UKC

OK, so everyone knows that when you book your car hire in advance for the bargain price of £30 for the week, you're going to get hit hard at the airport with extortionate fuel costs, unavoidable damage excess insurance, and all sorts of other random costs that bring the price up to something in the region of a major hire company.
So, is any one of these rip-off merchants any better than the rest? anybody got any particularly good experiences with any? or definite 'avoid them' experiences with any of the others?
and also worth considering...if I pay over-the-odds and rent from a major company (hertz, europcar etc) will they still add the bull*hit charges, or is the price you see, what you pay?

Cheers.

In reply to Cookie (North East Wales MC):

Some site such as economycarhire highlight which ones have a fair fuel policy.

In reply to Cookie (North East Wales MC):

Mostly they give you a full tank and expect you to bring it back full, which is ok in theory but if you are coming south from Benidorm/Calpe there are not many cheap places to fill up on the motorway close enough, even the normal services are a way off Alicante. I guess if you can be bothered to go on the N roads you might find something closer and cheaper. Personally I could never be bothered and just handed the car in after filling up on the motorway, I've never been charged extra for the car not being full if it was reasonable.

In reply to Cookie (North East Wales MC):

As for Excess charges I recommend using these people

http://www.insurance4carhire.com/?refID=2047&subRefID=0&curID=GBP&a...

If you are doing more than one trip a year it's worth buying the annual premium.

If you insure with them just decline the excess option offered by the car hire company

In reply to Cookie (North East Wales MC):

Goldcar are a bit of a headache imo and to be avoided, despite the promise of cheap hire

In reply to Kimono:

Agree with this ! Goldcar were a nightmare @ airport and if I remember rightly they give u a full tank oo fuel (mega high price )and u leave back empty except on 2/3 days hires were they refund any extra