Beware - Goldcar Car Rentals Spain

MamanDavies

I have just rented a car in Nice. The following are problems I have encountered
1. The car pickup is not at terminal 2 as stated in the booking it is about 5 miles away.
2. The staff are so slow that I could have walked to my destination in the time it took.
3. The vehicle was not what I ordered
4. I was charged up front for fuel and then a surcharge for diesel. I had not specified what fuel type I requested, and diesel is cheaper than petrol at all the petrol stations.
5. I was told that if I did not purchase Goldcar insurance I would be charged 1500 euros. I already had purchased a comprehensive car insurance. I also hold an insurance which covered me and my passengers.
6.The car was smaller than I had ordered and it was difficult to fit my passengers and luggage in.
7. I filled the car up before returning it, in the 5 days of using it I had only used 7 euros worth of fuel. I have the receipt from the garage
8. To drop the car off, I waited 50 minutes and eventually grabbed hold an operative and explained that if I had to wake any longer I would miss my flight, eventually I got him to check the car over.
9. I have just been told by my credit card company that I have been charged £12.50 for fuel I had used and not replaced. I cannot believe that I could have used any fuel between filling up and delivering the car.
In short, I am not happy with any aspect of your service, I will strongly advise family, friends and co workers never to use you company. I see, also. that these problems outlined above have been suffered my many more people

Airedalejoe

Re an honest and reliable hire company on Gran Canaria, I can second Auto Reisen. Everything above board, the total opposite to Goldcar.
This thread now enters its 6th year yet still this criminal company continue to fraudulently take money from people and get thousands of victims pushed their way by the likes of Doyouspain/expedia and others. I've tried complaining to these brokers but they're not interested and the scam just goes on and on and on.

vitoque

I wish I read such review before renting with them...

Goldcar is just a scam.

Despite having private insurance, they insisted I take their insurance (65 EUR a day!) claiming that my private insurance would be enough. When I say no, they started to threaten with comment like "we are really, really fussy. If there is any, even very small scratch we'll find it", "it has never happened that somebody brought the car without damages", "we will need to hold your deposit for 30 days if you do not take our insurance". At the end there were empty threat, and the car was checked out without damages, although I could see the clerk looking really hard for something.

The other infuriating issue was the fuel policy. They give you the car with a full tank and they pre charge you fuel at the double, if not more of the street price (it was 145 EUR for a micra!). First they don't write in the contract that the price of the fuel is so 3x high street price, but they write they will reimburse any un-used fuel plus a fee. They don't specify how much is the fee, so you won't expect the fee to be higher than the car rentail itself. I brought back the car with full tank I was charged 38 EUR for services fees, that was as much as the charge for my two days of rental. So you are screwed anyway, if you bring the tank empty you pay about 85 EUR in overcharged fuel (or more with a bigger car), if you bring it full, they charge 38 EUR anyway. There is no way to pay only what you agreed initially!

There were other issues, the check in and check out took ages, when I returned I had to go back and forth from the parking to the office as there was nobody attending the parking.

However my big issue is with the un-transparent fees structure. It looks cheap in the booking, but as explained before there is no way to pay what you agreed because of their fuel policy (not to mention the fact that they ransom your deposit, mine is still blocked after 3 weeks, unless you pay them 65 EUR a day for a useless extra insurance)

Never ever again Goldcar

Graham2009

Avoid this company they are proper con merchants. I booked with Ryanair for a fiat 500 I took out fully comprehensive reduces any excess to zero as stated on the Ryanair website.
When we arrived at Rome airport and went to the Goldcar desk the first thing the woman said was we had to pay 89 euros for fuel I'm sure that would fill 3 fiats. She also took a deposit of 995 euros.
Then she wants another 85 euros for extra insurance I told her I paid already in the uk via Ryanair website. She became really annoyed and started shouting saying we were not covered for a big crash or breakdowns. I felt bullied but stood my ground and left the airport without taking the extra insurance. When we got to the car it looked very tired and battered I had to point out at least 4 dents and scratches. I even took pictures the rep reluctantly put the damage on a report. She was rude and abrupt throughout and ruined the start of our holiday.
I agree with all the above comments.
When we returned 3 days later I had only used 25% of the fuel because of the fear of causing any damage to an old battered car. The car was filthy inside with oil marks on the seats and door trims and outside the car clearly had not been cleaned. I asked her to right the condition of the car down which ended up in some sort of scribble. Upon return at 8am another lady inspected the car who at first seemed to be more customer focused. Then she found a tiny mark on the passenger wing mirror I really could not see any mark. She walked away in a grumpy mood. Several days later I am still waiting for my deposit to be returned this is a very bad company which needs to be shut down avoid at all cost.

AlexMac

Searching this operator on Google (other search engines exist… ) reveals over half a million web pages; most of them complaints.

As I say on one of my posts on Tripadvisor (other Travel sites exist… ) https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187427-i42-k9134032-o10-Complaint_goldcar-Spain.html
...there should be a law that every time you rent or hire a car, and before you click 'book', you should open up another tab on your browser and search the name of the Company to whom you are about to entrust the success and safety of your holiday and health of your credit card! You wouldn’t book a hotel or buy a washing machine without checking reviews?

There are good cheap operators out there; maybe I've been lucky, but I've never been screwed or scammed in over 50 rentals overseas

Still; everyone makes at least one mistake (other hard lessons exist…?)

PeacefulSlumber

I'm having a problem with Goldcar. I booked a 9 seater in Malta and took the extra insurance option up front with Axa at the time of booking on line. When i went to collect the car at Malta airport they told me i needed to take their insurance, i refused showing them the wording on my voucher clearly saying not to take extra insurance at the rental desk.
The representative on the desk got very unpleasant and said he would have to place a hold of €2500 on my credit card as i was not taking their insurance. I agreed and double checked that it was just a hold, he confirmed it was.

After my trip i checked my statement and I have been charged €2500 or £1937.44. I complained to the office where i rented it from and was told that a hold and a charge are the same thing! They promised that the refund would be made 30 days after the rental agreement ended, the refund was due on 5.4.16 and they have still not returned my deposit and will not call me back.

My credit card company want me to take reasonable steps to resolve it with Goldcar first, what is reasonable? I've called them 3 times and all no refund.

Any advice?

Thanks

chiny

Some bad experiences related in this thread and offering sympathy seems inadequate. I've used Goldcar Spain on and off (including last week) for 12 years and would say that I've never had the slightest problem, except to do so is bound to cause one :silenced:

To the poster re complaining in Spain; you need to make a denuncia at a police station, complete with your passport number. Your complaint will take ages to review but it will be. I've heard of people nobbled on return to Spain when presenting a denuncia-linked passport to answer a response made by the complained of party. It may be worth it if you are still owed a lot of money, although the Guardia Civil are still daunting (maybe the Policia Local would be better in this case).

brianposter

The correct procedure in Spain would appear to be to make sure that you know what the contract says about extra charges, and that one should, if appropriate, refuse the extra insurance, accepting only if one cannot get a car otherwise.
Then ask for the "complaints book", which is actually a form which you can take away - on any refusal to give you the form you call the police.
Take the form away and fill it in at your leisure and then hand in the relevant part of the form to the hirer after you have returned the car and the formalities have been competed. Post the other part of the form following the instructions thereon.

On return reclaim the excess charges from the appropriate source in the UK, using s75 if necessary. The fact that you have a dated form should be reasonable evidence that you did not accept the excess charges voluntarily.

shannonhill

We're planning tripping to Spain. Thanks for all the info.

hymer_tony

BEWARE GOLDCAR IN SPAIN... Robbers and Tricksters !!!
After making a car hire booking online with doyouspain.com in May 2016 and paying them an extra €55 for Fully Comprehensive Cover, I was told by GOLDCAR at Almeria Airport when collecting the car, that this Insurance was not acceptable to them and that they would not let me have the car UNLESS I took out their full Insurance. As I was picking up an elderly aunt, I had no option but to pay another €134 to them. This meant I had two Fully Comprehensive Insurances for one car !!. I have complained to doyouspain, but they aren't interested. I have tried to complain to GOLDCAR, but their website doesn't offer any way of doing this. I have now completed a GOLDCAR questionnaire, voicing my annoyance and surprise surprise, heard NOTHING !! My advice to you, is to STEER CLEAR OF THIS DODGY HIRE COMPANY.