Car Hire

[Bluepeter14]

Hi

Just trying to get a perspective of area size?

Myself and family will be staying in Urb Altomar 2 beginning of July for 9 nights.
Considering hiring a car if appropriate so looking for suggestions of best car hire company's from Alicante airport.

Other option is how close/distance is Carabassi and cerca de Los Arenales Beaches?

Are they walkable or can we get the train??

How far from Urb altomar to Lidl??

Thanks for your help

[puddy-woo]

I would say you defo need a car on Altomar 2 as it is up the hill. Too far to walk to beach or Lidl although there are a couple of supermarkets up there.  The train does go to the beach. The best car hire, in my opinion, is Record. Wldnt entertain Firefly, Gold car were fine.  If you look on Doyouspain.com you should get decent deals. They have Record on there.


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[Aficionado]

Hi, if you enter Car Hire in the search box for this site you will find a number of threads on the subject containing a wide range of views and horror stories which might help you in your choice. Firefly, for example, is not much liked whereas Record generally receives good reviews; I used them myself in April/May with no problems and excellent service. Some are on airport whereas others e.g. Dickmans and Solmar, are off airport requiring minibus transfers to and fro. Depending on the age/size of your family, this might be a bit of a hassle for you. Have a look at Hirecarsinspain,com, they cover a wide range and are good brokers to work with, especially if you have any need for post hire assistance.

We are on Altomar 2. It is true that a car is very useful as it is one of the higher urbs in GA on the way to the lighthouse, but we have had relatives staying in our place who have used the train and bus to get around with no problems. You can walk down to the beach if you wish but walking back up is another story, especially in the heat of the summer, it is known locally to us as Cardiac Hill due to the steep climb. As regards Lidl, it is in the Centro Commercial along with Mercadona and many other shops/bars/cafes/restaurants, I would guess at about 3km from Altomar 2 but I have never actually measured it. Again, you can have a pleasant walk down. Both the train and the Baile bus circulate via the CC and pass by Altomar 2 on the main road.

There are two main commercial areas on Altomar 2 containing bars and restaurants so no matter where on the urb you are staying you should be within a few minutes walk of one or other. We are on the lower part and our "local" bar is Websters and in the same block can be found Maria 2 (Chinese), Hemmingways bistro, La Piedra, Tuttis, A Tu Gusto (Spanish) and Dunbars. The chemist is situated on the lower 'edge' of Altomar 2 so no more than 5 to 6 minutes walk from the top part. The upper commercial block features the Quicksave english supermarket.

Hope this helps, enjoy your stay,

Michael.

PS. Google for the Gran Alacant Advertiser, local free magazine which can be read online, lots of useful info, maps and bus/train timetables.

[Spurs]

I always hire a car I think it's needed though I have done it several times without I use centauro but have in past used most of them defiantly won't use Firefly again nightmare they were

[Bluepeter14]

Many thanks indeed for your suggestions 👍🏻

A car is secondary however when I sum up cost for getting two adults and two 15 year olds from and too the airport and up and down to the beaches for nine days plus runs to supermarket and trips out, a hire car may work out cheaper??

While I'm asking, is there anywhere close by  that has live bands?
Michael, are the bars you mentioned close by Altomar 2??
I believe our apartment is close to Kwik Save??

[Alicante Holiday Villas]

Hi BluePeter

For a list of entertainment on in Gran Alacant, please keep an eye on our What's On Calendar, it is updated frequently.
http://www.alicanteholidayvillas.com/articles/whats-on/

Yes there is plenty of entertainment at the bars on Altomar 2, such as Bar Sioux and La Piedra to name just two.  Have a great holiday!

[Aficionado]

Many thanks indeed for your suggestions 👍🏻

A car is secondary however when I sum up cost for getting two adults and two 15 year olds from and too the airport and up and down to the beaches for nine days plus runs to supermarket and trips out, a hire car may work out cheaper??

While I'm asking, is there anywhere close by  that has live bands?
Michael, are the bars you mentioned close by Altomar 2??
I believe our apartment is close to Kwik Save??

Hi, the bars I referred to are on the lower commercial block, if you are close to the Quicksave english supermarket then that is the upper block, but having said that it is only a few minutes walk down to the lower one so plenty of choice. Both are on the fringe of Altomar 2, on the main road (Avenida Escandinavia) so yes, very close by.

With two 15 year olds you may want to get out and about a bit to overcome boredom so perhaps a car would be the best plan although prices will be at their highest in July/August - bear in mind that Altomar 2 is a gated community so whoever you are renting from would need to provide you with a gate zapper to get the car in. There is also a bus service that passes through Gran Alacant that you can use to go into Alicante or to Santa Pola if you decide against hiring a car, good value at 1.50 euro per person per journey.

There is another complex of bars and restaurants in the lower part of GA which are usually referred to as the Carabassi bars, down the hill so either drive down or time your visit to use the train/bus both of which pass alongside.

[Bluepeter14]

Thanks again for your amazing suggestions, I've found more out in an afternoon on here than I have on certain other advisortrip sites!! 😉.....

One more query, we have two 15 year olds who are gadgetry driven and will go into meltdown if they don't get their 14hr a day Wifi fix!!!!

Don't think the place where we are staying has wifi, can anyone suggest any sims, dongles, we could use for data whilst on holiday?
Is there a preferred network or telecom shop locally I can buy from??

Thanks again guys 

[Brandon]

Hi Pedro (BluePeter)

If you do decide to hire a car, you can also rent a "MiFi" device from the car hire company for about €4 per day.That includes unlimited downloads and you can connect up to 5 devices.
You can also get it in a tablet form that comes with the car which offers GPS capability for the car also.
Make sure you book it in advance as it may not be available otherwise.

I have also used many hire car companies, but have found Record Go the best.
Generally better to book directly from their website.
for the sake of an easy life, pay the extra €10 or so for the express line pickup. (€24 charge anyway without express, approx €34 including express desk)
You could be waiting an hour or 2 if the airport is mad busy.

Either take out their additional insurance excess for piece of mind.
Otherwise take out an annual policy for "CAR HIRE EXCESS INSURANCE"  from Axa or similar (about €48 for the year)
If you do have a dent, they tend to fleece you for about €500. If you have the travel excess insurance, they will sort it out at no cost to you.

I am just back from a week and we got a decent car for €77 including express collection. ( we have our own travel excess insurance)
We paid an additional €68 for fuel and they refunded it on the day we returned the car full
They stamped the form that the car was fine when returned so no additional charges.

regards,
Brandon

[Corporal Jones]

Over the last 15 years we have hired dozens of car most good some bad and some downright ugly, most people have learnt via forums as this the various scams and fiddles of car hire companies, most at some point have had their bad time. We now rarely rent especially in july/august when it is sooo hot, you cant park anywhere, the roads are a nightmare locally with half of madrid jockeying for the last parking space. We rate the local buses or shanks pony, no where is too far to walk it just requires a pitstop or 3. Unless you plan to travel further afield we find the car is parked up most the time so use the rental on taxis and buses instead with no hassle or worries.

[Gemstone]

I have friends who rented with Skippy Rent a Car, they dont go around looking for scratches or anything else, you dont get a brand new car but they didn't care, no hidden extras to pay, they come and pick you up at the airport and no hassle when you take the car back. They were very happy with them.

[Aficionado]

There are a number of these Skippy like companies who offer all inclusive, meet and greet services and whereas this is of course very convenient and virtually hassle free it does come at a cost which many might find excessive. For example, looking at the Skippy website it would cost me 205 euros per week in September to hire a CC class Hyundai i20, so for the three weeks I would want it I am looking at 615 euros - the same class of car with Dickmans for the same 3 weeks is 150 euros, over 75% cheaper. No mention of fuel policies on the Skippy site so cannot compare that. They do say there is a 300 euro excess on the insurance, Dickmans would be greater but the answer to that is a £40 per annum excess insurance policy, so no extra daily insurance costs. All in all, I cannot see the convenience factor in this case being worth over 450 euros of extra hire costs, but some might and as always each to their own.

[Spurs]

I agree I have over the years used almost all of the big and small companies I now only use centauro and record yes they block your credit card for €1000 but you get that back the cars are usually ok and it's convenient and a £40 annual policy here in UK covers all excess insurance needs

[Bluepeter14]

H'mmmm decisions decisions 
Do you, don't you??
Thanks again for the suggestions and pointers.
Jury's still out re the car
If I did hire, I would definitely take out the additional insurance, I note a few of you have suggested taking this out seperately here in the uk rather than with the carhire company, is that right?
I can hire a clio(or similar  ) from dickmans for €151.00 Full platinum insurance included(€51) . Full-Full.
Anyone got any feedback, are they located on the airport??
Also what about this mifi???

[Spurs]

I would always take excess insurance here with insure4carhire.com its£39.99 and covers as many trips as you need . All you have to do is say I don't want the extra insurance at the desk and they will then block €1050 on your credit card this is unblocked when you return the car in same condition if you do have any issues they will take cost from that blocked amount and you then claim it from your insurance here in UK. As far as I remember dickmans pick you up at airport and take you to their yard it's only a couple of miles by minibus but you can wait a while for their bus to come .