Car Hire April 2017

[Tony Gillam]

It's a totally false situation though. It would be far better if the hire companies charged a sensible rate to start with instead of trying to cover operating costs and make a profit by dubious practices.

[Corporal Jones]

Totally agree tony at the end of the day your on holiday, playing the constant evolving games and dubious practices of hire companies can cause unecessary stress, weve had the occasional drop off argument where you have to fight your corner or it will cost and whilst some are far worse than others i think they all try it on at some point. The problem is the ridiculous low price they charge they cant make any profit on the rental, therefore they become creative in extracting money from extras, i mean 25 euros refuelling charge from a petrol station 50 yards away. Like you i would prefer a fair price with no extras and no hard sell or underhand practises. No doubt there will be some people who have never had a problem and rent a brand new car every month for less than a fiver.

[Aficionado]

I always use full to full fuel policy and def book through doyouspain

I've never had a problem with Goldcar but when I came over for new year they were very expensive, so I selected Dickmans who I'd used previously without problem. Well it's mid Feb and still haven't got my 950 deposit back that has been taken from my credit card (Goldcar / Record never showed as ever being taken from my card at all) have got nowhere with dickmams so reported it to barclaycard as unauthorised transaction and done a change-back. Will never use Dickmans again, once bitten and all that.....

Hi Chris, just left a car back to Dickmans, my card was not charged with the deposit, just a block, same last October. I use Hire Cars in Spain, maybe they have a deal with Dickmans on this that DYS don't? It can take up to 6 weeks to get the deposit back but you should have had it by now.

I just wish they were that cheap in August.


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[Spurs]

I always use centauro and like most others have there own tried and trusted hard sell of insurance ,upgrades etc and I'm sure take advantage of any damage opportunity I have a uk excess car hire charge insurance policy that covers any added fees for damage etc it's on £40 a year so never take the extra insurance but they now block €1050 each time on a credit card which once or twice I think is more than the car is worth!!!!  Yes I've had a couple of clapped out bangers with thousands and thousands of miles on the clock but if you take them back and complain they always change them . I always photo the car on my phone from all angles on collection and return and on damage I've never had an issue ,prices are low though at the moment

[Corporal Jones]

Like you spurs we've had everything from a brand new straight out of the box to a dodgem car, last year at record picked up car late evening,  it had 37 different dents, scratches and scrapes, went back to office who said every blemish was recorded on there system  and i needed to photograph car to avoid confusion when returning, 37 pictures a flat phone battery, 1 irate wife and 3 screaming kids later we were on our way. 2 weeks later the rental cha inspected the car and true enough every blemish was on his sheet. Car passed all good but was all this nonsense necessary just to pursue extra revenue. Incidentally ive used DYS many times but when i had a problem with drivalia last year they werent as keen to assist me getting my deposit back.

[DaveG]

I had an issue with Centauro last year when they took €87 euro off my card for a tank of fuel and only refunded €62 - deducting the €25 for the rip off refuel. I had booked full / full with DYS but Centauro insisted I had booked full / empty with partial refund.
When I asked DYS to confirm my booking with Centauro the wheels fell off (pardon the pun) and before they would help I had to provide my booking voucher - luckily I had saved it. When I asked DYS didn't they still have a copy the email trail went cold.

After two months of persisting I eventually got my money back - but could have done without the 20 or so emails and I suppose some would have given up.

As Tony said if they would only charge a realistic rate then they wouldn't have to resort to trickery to turn a profit.

Dave

PS. If in the Canaries I would recommend AutoReisen who in 15 years have never so much as glanced at the car when I have returned it, Once whilst I was parked and away from the car a rear lamp was broken, I took it back to them and they just changed the car over without any fuss whatsoever. Brilliant service.

[Tony Gillam]

I got knobbled €350 for a parcel shelf with Centauro, despite it being in the same condition as when collected. My supplementary Insce company didn't want to pay out claiming the policy didn't cover the inside. When I pointed out that the exclusion wasn't in the Key features document they relented and eventually paid up. As John posted, we don't need this hassle.