Car Hire - Page 2

We had this with Del Paso. They wouldn’t even let us on the courtesy bus back to the airport as my husband wouldn’t sign to agree to them taking €400 off his credit card deposit. We had photos -the car was in a shocking state when we picked it up. The girl just laughed at us. Really humiliating. We had the extra excess insurance from UK but my Hubble just send all the evidence to the credit card and del paso had no proof so all refunded. It was just such a bad end to our holiday. We would never use del paso but I know others are just as bad. If you take their expensive full insurance they all seem to be perfect. 

I also use Malaga Cars and have done for about 10 years, wouldn't go anywhere else and always upgrade to the full package for this reason.

Hi,

I have read all of the replies and would like to comment.

AutoCarHire Excess Insurance costs approximately € 50 per annum. Any damage that you are charged for is refunded, normally takes about two weeks, but a lot of paperwork involved.  Assuming you do the paperwork, they simply pay up.  

This gives a great deal of "peace of mind" in the face of exorbitant Insurance Cover charges from Car Hire Companies in lieu of opting for the deposit system.  

I hire a lot of cars in Spain, mostly from Malaga Airport.  Over the years I have average approximately € 4 per day, let them take the deposit, and if there is any damage at the end, the my Car Hire Excess policy covers the cost.

If you are charged for damage that you did not cause, simply "kick up a Stink". However, you must be prepared to follow through and keep up the pressure. Paper is better than Phone calls or even Emails.  Go back to the broker from whom you originally booked the car hire, let them know of the unfair charge.

One other item you should be aware of is the Full/Full scam perpetrated by at least one Hire company out of Malaga.  When taking a Full/Full hire you will be asked to block off a deposit to cover the Full Tank you have received.  In the event you do not bring it back full you WILL be charged the full amount, even if the car is 99% full.  

Be careful also of the same deposit being actually charged to you credit card and then, when you bring the car back full, they do not refund this charge.  I currently have 4 on-going arguments with two car hire companies trying to get this money back. It can be very expensive.

Typically I would hire a car for € 28 for a week, but the deposit for the petrol could be € 117.  If you do not receive this back the the cost of the hire goes to € 145 for 7 days, (almost € 21 per day as against the quoted, and agreed charge of € 4)

Regards

Hi DCM

Your final paragraph highlights why the hire car companies do this.

The hire car companies cannot hire a car at €4 per day and break even on the cost of the car, let alone cover all their expenses and make a profit.

A hire rate of €4 per day is about €120 per month, however, the hire car companies lease their cars and pay about €150 to €200 per month, for a small car, such as a VW Polo.

In addition, they have to rent garage space for the cars and pay for staff to process the car hire contracts, clean the cars upon return and check the tyres, oil, windscreen washer fluid and so forth.

If they are hiring the cars out at a loss, then they have to find other ways of making up the loss, either by selling rip-off insurance at €15 per day = €450 per month, or charging you for fuel and/or damage that the car suffered before it was hired out to you.

Hope that you succeed with the 4 disputes that you have raised, however, as you mentioned, the problem is that it is very time consuming to fight these cases and not economically worthwhile.  That is what the hire car companies expect:  most people will not fight the complaint.

Best regards

Philip

Hi Philip,

thanks for your comments.

basically if the car hire companies cannot make money at the rate they quote they should not be trying to get extra by subterfuge.

Anyway, I have the time to chase them and I dislike dishonesty

regards

dermot

Hi Dermot

You are, of course, absolutely right!

It is an unfortunate fact of life that more an more businesses are engaged in this race to the bottom.

I would start with a certain airline, from Dublin, which advertises tickets for €9.99, however, they split you and your partner up if you do not reserve seats together for another €10 plus each and do not let you take a cabin case on board unless you pay another €20 plus . . . . and there is another airline, which no longer makes life easy for us, which is doing just as badly.  

I just booked a flight with the not-so-easy lot and all the extra legroom seats, at €24.99, are taken and so I cannot take my cabin luggage in the cabin.  The only option is to pay €24.99 to put it in the hold . . . .

I hope that you don't let the b*st*rds beat you down and I am sure that you will prevail.

Best regards

Philip

Just like to say Helle Hollis , have been great over the years also , last time did not take out extra insurance .As long as you don’t add any more damage to the car no probs, they don’t try it on trying to blame you for previous dents scrapes ,as previous 

Comments have mentioned , not going to get a car for a few euro a day with no strings attached 🥺

Hi Kathlyn and all the readers!  In the five years that we have been living in Spain, we found Marbelsol car rental company to be very competitive.  They are in Malaga airport and centre of Marbella.  Good cars, good rates and run a point system.  We have always been satisfied with them on both long and short term rentals.  As a Spaniard, I get annoyed and disgusted when I read our dearest tourist friends, foreigners or expat locals get ripped off this way.  Therefore feel compelled to share this recommendation with you all.  Have a lovely day everyone 

Mercedes, Sotogrande 

Thank you for the information. We were refunded from the bank but Record Go still insisted the car was damaged and included a photograph.  Fortunately we had a photo of the same damage dated the day we picked it up. They then conceded it must have been an oversight but did not apologise although they refunded the money. The bank then reclaimed this. An awful thing to do to regular travellers. 

Always name names. If you mean Ryanair, then say so …please