Beware - Goldcar Car Rentals Spain

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  • richardw
    richardw Posts: 19,458
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    !!!!!! wrote: »
    ....Goldcar can work out really well....

    Nope. They never can. AVOID. There’s no such thing as cheap car hire. It’s never worth risking.
    Posts are not advice and must not be relied upon.
  • I had a car booked with Goldcar 23/2/18 at Madeira airport staff so rude , the car was booked via a reputable travel agent fully insured CDW the lot , we were told that this insurance was not enough ,fuel needed to be paid for and a deposit of 1200 euros after a short exchange and my objection to such charges Goldcar refused to hire the car to me !
    I went and found another company just to the left of the Goldcar office at Madeira airport , simple, cost 32 euros for CDW ,car inspected on pick up and drop off return with same level of fuel .
    Credit card bill has arrived no extra charges
    We will be using this company again .
  • eDicky
    eDicky Posts: 6,547
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    Hammo09 wrote: »
    We will be using this company again .
    Do you know their name?
    Evolution, not revolution
  • Yes , new to this so being careful, Rodavante. origional hire booked for 7 days booked by my wife and she paid £ 86 .00 this was less than the transfer from airport and back , we have hired cars all over the world and never come across anything like Gold car .
    Currently trying to get the £86.00 back from travel company I have an appointment with shop manager on Thursday so softly softly until then
  • ffs
    ffs Posts: 292
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    Madeira's Rodavante walk in prices will make you go weak at the knees, I've not used them so can't comment otherwise.

    However I have used Bravacar (pre-booked via AutoEurope) on about 20 occasions, for anything from 3 to 14 days. Their cars are a little tired and their prices are the lowest on the island, but I have never had anything other than superb service. As a result they are often fully booked, so advance booking is essential except very low season.

    If you'd rather have a brand new car and risk being penalised for the inevitable door ding or bumper scratch (over which you have no control) then you always have the choice of Hertz, Sixt etc.
  • richardw
    richardw Posts: 19,458
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    !!!!!! wrote: »
    .... risk being penalised for the inevitable door ding or bumper scratch (over which you have no control) then you always have the choice of Hertz, Sixt etc.

    They are not inevitable. I’m a heavy car hire user in the UK and abroad and never had these.
    Posts are not advice and must not be relied upon.
  • AlexMac
    AlexMac Posts: 2,973
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    Nor have I ...
    richardw wrote: »
    They (dings and damage) are not inevitable...
    but they are if you use Goldcar, as they seem to find them whether or not you did 'em.

    The 365 complainants above are just a few of thousands of other unhappy punters who forgot to check reviews first; 450,000 complaints on Google and thousands on Tripadvisor alone, such as
    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187427-i42-k9134032-o10-Complaint_goldcar-Spain.html

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187484-i1036-k8904789-Renting_a_goldcar_car_in_Santander-Santander_Cantabria.html#70409993

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187497-i44-k6743361-o70-Solmar_car_rental_Barcelona_WARNING-Barcelona_Catalonia.html#71798910

    Moral; google BEFORE you book; hundreds of thousands of whingers can!!!8217;t be wrong?
    The only surprise is that this thread hasn't been trolled by a GOLDCAR bot called Victoria R who usually responds with emollient PR messages for Goldcar; (did she deliberately name herself after the British Queen, Victoria Regina to add gravitas?)

    Less cynically and more helpfully, there is an excellent Tripadvisor post with general advice about car hire in Spain, from a regular contributor called Ceejayblue; #1 at

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187435-i317-k10395502-Tips_for_Car_Hire-Costa_del_Sol_Province_of_Malaga_Andalucia.html#83951907
  • Shikakui
    Shikakui Posts: 14 Forumite
    Yes, please avoid Goldcar at all cost.
    It is better to stick to the big companies - Hertz, Avis, Europcar etc.
  • AlexMac
    AlexMac Posts: 2,973
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    See post #766 at
    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1091009&page=39

    for a summary and some constructive links
  • Arve
    Arve Posts: 1 Newbie
    Unfortunately I did not see any of the threads warning about GoldCar before renting a car, ordered though CarTrawler. On arrival at their office near Chania airport, Crete, I was asked to sign the contract and present my credit card. The contract was mostly written in greek and it was impossible for me to understand what I was signing. On my request I was told that I was signing for and making a credit card reservation for fuel and theft/accident. This seemed reasonable as CarTrawler had already informed me that I would have to pay a deposit, and the payable amount reported was in the same range as requested by GoldCar, so I had no reason not to believe what the GoldCar representative told me. As later informed by CarTrawler, the amount I was signing for was in fact an additional insurance that I did not request and which I did not need as I was already covered. I was not even asked if I wanted the insurance.
    I have been in contact wiith both CarTrawler and GoldCar, without any success in getting my money back. I think CarTrawler also has a responsibility as they are including GoldCar in their search engines, but they really don't care. I will therefore in future avoid both GoldCar and CarTrawler. I had a similar incident some years ago renting a car through Rentalcars. In this case the case was excellently solved by Rentalcars, and I got my money refunded within two weeks.
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