Car Hire in Majorca

Victorthe2nd

Hi, I know there are many discussions on here around the car hirers policy on fuel and whether or not the car should be returned full or empty. I wondered if anyone had any recent experience of hiring a car in Majorca and if there were any recommendations around the best (not always the cheapest!) provider - preferably one with a "full to full" policy??

Thanks in advance

digitaltoast

Yes - me!

OK, first a "real world" example of what a rip this full/empty fuel policy is.

A Renault Clio has a tank capacity of 45 litres. "Real world" driving gets about 350 miles for that.

You'd have to drive end to end of Majorca's 70 miles once a day, every day for the average 5 available full days on a week long trip to use the fuel. I'd imagine most people would use half a tank, if that.

According to Economy Car hire, which is one of the few companies I can find who actually publish a fuel filling list, the fuel charge for a Renault Clio is €122 = £103.54 = £2.28/litre.

That list was published in June 2012. A quick Google shows that, at that time, the average cost of a litre of petrol in Palma was £1.40/litre, meaning the cost to fill should be £63.

In other words, the company is charging a premium of £40 just to fill the tank (5 minute job) *PLUS* an £8 "filling charge". Most cars would probably be returned with an average 50% full tank. So the actual fuel needed to top the tank would cost £31.50.

So, £103.54 + £8 - £31.50 = £80 straight profit for 5 minutes standing at a pump.

Nice work if you can get it, eh?

That might go some way towards explaining why "full/full" hire companies seem to be, on average, £60-£80 more expensive than full/empty.

HOWEVER! It looks like ALL of them do not do this full/empty thing for durations of 3 days or less.

So you'd save a substantial amount by seeing if you really did need the car for > 3 days.

I went last week and it was for 6 days which was most convenient.

Like everyone else, Holiday Autos seem to charge a lot more for "full/full" for hires 4 days +, and had warned me that fuel could be anything "between €70 and €140" for a 6 day hire and I wouldn't know until I got there. That's quite a broad range to be unsure of.

BUT... as I went for 6 days, what I did was book 2x3 day hires through Holiday Autos, with the new car to be collected at the time I dropped off the old one. I was staying 30 mins drive from rental location.

I opted for full CDW, so it was 2*£53.95 = £107.90 from Holiday Autos using Centuaro.

On the Centauro invoice, there is a note: "Fuel cost if not returned full: €94.00".

This would have made the total out to be £188.

To fill the tank on the first car was €12.50, on the second was €10.90. Total €23.40 or £20.02.

This made the total out to be £127.92. As I decided to take a trip out in that direction anyway and the rental place is 2 mins off the motorway and the swapover took 25 mins, I saved £60.08 for 30 minutes work, or an entire day's food, accommodation and activities.

The first time I picked the car up, the woman said "because it is short rental, we have upgraded you to a bigger car". I got a Peugeot 5 door estate both times for the price of the most basic 2 door mini.

When I did the swapover, the second woman looked very puzzled and asked why I had rented 2 cars:

I pointed to the fuel policy on my voucher: "Because it is much cheaper because of your fuel policy".

She said "OK" to me, but I heard her clearly go "oy oy oy" as she went to get the keys off the wall for the second car

I think, on this occasion, I win

When I handed back the second car, there was a long protracted argument going on with an older English couple, I'd say in their 70's. The poor guy had done what you'd do in most of the rest of the world and returned the car full. The returns guy was not budging, despite the fact that he had verified it was a full tank returned. So not only had they got ripped for the fuel in the first place, but they'd ALSO given Centauro ANOTHER free tank of fuel. Yes, they should have read the small print, but they were old and it really does show what a complete undefensible rip-off the fuel policy is.

(Conversion done at £1:€1.15)

jonezone

Like many others I spent AGES trawling the internet and forums to find a car hire company in Majorca that had a full-full fuel policy and that did not charge excessively. Eventually I came across Hiper Rentacar and would recommend them. Their hire charge was a little more expensive than the other companies but not much and when I looked at what they were going to charge for a full tank of fuel which I knew we were unlikely to use it seemed worth the extra cost. Hiper's office is in C'an Pastilla, not at the airport. We were instructed us to go to the minibus area outside the airport, which was easy to find. They took us to the office and because we had booked direct with them rather than through an agent we got called over to the Priority Desk and were dealt with straight away rather than having to join the queue of about 20 people waiting their turn. This was excellent PR. We were dealt with quickly and courteously. We paid a deposit of 71 euros for the full tank of petrol and were advised that if it was returned full the deposit would be returned, which it was. We were even told where the nearest petrol station was - literally about 100 yards down the road. All in all a good experience and I would certainly use them again.

111KAB

Another vote for Hiper but Hasso also good (they are off airport as well but nearby) - neither have brilliant new cars but they are good, reliable - some with the odd scratch/dent but it makes you feel more at home with the locals plus neither firm go around the car with a magnifying glass when you return. Make sure you are getting full > full as their terms sometimes differ which is reflected in their rates ~ likewise second driver provision.

Obviously_the_best

Centauro. Reliable, cheap and generally friendly.

Also had good service from Coches Fabiola.

111KAB

Should have said if you don't mind paying a bit more, want airport service and a firm run by a Brit then Terry's Car Hire is for you.

AlexMac

One reason I like my favourite carhire intermediary agency, Carhire3000.com, (apart from the fact that they are very cheap- if not the dirt-cheapest) is that they display the hirer's fuel policy on the search results page as soon as you enter a destianation and date.

So no scrabbling about the small print! Mallorca shows a 60-40% split between 'Pre-purchase' and 'Full-to-full' offers on a trial search for next summer, and the cheapest Full-Full offer is only a quid a week dearer than the 'pre-purchase' offer- so its a no-brainer.

And as Carhire3000 is Manchester-based you can ring 'em up to make sure!