Beware - Goldcar Car Rentals Spain

Mistwraith

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. :mad:We booked thru rentalcar.com. On picking up the car, goldcars tried to coerce us into paying 78 euros for extra insurance. I insisted they get rentalcar.com on the phone, and instead booked their top full insurance (at a cost of £7 - bit of a difference!). The poor chap next to us had made the mistake of paying it and was obviously in mild shock - great start to a holiday. We washed the car before returning it as it was quite dusty. When handing the car over they looked at it, said it" was fine and have a good flight". We then received a charge on our return for 'cleaning' - & 3 photo's of a small amount of sand in the footwell & boot (we had brushed the seats ) and talcum powder on the drivers foot ledge side!! A no point was there any mention in the contract or verbally of valeting the car before returning it.We are trying to block the payment with the credit card company Having looked retrospectively at the reviews for this company over the past few years (including the last month), we would have never touched them with a bargepole

devonian22

I have recently returned from Spain after Renting a car from Goldcar at Gerona airport.
In addition to the complaints regarding fuel charges be warned about their CDW charges.
On pick up I was told that there was a new company policy and I had to check the vehicle for damage. This involved a long walk to the car park and checking that all damage was recorded on the form supplied.
There was some damage recorded to the front wing but I was surprised to see that minor paint marks that could easily be removed with T Cut were also recorded and this should have been a warning.
When I returned the vehicle I was told that there was no need to inspect the vehicle - just leave the keys in the letter box provided.
After returning to the UK I received an e-mail telling me that 200€ had been deducted on my card together with a photo showing a small stone chip about 3mm across on the bumper. This was the sort of minor damage that most hire companies would ignore. In view of the prior damage to the wing, the actual additional cost of repairing a small chip would be minimal and nothing like 200€.
Be warned, this company is looking for every excuse to make additional charges and there is no way of contesting the amount claimed as you will have signed to have your credit card blocked for around 600€. They should be avoided at all cost.

richardoconnor

what ever you do stay clear of this company and companies who use them , they pressure sell you into buying insurance you do not need , they then asked us to hire a sat nav whoch dod not work and then admitted it was not working but they would not repay the money for this .. do not be fooled by their initial cheap prices... you will end up paying more

Syko80

Wish I'd thought to check all these reviews before I used GoldCar via ArgusCarRental.

I was also guilted in to buying the full insurance. It was something I was offered at booking time but was fooled by the 'No Excess' promises on the website and had decided I wasn't being sold anything else. Needless to say I was made to feel the full insurance was almost compulsory and didn't feel like arguing after the flight and 39 minute wait at the GoldCar 'Express' queue.

I was pleasantly surprised that, having returned the car half full, that the petrol rebate cams through the same day as drop off. What was alarming was the €150 fee for Excess Cleaning which I was told was to be taken off my credit card as per the T&Cs. It's there in black and white. However, there was a photo of the car which had a bit of rain dust on it and a small stain on the back seat - now if this was us it was only water from our daughters drink - not €150 of cleaning. What I can't understand is that the additional insurance does cover 'Interior Damage' as per their T&Cs.

I've lodged a complaint with GoldCar and Argus and no response in 3 days.....

How do I stand in this? I'd like to think someone will reply to my cases but expect ill end up paying. It's put a real downstairs on a great holiday.

Won't be using them again

NiftyDigits

Syko80 wrote: »

Wish I'd thought to check all these reviews before I used GoldCar via ArgusCarRental.

I was also guilted in to buying the full insurance. It was something I was offered at booking time but was fooled by the 'No Excess' promises on the website and had decided I wasn't being sold anything else. Needless to say I was made to feel the full insurance was almost compulsory and didn't feel like arguing after the flight and 39 minute wait at the GoldCar 'Express' queue.

I was pleasantly surprised that, having returned the car half full, that the petrol rebate cams through the same day as drop off. What was alarming was the €150 fee for Excess Cleaning which I was told was to be taken off my credit card as per the T&Cs. It's there in black and white. However, there was a photo of the car which had a bit of rain dust on it and a small stain on the back seat - now if this was us it was only water from our daughters drink - not €150 of cleaning. What I can't understand is that the additional insurance does cover 'Interior Damage' as per their T&Cs.

I've lodged a complaint with GoldCar and Argus and no response in 3 days.....

How do I stand in this? I'd like to think someone will reply to my cases but expect ill end up paying. It's put a real downstairs on a great holiday.

Won't be using them again

Open a dispute with your credit card provider. Is there a 150€ 'cleaning fee' provided for in the T&C?

downsick

I am with everyone on this - I used Goldcar 3 weeks ago, a complete con. First you get pestered to take out additional insurance before you fly and when you get to the check-in desk, you are told it is worthless. Only option is to take out their insurance there and then or risk it. Second, I got caught with the fuel payment. A tank of petrol 140 euros, they have to be be joking, this is the equivalent of 100 litres at a petrol station. Once more you are left with no real option but to pay up and take the hit. But it didn't stop there. Yes of course, they give you credit for unused petrol. So I get an email confirming the tank was a quarter full when I dropped the car off - a little under my estimate but again what can you do. So a quarter of 140 is 35, what did they give me, 20 euros!! Someone should do something to stop these practises because it is day light robbery.
If you are planning to hire car then check these things out before you book; by my reckoning it is better to pay more with a bigger brand. Me, I will never book with Goldcar again.

Gorie

I recently hired a car with goldcar in Pisa and I experienced such bad service I thought I would add my experience to this forum – I rarely write poor reviews, however on this occasion the service was exceptionally bad.

I regularly travel overseas and hire cars; I am not new to hiring cars.

Upon arrival at the GoldCar hire desk the clerk located my reservation and took my driving licence, credit card and passport. I was then presented with a charge much larger than expected. The charge included vehicle rental (expected), insurance (unexpected) and pre-paid fuel (expected – this was in small print when I booked).

A lengthy argument ensued regarding the insurance charges, during this argument I was lied to by a representative speaking perfect English (no language difficulties here). I was told that without this additional insurance the car would not be covered at all, despite their fine print in the rental contract saying otherwise. I was told I had no choice but to take this insurance and it was not optional. After speaking with other customers who were clearly in a similar situation I refused to pay and was eventually charged the excess as a hold on my credit card. I have never met such a rude representative, the keys were thrown at me.

Beware if you attempt to show them any other excess cover contract or decline their excess insurance cover you will meet the following lines:
“This is not valid for the whole insurance”
“I have this policy / credit card personally and I can assure you it is not valid”
“So you want the car with no insurance and you take all responsibility correct”
“This contract is between you and them it is nothing to do with us”
“So you want me to cancel the booking and you can try elsewhere”
If you persist they will cancel this insurance.

I paid the pre-filled fuel, rental and tax – however I was charged in GBP with a 2% markup without my consent. Upon returning the car the remaining fuel was refunded (in Euros) with a large administration charge.

All car hire companies have to make their money; after all they are a business. Goldcar make their money by being cheaper on comparison websites, hard selling insurance (they are evidently trained this way and commission driven based on the number of negative reviews), having a uniquely expensive fuel refund policy and marking up card conversions. This makes it very difficult to compare the actual hire price.

As for reviews the sheer number of poor reviews speak for themselves, the minute number of positive reviews with only a few lines of comment also seem suspicious.

Agreeing with everyone else – avoid GoldCar Hire. You holiday to relax and whilst you may envisage saving a small amount is it worth if for the stress???

Gorie

Syko80 wrote: »

Wish I'd thought to check all these reviews before I used GoldCar via ArgusCarRental.

I was also guilted in to buying the full insurance. It was something I was offered at booking time but was fooled by the 'No Excess' promises on the website and had decided I wasn't being sold anything else. Needless to say I was made to feel the full insurance was almost compulsory and didn't feel like arguing after the flight and 39 minute wait at the GoldCar 'Express' queue.

I was pleasantly surprised that, having returned the car half full, that the petrol rebate cams through the same day as drop off. What was alarming was the €150 fee for Excess Cleaning which I was told was to be taken off my credit card as per the T&Cs. It's there in black and white. However, there was a photo of the car which had a bit of rain dust on it and a small stain on the back seat - now if this was us it was only water from our daughters drink - not €150 of cleaning. What I can't understand is that the additional insurance does cover 'Interior Damage' as per their T&Cs.

I've lodged a complaint with GoldCar and Argus and no response in 3 days.....

How do I stand in this? I'd like to think someone will reply to my cases but expect ill end up paying. It's put a real downstairs on a great holiday.

Won't be using them again

I cannot believe this - this company is such a joke. Do let us know what happens. Best wishes with this.

expatdavid

Thanks to all the posters for sharing their experiences with this company.

We booked 11 days car hire back in January for pickup this coming Sunday. I noticed that it was with Goldcar and this morning googled 'Goldcar Malaga' because I wanted to find their location at the airport. Then I saw the amount of links to forums with pages of complaints about this company, which is astounding.

I have just cancelled my reservation with Goldcar, made through Auto Europe (with no penalty) and re-booked with Avis through Rentalcars. I now have a compact instead of an intermediate class vehicle, paying around £130.00 more because it's last minute, but am sincerely thankful that I found this out before arriving at Malaga. I have been scammed before at Lanzarote and recently at Stansted (Budget Car Hire franchise), but they're not getting me this time....

Victoria_Rumside

Dear Cazzer79,
Please send us your full name or reservation number at goldcarweb@goldcar.com so that Customer Service can look into your case in detail. Upgrades that are not specifically requested, but are due to lack of stock on our part, are never charged. Your case is highly irregular. We can also send you a full breakdown of the fuel charges, I believe you are not taking into consideration the service and administration fee in relation to our fast return service. The fuel reimbursement is calculated based on the fuel charge only.
Sincerely,
Victoria R.
Goldcar Representative