Beware - Goldcar Car Rentals Spain

mickp_2

I rented a Gold Car at Palma Airport on 2nd July booked through Auto Europe. The rental desk was well organised with a ticket queuing system - the wait was short.
I was however subject to VERY high pressure sales to buy their insurance at 144 Euros for 1 week. I declined because I had already purchased insurance to cover any excess plus items not normally covered by rental companies including tyres, windscreen, underside etc - and it cots less than £13
They tried every lie and trick to persuade me to buy their insurance
"The car has no insurance"
"What did you expect for the low price you have paid"
"The insurance is 3rd party only and doesn't cover ANY damage to the hire care"
"Your own insurance will only cover the excess"
"Your are stupid to hire a car with no insurance"
" Your don"t understand English"
It was very high pressure but I stuck to my guns and refused to pay. I had to pay a deposit to cover the excess - Euro 1400 - this was ringfenced but not charged.
On arrival at my destination, I checked the insurance terms -they were the same as most car hire companies but the excess was very high at Euro 1400. My own insurance covered everything that is excluded by the hire company so I was happy.
The car was in good condition and clean and the return process very easy.
My contract was full to full with a 40 Euro charge + fuel cost if not returned full. I filled up near the airport for 25 Euros but still had 20 Euro deducted from my fuel deposit because it was a diesel - so 25 euro fuel cost 45Euro! Its in the small print apparently.
I'll put this down to experience and never use gold car again. These guys are sharks! I've also learned that it pays to do some research about hire companies. As stated many times, car hire companies are out to get you!

[Deleted User]

mickp wrote: »

I rented a Gold Car at Palma Airport on 2nd July booked through Auto Europe. The rental desk was well organised with a ticket queuing system - the wait was short.
I was however subject to VERY high pressure sales to buy their insurance at 144 Euros for 1 week. I declined because I had already purchased insurance to cover any excess plus items not normally covered by rental companies including tyres, windscreen, underside etc - and it cots less than £13
They tried every lie and trick to persuade me to buy their insurance
"The car has no insurance"
"What did you expect for the low price you have paid"
"The insurance is 3rd party only and doesn't cover ANY damage to the hire care"
"Your own insurance will only cover the excess"
"Your are stupid to hire a car with no insurance"
" Your don"t understand English"
It was very high pressure but I stuck to my guns and refused to pay. I had to pay a deposit to cover the excess - Euro 1400 - this was ringfenced but not charged.
On arrival at my destination, I checked the insurance terms -they were the same as most car hire companies but the excess was very high at Euro 1400. My own insurance covered everything that is excluded by the hire company so I was happy.
The car was in good condition and clean and the return process very easy.
My contract was full to full with a 40 Euro charge + fuel cost if not returned full. I filled up near the airport for 25 Euros but still had 20 Euro deducted from my fuel deposit because it was a diesel - so 25 euro fuel cost 45Euro! Its in the small print apparently.
I'll put this down to experience and never use gold car again. These guys are sharks! I've also learned that it pays to do some research about hire companies. As stated many times, car hire companies are out to get you!

This makes no sense at all.
Why did you have to pay extra because your car was diesel ?

NiftyDigits

bris2016 wrote: »

I've been stung with the fuel 'full to empty' charges and 'corbertura super' deposit that I was told would be refunded on return of the car in good condition - tried to resolve this via cooks (with whom I booked the hire) and then via abta - without success - has anyone managed to secure any useful response from goldcar - the car hire of £43 with Cooks - eventually cost me £163

Forget about it. You simply did not understand what you were told.
Cobertura Super is their 'Super Relax [STRIKE]extor[/STRIKE] cover'. It is not a deposit of any sort. Since you have already utilised this form of [STRIKE]extor[/STRIKE] cover, don't expect to get anything back. It appears that they bamboozled you.
A ringfenced amount would have been in the region of 1000€ to 1500€. So it should have been quite clear that it was not a deposit.
Did you really think that car rental for a week would cost you £43?

NiftyDigits

Deleted_User wrote: »

This makes no sense at all.
Why did you have to pay extra because your car was diesel ?

http://www.goldcarhelp.com/en/faqs/before-booking/8-an-i-reserve-a-diesel-vehicle

Of course they can give a diesel even if you don't ask for one and then stick the charge on to your bill.
When will people learn?

leylandsunaddict

Graeme_Sutherland wrote: »

Well done Goldcar is all I can say.

Hmmmm, is all I can say :laugh:

richardw

Waiting in queue for an hour is too long for me, so I'll continue to avoid.

NiftyDigits

Graeme_Sutherland wrote: »

I would like to give Goldcar 5 stars at Malaga airport. y.

Clicked the SPAM button. One post wonder. Load of old rubbish. 115€ for a tank of fuel and tellingly no mention of the 'admin charge' applied to any refund of fuel.

Graeme Sutherland would never use English in this manner; "i was simply explained.."

This is a fake review posted by someone who speaks English as a second language(Spanish as a first?), posting with an English name....who will never post again.

nickcc

Must agree with Nifty Digits, also used the spam button.

stu1463

HI All,

just returned from a great holiday in Pollensa, Majorca. having never posted before I thought I'd share my experience of the hire car scandal that started with the booking through Expedia with GOLDCAR rentals at Palma Airport.

The Expedia price comparison does not show the full costs, my rental for 12 days cost £280, but when we arrived at Palma airport to collect the car I was required to pay an additional £250 for compulsory accidental damage waiver (the GOLDCAR staff refused to issue the key without this); a full tank of fuel; a surcharge for the use of premium diesel rather than normal disel; a surcharge for GOLDCAR's effort to fill the car up and a currency conversion fee to pay in GBP even though I selected pay in euros on the credit card machine.

The arguments and negotiation that ensued (50 euros was deducted for no particular reason other than I disputed the fact the damage waiver was compulsory)tarnished the start of the holiday. the reality it seems is that comparing hire car prices DO NOT use Expedia and if you do, double the price. I will in future be booking hire cars only direct through hire car providers.

I will never use GOLDCAR again, the whole service feels fraudulent......

thepap82

I have just registered here on MSE just so I can post about this company. Goldcar is one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with, and I mean EVER.

We have just returned from Tenerife where we hired a car with Goldcar, through Rentalcars.com. Pickup from Tenerife South Airport was fine, we located the car, packed it up and got ready to go, and thats when things started going downhill. As we drove out of the car park we were followed by another car, and as we exited the main parking area and got onto a roundabout this other car decided it wanted to crash into the side of us.

The other driver spoke very little English but he told he had called the police. We found out that he was from another hire car company and soon after a load of his mates turned up in another car. All hurling abuse in Spanish at myself, my friend and her 2 kids. After about 10-15mins no police had arrived (strange seeing as we were still within the airport boundaries), but a representative from Goldcar turned up. He told us that the guy hadnt called the police and that we shouldn't do either. At this point he drove us back to terminal where we spent the next 3 hours trying to sort the mess out.

The staff behind the counter were unfriendly, and extremely unfriendly. The duty manager went off with someone from the other hire company to inspect the damage and fill out the insurance forms. When they came back their version of the accident was completely wrong (not surprising seeing as they weren't witnesses and the only witnesses had driven off, while hurling abuse at us). You could even tell by the damage on the car that we had been struck and it wasn't us hitting the other car. They allowed me to sign the form and write that I do not agree with their version of the events.

We then had to pay 800euros for the damage to the car (we didn't take out the waiver which would have been and extra 160euros). My friend is a qualified mechanic (and I'm not stupid) and the amount of damage to the car would have taken about 1 hour to fix (just a bent body panel and a couple of paint scuffs).

When we agreed to pay the 800euros they then said we'd have to pay another 260euros to get another car (including the stupid 64euros for fuel). After an argument ensued between us we got the airport police involved who unfortunately couldn't help us. In the end we paid the 260euros (which was all the ready cash we had on us), and got another car.

The new car was exactly the same model and was clean enough however I found out the next day the brakes were virtually non existent. While we were at the counter for 3 hours at least 3 other people brought their cars back to change due to faulty brakes, bad overall condition, lights not working, etc.

When we returned the car we topped up the petrol tank which cost us just 14euros. If we had taken it back not empty we would have had to pay for the fuel (probably at an inflated rate) as well as a 23euro "admin" charge.

Safe to say this is the worst company I have ever dealt with. Staff are unhelpful and rude, customer service is a nightmare to get hold of and when you do get hold of them they are completely useless, and their cars are of terrible condition (they aren't even cleaned properly).

Stay away from this company at all costs.