Is it just me or has car rental gone very expensive?

Jamie32

Hi all, am I missing something here? unless i'm going mad, I think the cost of renting a car in Spain has gone way up in the last year! I'm heading to Spain in Sept with the missus and we need a car for a week. Ford focus of similar nothing special, just basic enough. The best i'm getting is 200 euro for the week. I remember last year and the precious 2 or 3 years I was paying around 150 for the week!

Anyone got any hidden gems i'm missing (i've already tried the web-sites in the stickies).

Berty

I used the 17th September for 7 nights as a basis for acquiring a quote.

A VW Golf or similar including a Ford Focus as a similar car is €145 for 7days from http://www.arguscarhire.ie

Jamie32

Berty wrote: »

I used the 17th September for 7 nights as a basis for acquiring a quote.

A VW Golf or similar including a Ford Focus as a similar car is €145 for 7days from http://www.arguscarhire.ie

Yeah I just had a look at that one again and it's costing over the 200 mark, i think it's due to the fact that because of the time I need to return the car it's running into an extra day so even though i will only have the car for 7 days, they'll be charging me for 8! When I arrive i'll be picking it up at 3pm and when returning it, 7:30pm so with a difference of 4.5 hours they're charging me a full day I think! The only way I can get around it would be to return the car at 3pm but that would mean hanging around the airport for an extra 4.5 hours longer than is required.....I'm not that tight with money!

Slice

I remember reading somewhere (I think in an Irish Times Pricewatch article) that people have found booking car rental in Ireland with a large multinational like Hertz to be cheaper if done through one of their foreign sites than through their Irish site. In the case of the article I read the example given was the German Hertz site offering cheaper prices for car rental compared to the Irish equivalent.

Fratton Fred

I enquired about car hire when i was in Menorca and apparantly the hire companies have under ordered for their fleets this year. Whether or not that applies to all of spain I don't know, but it was difficult to even find a car in Menorca let alone get a bargain.

THE PUG

YOUR CORRECT , CAR HIRE IN SPAIN HAS GONE OFF THE SCALE . I HAVE ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS HIRED OUT OF MALAGA AIRPORT , MAINLY USED ARGUS BUT THIS YEAR IT SEEMS DUE TO THE BANKS , FLEETS WERE REDUCED AND PRICES HAVE ALMOST DOUBLED . NORMALLY YOU COULD GET A DIESEL FOCUS OR SIMILAR FOR A WEEK IN PEAK SEASON FOR ABOUT 300 ALL IN INC FULL INSURANCE BUT I AM OVER FROM THE 14TH OF AUGUST AND I WAS GETTING QUOTES OF 600 FOR THE SAME . I HAVE HEARD FROM FRIENDS WHO WERE OVER FOR 3 WEEKS IN JUNE COULD NOT GET A DEAL FOR THE LONGER PERIOD AS NORMAL .
I HAVE GONE BACK TO PETROL TO GET ANYTHING REASONABLE WITH A COMPANY CALLED www.amigoautos.co.uk

niceirishfella

Pug, easy ON THE CAPS! looks like you are SHOUTING AT US!

OP, remember, the quoted price online is never the final price you pay - they always sneek in local taxs etc in too..............The arguscarhire/cartrawler site is great for hiding charges that your credit card with get snacked with after the event. Be careful out there.

Ponster

Jamie32 wrote: »

Anyone got any hidden gems i'm missing (i've already tried the web-sites in the stickies).

What are your dates and pick-up location ?

flikflak

Yep nearly all of Spain has gone through the roof - as mentioned above all to do with Spanish banks not lending to the car hire companies. There are articles on it in the Spanish papers.

Got my car hire for 2 weeks months ago and am paying €228. Same car with same dates a couple of weeks ago was over €500

thebiglad

I read about this in the travel supplements of last weekend papers so obviously a hot topic - cannot remember which one it was though!

From an internet search managed to find an article with the same information - basically it is a lack of vehicles causing the prices to increase - supply & demand.

http://www.comparecarrentals.co.uk/news/51927639.html

thebiglad

Covered by BBC.co.uk today - no solutions offered though!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8200087.stm

Berty

thebiglad wrote: »

Covered by BBC.co.uk today - no solutions offered though!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8200087.stm

And here also

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2009/0812/1224252415052.html

hockeygal

try www.carjet.com

It is usually quite good value!

piskins72

have just come back from spain myself and know of people who got a hire car for 2 weeks through one of the well known car hire companies, it was an opel astra car and it cost over 800 euro!!! :eek:

leex

ebookers.co.uk and .ie worth a try also.