Malaga car hire - why so cheap, whats the catch?

seatbeltnoob

I came back from Thailand a few weeks ago, I hired out the cheapest car I could find a nissan almera 1.2L for £138 (5 days), which is what I would expect to pay to hire a car in the UK.

I'm planning a trip to malaga soon and want to explore southern spain by car and I'm looking at car hire prices. I'm quite surprised to find out how cheap car hire in malaga is. A vw polo for 5 days is just £38.

I dont even know how they make money to even pay depreciation on their vehicles at these prices.

Browntoa

The hard sell on insurance "upgrade" at the airport

AdrianC

When are you going, relative to peak times?

takman

It all depends on how much research you have done on the company and what kind of company they are. If it's a poor company then it will be exactly as Browntoa describes.

But i have found some genuinely good smaller companies who offer great prices. One company in the Canary Islands I've had a small car for 7 days for 36 Euros and as standard they include full insurance with no excess and a second driver. So all i had to to was bring it back with the fuel the same level as i left, I've used them a few times without any issues.

Lincoln_Imp

The actual car rental itself are cheap enough if you are not going at peak times or book well in advance

They make a big profit on add ons ,Insurance ,Fuel etc

Out of interest who is the car with ?

facade

Browntoa wrote: »

The hard sell on insurance "upgrade" at the airport

Followed by stinging your credit card for "damage" if you don't take the full zero excess insurance.

antenna

You will NEVER hire a car in Malaga for £38.....or £58....or £78...or £98,
Car Hire £38,EXTRAS £108....total £146......

mgfvvc

There are a whole bunch of possibilities.

Obviously insurance hard sell or charging outrageous sums for fictitious damage or stone chips can be a way for Goldcar and their ilk to fleece unwary punters.

Is it a newish car you are getting? Some of the cheaper operators are renting out older vehicles. I've had good deals on high mileage rental vehicles. As long as they are well maintained and existing damage is properly recorded they are fine.

They may also have surplus cars from the manufacturer at a deep discount to list price, so depreciation may be less than you think.

Finally, they may actually be renting vehicles out at a loss while it's quiet and making it up by charging a lot more at peak times.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

I hired for 14 days at less than £200 with not the rock bottom options, group E car (group C ordered) and didn't go with their rock bottom option as the next one up just gave a bit of piece of mind over breakdown and a couple of other things where we would have been left to our own devices.

Check out CDW insurance from 3rd party options, about £4 or less daily rate which covers the eye-watering costs if you do get damage.


I can recommend malagarcar.com.

Andalusia a joy to drive around, quiet roads and relaxed drivers in the main, but villages are not at all car friendly, and are where many a careless moment can cause car damage.

wgl2014

They have the cars anyway so to charge £50 or whatever is still £50 more than having the car sat there unused.

As already stated take out excess cover before going if you are OK with paying any charges and claiming it back.

FWIW I've never had an issue with any charges when returning a rental car , maybe I've just been lucky!

seatbeltnoob

i normally get a third party excess insurance. I drove around thailand and despite having that cover I wished I had paid more and got the cover with the hire company as it would mean there aren;t any paperwork issues and hire car putting a large hold on your account.

The hold in thailand was low though, at around £210. But the spanish company would hold £600+.

I looked at quotes at malagacar.com probably quiet season 12 to 19 jan 2018