Beware - Goldcar Car Rentals Spain

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  • I too have had a bad experience with Gold Car at Murciaairport. First their ‘all inclusive insurance’ stated at the time of quotingand booking, is actually only for third party. When you get to the desk tocollect the car, they tell you that if you do any damage to the car, there willbe no upper limit to your liability and they ask for a deposit of 5000 Euros!You are then offered their additional cover amounting to 35 Euros per day whichabsolutely wipes out the saving on them as a ‘cheaper’ operator!

    Then you are charged 85 Euros for a full tank of petrol and if,as in my case, if you are taking the car for 3 days or less, you are told thatyou get a refund on all the unused petrol. We filled the car up to overflowing onreturn and they have refunded me 74 Euros. I have complained, got a standard reply which didn’t address the issueand they are now not responding to me at all. There is nowhere you can ring.

    And finally I asked to pay in Euros but they refusedinsisting that it would be converted (by them ) to sterling and charged a lousyrate plus 2% “Exchange rate MARK UP”.

    They are complete charlatans...

  • I rented a car through Rentalcars.com in August this year. The rental car company i end up with was GOLDCARS this is when the rip off started. I rented the car for £160 for 4 days this included some insurance. When i and my 3 companions reached PISA i was suprised to be charged for a full tank of Diesel @ 110 euros and more Insurance @ 100 euros they would not let me take the car without the insurance which i thought i had already paid to Rentalcars.com. So suddenly a cheap 4 day rental turned into a very expensive one. I returned the car after 4 days slightly dusty but ok. I handed the keys back along with a SatNav i had also rented and flew home.I emailed Rentalcars.com to complain about the extra charges but they said that was normal.
    In September there was a £20.00 charge on my company credit card referenced PISA, i inquired with Rentalcars.com what this was for and heard nothing for a month but by the time they responded another £35 had been taken. They have told me that the charges are for the Satnav being damaged and a fine that i incurred while in Italy and paperwork will be sent to me at a time in the near future.I'm still waiting.
    Please dont use GOLDCARS and RENTALCARS.COM they will rip you off
  • Absolue ripp off.

    Be very careful reading the ts and cs and allow several extra hours for collecting the cr.

    Never again, nightmare.

    Poorly maintained car and extortionate fuel prices. I am amazed they are allowed to operate.
  • Goldcar charges 80 € for a 20 liter tank of petrol in Malaga airport.
    No wonder that they can offer cheap prices. AVOID GOLDCAR:rotfl::(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(
  • They offer cheap prices but beware !!! At Malaga airport they will charge you 80 € for a 20 liter tank of petrol ( FORD KA)
    :o
  • I booked car hire in Tenerife through carrentals.com and was given zero excess insurance. Upon picking the car up the Goldacr representative told me that theu did not provide zero excess insurance through carrentals.com and that it was a mistake and that I would need to take out their "Seguro Relax" policy at a cost of 72 Euros. Not wanting to take the risk, I complied, thinking II would sort it out on my return home. It transpires that the Seguro Relax insurance is to cover tyre damage etc. plus loss of earning if the vehicle is off the road for any length of time! LOSS OF EARNINGS???? I am on holiday!!! This, together with their ludicrous full tank of petrol rip-off at 87 Euros (for 60 euros worth of petrol). As you can imagine, upon return, neither carrentals.com or gaoldcar are in the least bit interested that they are systematically ripping people off. I have telephone and emailed Goldcar a number of times with no response whatsoever. Just to make matters even worse, I left my Sat Nav in the glovebox of the hirecar and, again, they just don't want to know. Obviously, quite happy to steal my property!!

    AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!
  • I visit Spain three or four times a year, and hire a car each time. I have been using doyouspain for some years now, and I have no specific complaint about them. However, a few weeks ago I booked through doyouspain with Goldcar at Alicante airport. As usual I stood in a queue for about 30 minutes, then spoke to a male assistant. He was fluent in English and so there were no language difficulties. He explained that I needed to take out extra insurance. I replied that I didn't need it, as I already had excess insurance [taken out in the UK for 12 months through an independent insurer] to cover tyres, wheels, glass, and underbody. I have done this for years, and have had no problems, but he went on to say that I was not covered adequately by that, that the insurance provision by Goldcar had changed, and that I would be responsible for any damage, however caused, to the car. He said there was 'no excess', and that I could be charged the whole value of the car if it was seriously damaged, even if I was not to blame or even present, plus any 'loss of earnings' to the company if the car was off the road, plus any towage charges, etc.,etc. I told him that this had never happened before, and he stated again that things had changed, and then said "Well you got the car cheap, look at what you are paying, the company has to make some money somewhere." I was extremely angry, but as I had already pre-paid the hire charges [through doyouspain] I decided to take the extra insurance, which cost €100, and was termed Seguro Relax. He told me this would cover absolutely everything, with no excess to pay. He then offered me a diesel car, which I agreed to, and charged me €96 for fuel. With the VAT my bill for insurance and fuel came to €217 - this more than doubled the cost of hire!

    I later found out that Seguro Relax covers only the tyres, wheels, glass, etc. that I already had cover for! And I said I wanted to pay in euros but, you guessed it, he charged me in pounds, with a 2% commission and a poor exchange rate.

    The car was ok, but smelt strongly of cigarettes and wasn't particularly clean. As usual, no warning triangles, and no reflective jackets [I have my own but the trip to and from the airport is a risk especially if the car breaks down on the motorway].

    I will not be using Goldcar again. I'm not sure who to use now, as I've had serious problems with other suppliers [including Record] but that's another story.
  • I wish I'd taken the time to research this subject and check out this thread before booking car hire with Goldcar in Lanzarote last month.

    I ran into all the same problems highlighted previously - the extra insurance charge, paying for a full tank of petrol which I was never going to use and a 2% mark up to pay in sterling when in fact I was paying with a Sainsbury's Gold card which has no mark up and excellent exchange rate.

    I can only repeat the advice given here, which I wished I'd seen earlier and heeded
    - DO NOT USE GOLDCAR!
  • dseers335 wrote: »
    I booked a trip to Alicante airport for myself and my girlfriend. We wanted to hire a rental car and ended up booking with a hire company called Goldcar.

    They seemed quite cheap and already have "all-inclusive" insurance included so it sounded good.

    I will make sure I never go near this company again.

    Firstly, when we arrived we had to queue for just over an hour before getting to the front of the desk. Being peak-season we weren't too suprised and, although inconvenient, we could bare this.

    When we reached the desk the rep was very abrupt and bordered of rudeness. This didn't really bother me (at the end of the day this guy was working and had a lot of holiday-makers to get through).

    When we had finished with the details the rep asked if I wanted "full CDW insurance" or just "basic" cover for tyres and glass. Now, as I have hired cars several times in the past I am fully aware of exclusions (tyres/glass/keys etc) and so replied that I did not require any extra insurance and my credit card covers for the tyre/glass etc charge - but did query the "full CDW insurance" he was offering. The man looked at me and said "if you are involved in a crash then we will need to charge you for all repairs". I told him that this was already included in the cost I had paid for the hire and highlighted the wording on my voucher which backed up my understanding. "it is not correct. if you have a crash you only have 3rd party and we will take a 5000.00EUR excess-deposit until the repairs are worked out" - using these words exactly. The rep was basically telling me I had zero cover whereas the paperwork I had and the website tells me I was all-inclusive.

    After several more minutes of this I agreed to take the extra cover so I could enjoy the rest of my holiday stress-free and had to pay up a further 60.00EUR.

    The rep just handed me an electronic paid to sign which had no indication of what I was paying for or agreeing to exactly. A few days later I inspected the contract to see that the total price and been converted to GBP with a 2% mark-up, the cost of fuel was priced at 82.00EUR and I was charged for some kind of diesel-upgrade on top without my consent (I had booked a petrol!).
    The vehicle itself had some problems but it is rare to be given a perfect rental car, especially in Spain, so this was OK.

    When I got home I sent an email to my broker ("Carjet") who confirmed my understanding of the insurance (all-inclusive except for the tyres/glass etc). They could not really disagree as I was going by the wording on their's/Goldcar's website.

    Carjet then contacted Goldcar with my complaint to get to the bottom of it. After a few weeks, Goldcar replied to say that their rates were all-inclusive except for a few minor items and they did not take any deposit in case of a crash. Goldcar said that I must have misunderstood due to the language barrier and the cover I had taken was only cover for punctures/loss of keys etc and their rates included in more just 3rd party.

    After a few more emails back and forth Goldcar closed the case stating "we can't refund when the client has signed the contract".
    This email probably makes me sound like newbie who doesn't read the small print but I really am not (it gives me something to do during the flight!). My partner also backs up entirely what I have said and encouraged my to write this.

    That's my review. Stay away from Goldcar if it can be helped. The salesmen at the desk will lie to you outright in order to make an extra few Euros commission.

    I have prebooked my next trip and Carjet were able to arrange the car hire through "Solmar" this time for the same price.


    I booked in Tenerife and exactly the same thing happened to me.
    Read my short version of the above and "DO NOT USE GOLDCAR".
    Don't forget "Goldcar" are used by other companies, mine was "Affordable Car Hire". It clearly wasn't affordable? and you must check with whichever company that you book with that they do not use "GOLDCAR" at the other end.

    YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

    When picking up the car at Tenerife Airport we were told that we had the wrong type of insurance and that the correct type would cost 60 Euros more.
    The alternative we were given was to leave a 600 Euro (yes six hundred) deposit and if no damage to the car was found on it's return we would get our 600 Euros back.

    Needless to say no one risked 600 Euros and everyone at the desk paid out 60 Euros for "Goldcar's proper" insurance.

    As well as that we had to pay for a full tank of diesel ???
    "NO CHOICE". ANOTHER 60 EUROS FOR DIESEL WE DID NOT WANT.

    "Did they think we went to tenerife for a driving holiday?"
    We returned the car with 3/4 of a tank still in the tank.

    "WHAT A TOTAL RIP OFF" .

    Always go for the big boys like Hertz, you get what pay for.
    I AM A VERY, VERY UNHAPPY CUSTOMER WHO WILL NEVER USE GOLDCAR AGAIN.
  • I hired a car from Sevilla Airport in November. First the clients have to walk three hundred meters to a minibus and be driven off site to the Goldcar office, second clients have to queue to be dealt with, then clients are informed that all inclusive insurance does not cover tyres and windows and one is pressurized into paying 70 Euros for additional insurance to cover this!!! I declined and my car was broken into in Cadiz, I had to pay 130 euros for a new window!!!
    In January I used these bandits again without incident ( or so I thought!) since then my credit card has twice been charged 35 euros for an admin charge for the company to give my details to the authorities in connection to "alleged" speeding violations! I'm powerless to stop these and any further charges. This company is beneath contempt!!!
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