UKC

I'm off to Calpe in February. Can anyone recommend a car hire company? I get fed up being ripped off with the hidden extras.

In reply to apw:

I used Hertz recently and although paid slightly more up front, the service was excellent and no hidden charges or hard sell. Wouldn't look elsewhere anymore as i'm also fed up of being 'robbed' by the so called cheap rentals.

In reply to apw: lara car
what they say is what you pay. very honest, no queuing at the airport, full to full etc. others on here agree.
http://www.laracars.com/

In reply to apw:

Hi. We used Europacar or some such. Probably just as good or as bad as the others. The Internet was full of horror stories about most of the companies.

Be careful driving out of and into the car rentals multi story. Through some great (I did wonder whether it was deliberate) designing, the ramp is very narrow and has right angle corners rather than a curved ramp. All the way down and up is a line of paint marks from renters who have scratched wing mirrors etc. Classic!

In reply to apw:

dont use firefly. centauro seems to get good reviews. havent used them though.

In reply to apw: don't use gold car we got charged about 230 euros in extras.

In reply to mike123:

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll give them a try.

In reply to apw:

Thanks for all the advice from everyone. It's a bit of a minefield out there!

In reply to apw:

1. take out a car hire insurance to avoid paying for extra car insurance at the spot (I use questor insurance), it costs about £40 for a year
2. use the cheapest car hire with a full/full (full/empty is normally 100eur) petrol policy (used solmar, malagacar, ... they are all the same)
3. enjoy your trip

In reply to apw:

Bit thumbs up from me for Hertz also - seamless when we were there last May.

In reply to apw:

Lost count of how many times I have picked up a hire car from Alicante.

Never had a problem even after scouring the web for the very lowest price.

Only time a problem when calling cold at Barcelona Airport. That was sorted out by Mastercard.

Book from this country and follow any advice above about fuel tactics and insurance.

Its actually so cheap in winter, you really all should be ashamed at complaining, all they are doing is keeping a bit of cash flowing and the car batteries charged. Like Easyjet, only profitable in Summer.

In reply to TraverseKing:

Thanks... I'll try questor insurance.