Dirt cheap cars in Spain at the mo?

mad_rich

HereToday wrote: »

don't even think about travelling before purchasing Car Hire Excess insurance from an independent here.

I probably will get an Insurance 4 Car Hire policy. I'll be renting again within the year, so I'll get use out of it.

The trouble with reviews, particularly with car hire companies, is that it tends to be the unhappy customers that float to the top. All you get is long rants filled with capital letters telling people to "AVOID GOLDCAR SCAM ARTISTS" or some such. Or sometimes people claiming that they've never had a problem with XYZ, without seeming to realise that XYZ is a broker, not a hire company, and the service you receive is very little to do with them...

HereToday

mad_rich wrote: »

I probably will get an Insurance 4 Car Hire policy. I'll be renting again within the year, so I'll get use out of it.

The trouble with reviews, particularly with car hire companies, is that it tends to be the unhappy customers that float to the top. All you get is long rants filled with capital letters telling people to "AVOID GOLDCAR SCAM ARTISTS" or some such. Or sometimes people claiming that they've never had a problem with XYZ, without seeming to realise that XYZ is a broker, not a hire company, and the service you receive is very little to do with them...

Up to you... let us know how it went.

mad_rich

Will do.

I suspect I'll go for the full-full option unless I can find the actual price for the fuel.

In one of the brokers, I spotted an estimate of €87-€150. If they really do charge €87 for 35 litres in a Ka, then that's €35 premium over pump price.

Assuming I leave a fiver's worth in the tank, that's €40 or £33 to add to the headline price. (Interestingly, another broker goes so far as to offer the same car on both policies, and the price difference is ... €40!)

Mxty

Mad_Rich, it depends fully on the size of car you are hiring. It's also an inflated rate, I was advised that it would be 60-100 Euros at a maximum. Given that it's a Ka I would say 60-70 would be a good estimate, they do charge over the pump price considerably.

gazwood

Use this site to find your hire company as it has a filter to choose the type of full-full fuel policy ......

http://www.auto-europe.co.uk/

Then when you've found the hire companies that have the suitable fuel policy go to your TCB or Quidco and find the best cashback rate for the hire companies you found, works for me.

JIFFIJAW

Perhaps I should have read this thread first -- but only joined forum today! I've been travelling down through france/spain/portugal/spain in a motorhome and am currently on the Costa de la Luz towards Gibraltar -- planning to rent a villa for two to three months. Hired a car locally for £154 euros a week for a couple of weeks (took annual excess insurance for £41 and saved that on the two weeks rental already). I was thinking about flying home and bringing my own car down -- but then started searching car hire -- I was astounded by the apparent difference in rental prices if you picked up at a 'popular' destination. I've just signed up for a VW golf or similar pick up/return from Seville airport for an eight week hire (there's a 60 day single rental limit on my excess insurance) for 161 euros ( the excess insurance was going to be over 500 euros from hire company) it is with Holiday Autos Car Hire. Things like queues and even getting ripped off for one tank of gas aren't that important on a two month hire??? Or am I in for some terrible shock that I haven't thought of when I pick up?????

Dan_BrotmN

Doyouspain is very unpredictable. We had a good experience using them in Granada and renting through Hertz. But we just had a very bad experience in Madrid renting through Firefly. We rented for one day at an advertised rate of just over €17 supposedly all in. We didn't take any extras (insurance, GPS, etc.) or upgrade the car. We returned it on time in perfect condition with a full tank of gas. We were charged €60 plus. Firefly said that's the cost and if we have an issue we need to talk to doyouspain. doyouspain doesn't reply to emails with anything other than a form message. I will never use them again and warn others to do the same.

Obviously_the_best

Just proves the point again, you're better off doing direct to a car hire provider, who you can choose, rather than a broker who'll book you with the company that's best for their pockets.