a 24 hour basis. A full day is charged for any portion of a 24 hour period used.\" We arranged to collect the car at 2pm and so as per your terms and conditions 2pm four days later is acceptable to return the car in line with the agreemet.

We picked the car up after 2pm on the 31st of October and dropped it off at 11am on the 4th of November, paid £55.00 online to rental cars for FOUR days use, once at the airport we were told my Mastercard was not a credit card and so they would not take the deposit and said we must pay the insurance of 35 euros. They charged me 104 euros in total AT THE AIRPORT stating that the extra was for petrol.

When i got to the vehicle it had no petrol in, i then took the keys back to the reception and were told a refund would be issued. This was a PARTIAL refund as only £42.87 was refunded.

Once arriving back in the UK there was a new charge to my credit card for £43.79. As you can see by what i have written about this shows there is no way we dropped the car off late and should not be charged the 24 hours extra.

I am very very unhappy with the service at the airport, with Gold Car and now the extra charges and the hassle i am having to undergo to request a refund that is fair, without asking for the other charges to be removed. This four day car hire has cost around £200 not the £55 agreed with rentalcars. Despite being charged far more than agreed at the time i placed the order with Rentalcars.com i asked if they could please arrange a refund for the "late charges" when i have shown we definitely did NOT return the car late. So far its a month later and four emails have gone back and forth.

DO NOT RENT FROM GOLD CAR.

Thanks for reading

MargaretSwafford

Informative post, thanks for sharing.
It is now more ways unseen to attract consumers.
which is better, cash on the spot or credit card payments for rent a car?

Cost_Saver

I had the same bitter experiece with this company in Spain

Despite my wife being in a wheelchair we had to wait at least 45 minutes at check in.

There was a refuelling charge of 90 Euros which is just a rip off

I refuelled during the hire and the maximum amount by value I could get in the tank by value was 55 Euros

Avoid this company at all costs.

I was booked through Holiday Autos. I have also stopped business with Holiday Autos as they should not put their customers into Gold Car rentals