UKC

Glad of any feedback on the following.

We are off to Majorca in May and I'll be hiring a car from the airport. I initially went on to Holiday Autos web site but all of their hires seemed to be from el cheapo local set ups charging about £50 a week. I recall having read horror stories in the Telegraph travel section about some of these outfits with rip-offs and scams aplenty. In one instance a client had taken out his own excess insurance and when the hire company said he had to take out THEIR excess insurance he said he neither wanted it or needed it, The company then got stroppy and refused to hire the car out to him. In another instance somebody returned a vehicle and the agent "found" two almost invisible scratches and subsequently stung the clients credit card account for some enormous figure.

I'm now thinking that it is probably safer to go to some global company like Avis or Hertz. OK you might pay more but...

In reply to FesteringSore:

I've hired loads of times from Hertz / Avis and from Holiday Autos and never had a problem, a claim, excess, or hire refusal. Loads of people hire cars, I don't think these problems are really significant.

In reply to FesteringSore:
Its wise to take out an excess policy here before you go, I was asked for 17 Euros a day in Italy recently, fortunately my UK one was £20 a week.
Spain is one of the worst places for car hire rip offs, 'Do you Spain' has huge hidden charges and even longer queues to pick the car up.

In reply to stubbed:

Check trip advisor out for recommendations, usually loads of threads. I've always tended to use local companies based on recommendations & have been fine.

Thanks for responses. I'm seeing some good comments about Thrifty. Anyone used them?

In reply to FesteringSore:

Sure, used them in the states where they tend to be branded as Dollar/Thrifty. Not exactly a small local independent though, they are one of the largest hire companies in the world and owned by Hertz.

In reply to FesteringSore:

This should cover it, along with the TripAdvisor comment above: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire


I've generally had no problem with Avis and Hertz, but my sister is currently having a running battle with Hertz over quite a large sum of money after hitting a kangaroo in Australia. Local agent was utterly hopeless/borderline downright rude in getting the vehicle assessed and it turns out that they hadn't actually got the insurance they thought they had due to the booking agent mucking up the booking, which Hertz are claiming isn't their fault. So check what you've paid for.

In reply to FesteringSore:

Take photos of any damage to the car before you set off and make sure they have marked any scratches on the diagram.

In reply to FesteringSore: I use this company for excess/CDW etc and have never had any problems:

http://www.driverguardian.co.uk/

In reply to FesteringSore:

Often the cheaper end of the market have cheap headline rates but sting you on the fuel policy. A lot of the broker sites now let you to restrict a search to those with a 'fair fuel policy'

I usually use Economy Car Hire, who have the option to take out reasonably priced excess insurance alongside the car hire (but through a third party). We ended up with a car from Atesa when we hired in Mallorca a couple of years ago, they seemed to be associated with Enterprise in some shape or form.

In reply to FesteringSore:

Always try ringing the big companies. Avis gave me 50% off their prices over the phone due to me being a BA Silver card holder. That worked out cheaper than the local cheapos and no queues or dodgy fuel policy. At the time they did discounts for loads of other affiliations too.

In reply to FesteringSore:

I have been got by the cheap rip off merchants before. Sixt in Majorca are brilliant, I won't use anyone else now when I hire a car abroad. Worth a bit extra, totally trustworthy and I think you can even choose to return full or empty so no tricks.

In reply to FesteringSore:
I recently hired a car in Spain from Goldcar through EconomyCarRentals, who covered the zero excess insurance (unless I misunderstood - the deal seemed almost too good to be true). The cost for a week was 22 euros, plus paying a bit over the odds for atank of fuel. The service and car were excellent, though we didn't test the insurance.

In reply to FesteringSore:

I hire about 10-20 times per year.

Book on-line with a big company, in advance.
Read the options, understand the terms CDW, excess etc.
Use existing memberships/discount schemes. (RAC, Frequent flyer programs etc.)
Work out how much you value being able to relax and not deal with hassle if something happens.

Cheers
LD

Just found I have enough Avios points for car hire so it's now booked with Avis. All sorted. Thanks for comments and advice.

In reply to FesteringSore:

We used Avois to pay for an Avis car at Carcassonne last year - it might have been pure coincidence but it was right banger, someone had nicked the indicators and the sunroof leaked straight into the electric window switches,


Chris

In reply to FesteringSore:

Excess waiver - I recommend these:-

insurance4carhire

Much cheaper than most car hire companies.

Useful tip for collecting a car if your flight lands at night. Have your headtorch handy so that you can carefully check the car for pre-existing damage when you collect it, or you could be stung when you return it.

In reply to FesteringSore:

you can get cheaper deals if you hire off airport - we used Thrifty, who organised kiddy seats etc - you just hop on the yellow minibus and it takes you down to their rental garage. All pretty undramatic really.

In reply to FesteringSore:

My experience is that the larger chains are a lot more up front about their bastardry. I've been stiffed a couple of times by local car hire companies by waving scribbled pieces of paper in front of me after a long over night journey and come home to a £250 charge (care hire cost £25) because I didn't use a credit card for the deposit.

But if you read the T7C's carfully and use a credit card and lots of before and after photos local ones should be fine. Though the quality of cars will be shit.