Dirt cheap cars in Spain at the mo?

mad_rich

I'm looking at a bit of a last-minute holiday in Alicante. Can get flights sorted relatively cheaply, and I was just looking at car hire. It seems absurdly cheap at the moment!

For example, Auto Europe is offering a Ford Ka for 5 days for £12.41. Not per day, but total. This includes zero excess CDW.

Obviously, there will be the fuel sting on top, but it seems to be a bit of a bargain. Am I missing something?!

HereToday

Certainly would take the 'Zero Excess' with a pinch of salt.

budgetflyer

That is a deal. You can sweeten it further by clicking through topcashback for 7.5% cash back too

HereToday

Those 'cheap' prices are from the likes of 'Firefly', 'GoldCar' and Inter Rent'

You might get lucky or you might not.

ic

I'll never go with GoldCar - last time I was in Alicante airport at 11 pm, I was at the Hertz desk with a queue of two people. Goldcar's queue was about 30 people - they must have been there till 4 am the speed these checkins run - what a way to start your holiday!

Obviously_the_best

That deal is almost definately GoldCar, in which case they'll require you to pay a load of insurance when you get there, or leave a deposit in the region of €3000, and sting you another €100 for fuel on top.

gallygirl

I usually use doyouspain.com from Alicante. Book when price seems reasonable and recheck regularly - the price can drop quite a bit on occasion and there is no charge to cancel the 1st booking. They usually use Dickmanns, offsite (but nearby). TBH by the time we go down to wait on the minibus, change into shorts :j in the loo at the waiting area, take the bus and sign for the car I reckon we're still a lot quicker than most of the queues. Decent cars as well. All will ask for a hefty deposit by ccard if you don't take their insurance. However, Dickmanns only take a few hundred euros, charged to ccard in pounds, and I actually got more back due to currency fluctuations .

Goldcar always have long queues - because they're cheap.

mad_rich

Thanks for the replies.

I've heard Goldcar is bad, but there are also options with Centauro, Record, Interrent and Firefly at those sort of prices.

I'm assuming the prepaid fuel will be ~50% more than pump prices. Does that seem about right? So for a full tank in a Ka (35 litres) I'd be paying perhaps €79, which is €26 (£21) more than the pump price.

By contrast, Thrifty & Budget are offering a full-full car for £50 (but with no CDW included).

I probably will use at least a tank so even with buying a tank at inflated cost, it would seem to be cheaper than a full-full deal (although driving back to the airport on fumes is never fun!).

Would they really require a €3000 deposit? The website clearly shows a zero-excess CDW, so what would the deposit be for? I have enough spare credit cards that letting them block (but not charge) €3k wouldn't be a problem. But what's it for?

mad_rich

Grrr. It's infuriating not knowing how much the actual cost of a tank will be. I've just had a long Live Chat with one broker, who was either being deliberately obtuse, or didn't understand the question.

Hello this is Louise, if you require a quotation or you wish to make a reservation then please use our website. If you have any other type of query then I would be glad to assist you.

Hello

I want to make a booking at Alicante airport, and I'm trying to decide between a full-full fuel policy, and a full-empty. Can you tell me what I will be charged for a tank of fuel please

at STEP2 don the left hand side ypu are shown if there options

how many days?

It tells me the price for the rental, but I can't find out how much the initial charge for a tank of fuel will be.

7 days

i would take full / empty

on 7 days...

Ok. Is there any way to find the actual cost though? I probably will use a full tank, but I don;t want to be paying 1.5x the pump price!

yes please choose alicante city

not the airport (for example) and on the left hand side at step 2 the menu gives you the choice of fuel policy

Eh? That doesn't tell me. I just want to know the answer to this question: "If I choose a full-empty rental, how much will I actually be charged at the rental desk for a tank of fuel."

Louise then gave me the silent treatment.

HereToday

Let that be a warning. The 'CDW' won't include things like the windscreen and the undercarriage etc. So don't even think about travelling before purchasing Car Hire Excess insurance from an independent here. At less than £3 per day, it may give some peace of mind.
Why not read the reviews and comments before getting excited over a 'low price'?

zagfles

HereToday wrote: »

Let that be a warning. The 'CDW' won't include things like the windscreen and the undercarriage etc. So don't even think about travelling before purchasing Car Hire Excess insurance from an independent here. At less than £3 per day, it may give some peace of mind.
Why not read the reviews and comments before getting excited over a 'low price'?

The other thing to watch out for is if there's exclusions for "negligence" in the insurance, make a mistake and they could declare your insurance void! See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/730979/On-the-case-Car-insurance-claims-Athens-taxi-scams-and-Calais-restaurants.html