I hired a car in NI for 3 days. Booked with a company whose name is associated with frequencies, on the basis that the cost was OK and I should get a decent car.
A surprisingly poor experience. First surprise was that the car, a Golf diesel (car requested was a Focus), is on Irish, not British, plates. Quite normal apparently, the rental companies use a common pool of vehicles for the island of Ireland. Something else with Brexit implications?
Second was that the car is has done over 50,000 miles and has 2 or 3 dents or scratches on every panel. The paint looks as if it has been sandpapered rather than polished. The car had been washed and vacuumed, but the centre console is full of muck and dust. The front tyres are both at least 5psi over-pressure (yes I stuck a pressure gauge in my pocket when I left home). The front offside tyre is IMO just legal, but I wouldn't have it on my car. The service indicator says "inspection due".
A friend on the same trip hired from a 'budget' competitor and got an 18 plate 4,000 miler. I knew it was tatty when I picked it up, didn't want to delay so resigned myself to it. Mistake of course. The service indicator and the tyre came to light later. We only had one clear day here to make use of the car other than to and from the airport, and I didn't want to waste it going to the airport to pick up another, or even waiting for them to bring one out - at least I'm not buying it, but there will be a complaint.
Unlucky I suppose. Scraping the barrel on a bank holiday week maybe, but I won't be using them again unless there is a suitable gesture, which I think is unlikely.
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Not sure I would have been too bothered about any of those things apart from possibly the tyre. I guess it depends on how much I paid.
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I find it quite liberating to be given a battered hire car - no pressure.
Hertz has had a lot of stick in the US for running cars with high mileages on them, however I've twice been given brand-new cars at Orlando.
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>> I find it quite liberating to be given a battered hire car - no pressure.
Yup. Better still even with a van. Once hired one that really had been battered in every possible way.
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>> Yup. Better still even with a van. Once hired one that really had been battered
>> in every possible way.
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I've only done that a couple of times and last one had done 1000 miles and looked brand new. I managed to bump the back (no damage) and put a very faint crease in the side. It also got a massive star stone chip on the screen. Thank Goodness I'd taken the excess cover.
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@Mapmaker Was it a fish and chip van? :-)
Last edited by: smokie on Fri 31 Aug 18 at 14:32
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>> on Irish, not British plates
Do you mean Northern Ireland plates? Obviously wouldn't have British plates since NI is not part of Great Britain. Or do they now follow a similar format to GB? I know they used to be different.
I'd be miffed getting an knackered car if I'd paid a higher rental thinking Hertz would deliver newer/better cars.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Wed 29 Aug 18 at 22:43
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No, Irish plates, not NI plates, and a kph speedometer.
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>> No, Irish plates, not NI plates, and a kph speedometer.
But you originally said not on British plates. And NI is not part of Great Britain :-)
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I’m returning to Spain late September, a 3 weeks duration trip flying into Alicante. For the past few years, and we visit 3 times a year, rental prices seem to reduce closer to the hire period required.
By using an online broker, and a company offering free cancellation, we often cancel then rebook if the saving outweighs the hassle.
As there are various friends coming and going each Saturday, I’m on a regular airport run, and it’s no big deal dropping friends off, returning the hire car, getting a replacement, then waiting for the new arrivals who are instructed to use the outbound flight of those returning. And I get to drive different cars, which being a petrol head suits me just fine.
Now get this. Rental period 1 for weeks 1 & 2 * ( full to full, one driver, my own CDW purchased in U.K.) total price €18. Rental period 2 for week 3 * ( full to full, one driver, own CDW) €7.48c. Total cost of 3 weeks being €25.48. Plus a little inconvenience.
If I’d paid for just one rental period, the exact same start and finish dates and times, the same rental company, same full to full, same class of car, ( Golf/Leon/ Focus) the online price quoted was €501. Yes. €501. Which is almost 20x more.
And I’ve double checked the figures thrice.
I don’t have a problem using this rental company as I’ve used them several times in the past few years. They get awful reviews but so far so good!
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Back in 2000 I hired an 80's Transit luton with the old non-turbo engine, leaking diesel, pretty rusty and 300k on the clock but went from Sussex to Northants and back in a day and didn't miss a beat, took a while at 65 max though.
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Those banana engines would go on and on and on. Bombproof doesn't get near. Unfortunately rust killed the vans before any mechanical problem.
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I collected our Firefly rental from Alicante airport late Saturday afternoon...as usual no dust caps on any wheels. I don’t think I’ve ever had dust caps on Spanish rental vehicles. As my above post, I’ve paid €18 for two weeks...full to full, one driver aged below 70. €1250 excess. Its raining today ( yesterday I was on the beach all afternoon, scorching hot and came out of the sea at sunset 7:15 ish) I popped the bonnet. Oil & screen wash ok. Tyre tread and pressures all ok.
At the rental desk I declined full insurance, as per usual, and was offered a diesel at extra cost. Again declined. Then offered a choice of Fiat 500L or Seat Leon. I had a 500L for a month earlier this year. Horrible thing so opted for the Leon. Several marks on it, not all on the paperwork so that was quickly remedied! It’s an 85k kilometre miler, reasonable condition. Very underpowered 1.6 Tdi ( so I didn’t need to pay extra for one!) but far nicer to drive than the 500L.
Trip computer was showing a range of 840 kilometres so assume it’s brim full. Despite foot to the floor up the AP7 it hasn’t budged much but will doubtless plummet all of a sudden.
I wonder what Firefly will provide week 3 for my measly €8....
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Do you insurance4carhire or similar, Legacy? Those cheap Spanish rental companies have such a dreadful reputation. I took a Goldcar one a couple of years ago, there was no other option, and the internet says they're basically a bunch of crooks. Frankly I thought they were great.
And no wonder. You're going to cost them more than €18 in tyre changes and servicing.
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My current CDW policy is with ‘carhireexcess.com’ £40/12 months. 3 named drivers on the policy at the moment, but you can swap and change.
I normally use the broker ‘DoYouSpain ‘ but there are some of the rental companies on their comparison site I won’t use. Strangely, Autoclick seem to have disappeared. They always had virtually new vehicles and 95% of the time you got the vehicle you booked. Last year I did a trial booking direct online with them, didn’t continue with it, then 24 hours later received a 50% discount code!
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I have just returned a nearly new Seat to Goldcar in Faro which I had for two weeks and managed to ding twice in two days. Both rather careless errors of judgement when parking, though 1 was really due to unfamiliarity with the car, specifically the assisted hill start.
So i did damage to rear door and wheel arch, and front damage to bumper and valance, none of which was anywhere near being able to be polished out
I had declined their very expensive additional insurance and the rental was therefore pretty cheap. I do have excess cover with a UK company which I'm hoping will cover it.
Anyway, the cost was only about £430 which I thought was quite reasonable, given what I'd read about Goldcar. I'd assumed I would lose the whole £1500 excess as I'd heard they charge for days off the road as well as repairs.
Last edited by: smokie on Wed 26 Sep 18 at 13:23
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>>I'd assumed I would lose the whole £1500 excess as I'd heard
They are supposed to have cleaned up their act a lot. BUT they are a franchise, I think, so you are very much down to the local company. Car I hired had hubcaps (OK, wheel trims) that looked as though somebody had used an electric polisher on them with gravel. They hadn't bothered noting this 'nobody ever got fined for a wheel trim' he said, but I did get them to note it down.
It has to be said, mostly I had put the whole Goldcar thing down to a Xenophobic attitude to foreigners from the typical Costa del Sol visitor who thinks it should be part of England. "He would only speak to me in Spanish." Or to a complete failure on the part of the average punter to understand that they *will* perfectly reasonably take a £1500 deposit from you even if you have excess insurance.
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With you there MM.
The car I damaged was the second, I'd had an estate for the first week or so has a reasonably high kilometrage (60k) and was covered in minor scuffs and scratches. At hire time I got SWMBO to photo them all as I diligently filled in their sheet but when I returned it to the guy in the office he chuckled and said its an older cat, they don't check them so much. (He also cast aspersions on the excess insurance, asking if I'd ever known one of them pay out. iI pointed out that their reputation in the internet wasn't so hot either and we both had a laugh!)
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Vauxhalls, erm........... has anyone any experience of the Meriva ? (Auto,preferably). That's the one with the odd rear door layout.
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No, it’s down to Goldcar being run by a gang of crooks. In the area with which I am more familiar, the Canaries, there are plenty of local reputable Spanish companies who provide an honest and reliable service and they are usually a lot cheaper than Goldcar. A quick search of the relevant Tripadvisor forum will provide you with the name of a decent company. Cicar is the company I generally use.
Most of Goldcar’ s customers are supplied by agencies who are happy to funnel their unsuspecting clients to Goldcar for a sizeable commission. I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.
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I'm house hunting in Spain at the moment and booked my hire cars with Goldcar. After reading some online reviews I was expecting some hassle but so far everything has been OK. No argument about fuel levels or spurious 'damage'.
For the first month l had a Ford Focus which is actually a good little car. I now have a C4 Cactus which is a triumph of form over function. The steering column stalks for lights and wipers are hidden behind the chunky wheel and the fondle-slab dash display is also covered unless you have the wheel in your lap or pushed up as far as it will go. The C-pillars and rear screen also make reverse parking very difficult.
Can't really complain for 5€ a day.
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Less than a week after reporting the damage I described above to the insurance company, they have agreed to pay the claim in full (£430). Top marks to them. I booked the annual cover (incl US) through www.insurance4carhire.com/ and it was less than £40 incl some cashback from Quidco,
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End of week 2 returned the 85k kilometre 1.6 Tdi Leon. Week 3 got another. Slightly newer, only 75k kilometres on the clock, but 18 marked damages on the paperwork.
On the autopista the wheels badly needed balancing...lots of vibration over 80kph. Low tyre pressure warning light constantly on. I checked on collection and put air in at the first opportunity. Washer jets don’t work. Spare wheel completely flat and buckled.
Response to my email ( DoYouSpain) was hopeless. Most days we’re up in the mountains, limited reception, so fingers crossed I don’t get a puncture.
Oh. And the weather has been great. Came out of the sea at 7:30 tonight. Shorts the past 3 weeks. Never yet dined inside.
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>> Shorts the past 3 weeks. Never yet dined inside.
Just like us last week in Greece. Although I wore shorts in the UK from May to October apart from 2 days.
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I'm still wearing shorts here in Sunni Cornwall and will continue wearing 'em all through 'the black season'
Just saying like.
:o}
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Good job we can't see you then!
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Poor rental car. - sooty123
