Car hire from Palma

23sd3 · 5 April 2018 at 7:56PM

I am looking at car hire from Palma (Majorca) airport from 13-17 April on expedia.co.uk.

I am being quoted rates as low as £4 (yes, four pounds in total! :eek:) with companies such as Goldcar and Click Rent.

Does anybody have any recent experience of these companies, or other good/bad experiences of car hire from Palma?

All advice gratefully received. :cool:

Neil49 · 6 April 2018 at 9:21AM

There is a specific post regarding Goldcar a screen or 2 down in this section.

It is headed Beware Goldcar and has well in excess of 300 comments.

I suggest you avoid!

richardw · 6 April 2018 at 1:44PM

Anything less than £25 per day direct with Avis Budget Enterprise Hertz Thrifty National Sixt is a bargain.

bagand96 · 6 April 2018 at 4:52PM

It's low season in Mallorca so you will get many bargains available. However, choose your hire company carefully - and definitely don't choose Goldcar.

Goldcar are very well known for their low lead in prices - and that's your first problem - loads of people will have booked them and there'll be a massive queue at the desk.

They will try very hard to scare you into buying a number of extras - insurance, full tank, super insurance, really super insurance etc. They use high pressure tactics at the desk and a ot of customers end up taking their extras - and thats how they make their money.

Your next problem will be when you drop the car off and they decide there's some damage to it that wasn't there when you took it. If it seems to good to be true then...... (and let's be honest £4 for 5 days car rental is too good to be true!)

That's a small summary, there's a whole thread on this forum dedicated to them if you want the full details.

cubegame · 8 April 2018 at 9:33AM

I'm a four time hire veteran of Goldcar hires (including two weeks in Portugal for £35) and have never had a problem. My only red line on car hire is that I want airport pickup.

You can't do anything about the queues but you should be ok in April. If you give them an inch to scam you they will, so don't.

My tips:

Get your own excess insurance.
Don't um and ah over anything at the desk. Be very friendly but offer a very flat and abrupt "NO" to upgrades, insurances etc.
Photograph every inch of the car on inspection and make sure they know you're doing it.

Their whole business model is similar to Ryanair, where they are looking for customers who don't know the rules to subsidise the hires of those who do. Just make sure you're in the latter group.

PeacefulWaters · 8 April 2018 at 11:15AM

cubegame wrote: »

I'm a four time hire veteran of Goldcar hires (including two weeks in Portugal for £35) and have never had a problem. My only red line on car hire is that I want airport pickup.

You can't do anything about the queues but you should be ok in April. If you give them an inch to scam you they will, so don't.

My tips:

Get your own excess insurance.
Don't um and ah over anything at the desk. Be very friendly but offer a very flat and abrupt "NO" to upgrades, insurances etc.
Photograph every inch of the car on inspection and make sure they know you're doing it.

Their whole business model is similar to Ryanair, where they are looking for customers who don't know the rules to subsidise the hires of those who do. Just make sure you're in the latter group.

I think I'll try elsewhere based on that recommendation.

Placitasgirl · 8 April 2018 at 11:28AM

This is one of the most frequently asked questions on the Majorca forum on Trip Advisor and there really are some horror stories.

We're returning on 14 April and have booked with Euromax who come very highly recommended. Our communications with them have been excellent, and you're met at the airport with the car, so no need to schlep out to an office on the airport perimiter on a shuttle bus. Euromax are a small, independent company and we've rented a car suitable for 4 passengers for !!!8364;175 for 8 days. Their prices are absolutely fully inclusive and no deposit is required; you pay by cash or card on arrival and there are no blocks or holds placed on the card or ridiculous charges applied.

Other companies highly recommended by the forum members, many of them regular renters are Terry's and Vanrell; we also had competitive quotes from Vanrell.

Hope this is a help and that the weather during our week on the island is good!

Spider990 · 13 August 2018 at 11:43AM

The advertised car hire details as advertised on Doyouspain.com are misleading as we found out to great expense.
£150 paid (inc about £42 collision damage waiver - £6.95/day to save paying !!!8364;1100 on collection from car hire co allegedly) pre-paid to Do You Spain.

On arrival we were required to pay !!!8364;40 late pick which was expected.
On top of that on pick up we had to pay + !!!8364;40 fuelling charge + !!!8364;141 or !!!8364;1100 deposit on credit card for accidental damage +!!!8364;88 for full fuel tank.
If we return the tank full we should be refunded the !!!8364;88. You can guarantee the next hirer of our vehicle will be charged !!!8364;40 fuelling fee, even though it was fuelled by us.

If you don't pay the refundable !!!8364;1100 on credit card you will have to pay for any damage to the vehicle where there is not a third party for them to claim from.
We've basically paid twice for insurance 7 x £6.95 per day via doyouspain and !!!8364;141 to the car hire co. on arrival.! £190 for a weeks insurance and still not covered for accidental damage!

Breakdown cover is NOT included and will cost between !!!8364;88 and !!!8364;800 if you need recovery!

So for a weeks car hire you're looking at £450+

You have been warned. Book direct with car hire firms not via Doyouspain.

cubegame · 13 August 2018 at 10:09PM

Spider990 wrote: »

The advertised car hire details as advertised on Doyouspain.com are misleading as we found out to great expense.
£150 paid (inc about £42 collision damage waiver - £6.95/day to save paying !!!8364;1100 on collection from car hire co allegedly) pre-paid to Do You Spain.

On arrival we were required to pay !!!8364;40 late pick which was expected.
On top of that on pick up we had to pay + !!!8364;40 fuelling charge + !!!8364;141 or !!!8364;1100 deposit on credit card for accidental damage +!!!8364;88 for full fuel tank.
If we return the tank full we should be refunded the !!!8364;88. You can guarantee the next hirer of our vehicle will be charged !!!8364;40 fuelling fee, even though it was fuelled by us.

If you don't pay the refundable !!!8364;1100 on credit card you will have to pay for any damage to the vehicle where there is not a third party for them to claim from.
We've basically paid twice for insurance 7 x £6.95 per day via doyouspain and !!!8364;141 to the car hire co. on arrival.! £190 for a weeks insurance and still not covered for accidental damage!

Breakdown cover is NOT included and will cost between !!!8364;88 and !!!8364;800 if you need recovery!

So for a weeks car hire you're looking at £450+

You have been warned. Book direct with car hire firms not via Doyouspain.

Sorry for pointing it out but you got scammed. If you'd played with a straight bat you'd have paid not a penny more than the headline rate.

Car hire from Palma

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