Beware - Goldcar Car Rentals Spain

We booked via Holiday Autos and had to take out extra insurance to avoid Goldcar taking 1,400 off our credit card. We also had to pay over 100 euros for a full tank of petrol, we used half of it so the scam has worked well for them there. When I told them at collection that I wanted to fill the car up myself they pointed to the small print.

The car had a flat battery on the first night and none of the emergency numbers worked from my UK mobile. Managed to get the battery jump started and it was flat again within two days.

I will always pay a little extra to go with a reputable firm in future and I will avoid Goldcar and Holiday Autos at all cost.

dseers335 wrote: »

I checked with Carjet and Solmar do indeed do Full/Full so this should save me some on the fuel charge.
I just didn't appreciate the way Goldcar went about their business. I can take the losses but I was not happy that I was lied to and it made me wonder what else they were capable of...

Drivalia do full to full or full to empty. So you get to choose. The full to full is more expensive . But then there rates are pretty good. And there service exceptional.

If only I'd seen the thread before booking...but here's my tale. Trouble is I booked with Holiday Autos, and you don't know which company you will get until after you've gone through the booking process.

This rental has to be the single worst car hire booking I have ever had, and I book about 5 or 6 a year, sometimes more, and very often I use Holiday Autos. Firstly I would urge anybody NOT to use Goldcar in Spain. At Lanzarote Airport when I collected the car, there were about 8 or 9 other companies, none of which had long queues. I waited 90 minutes exactly at Goldcar, in which time they served about 8 or 9 customers. Every one was unhappy and complaining, which is why their service is so slow. By the end, no other counter had anybody waiting, but our queue had got even longer. The main complaint was that they tried to charge 10 euros a day XS insurance, which thankfully I declined (I had a separate policy). The other complaint was that they charged everybody a full tank of fuel upfront, which is totally pointless on a small island like Lanzarote. You simply cannot use a tank of fuel unless you spent the whole time driving ! They told me any unused fuel would be refunded, but of course it wasn't.

I was also charged a 35 euro (+tax) upgrade fee....for what ? I got the correct car which I had booked (so I thought), and they did not offer an upgrade, nor tell me I was being charged for one. After 90 minutes of fuming in a queue, I did not spot that fee on the document, I just needed to get away from their desk ASAP. Also regarding their fuel-upfront charge: it says so in the small print on the booking, but you cannot get to that print (nor indeed find out Holiday Autos is using Goldcar) until after you have completed the booking on HolidayAutos.com. So I had no choice but to pay the upfront fuel of 71.37e + tax.I expected to get it back on to my card, as promised at the desk, but what they did not tell me was another item buried in small print which Holiday Autos' website does not tell you....they will deduct an admin fee.

So, in summary, I was charged 121.00euros (£99.58) for two items:
1. a 71.37euros + tax tank of fuel I did not want and did not use and was not advised about on Holiday Autos' booking screen
2. a 35.24euros + tax upgrade fee for reasons unknown and not explained (I had a VW Polo as booked and paid for in advance)

I was refunded only £46.13. I therefore requested a refund the balance of £53.45....which a month later I haven't received. I will never use Goldcar again and will tell all people I know who book cars in Spain not to do so either. I really urge all 3rd party booking sites to avoid Goldcar at all costs - it is simply ripping people off and leaving them all angry at the start of their holidays. Luckily for me this was the end of our holiday - I used a different company at the start of the holiday and there were no issues whatsoever.