Car rental sites

mrcheez

Haven't rented a car in years, what sites do people generally rely on these days?

Kayak?

Henry Ford III

www.argusrentals.com

They compare loads of providers.

mrcheez

Henry Ford III wrote: »

www.argusrentals.com

They compare loads of providers.

heh, I used to work for those guys, but they seem to have map-only results now.

Is there a way to just get a list that I can sort by price?

My pick up location can change so map is a bit of a hassle to use as I want to play around with different search criteria.

Allinall

Www.autoeurope.ie

Sorts them by price and car categories .

I’ve always found it great and easy to nagivate.

Choose “Full/ Full” for fuel option to avoid getting ripped off.

mrcheez

Allinall wrote: »

Www.autoeurope.ie

Sorts them by price and car categories .

I’ve always found it great and easy to nagivate.

Choose “Full/ Full” for fuel option to avoid getting ripped off.

perfick, thanks

galwaytt

another +1 for Autoeurope here

TrailerBob

Used rentalcars.com for my USA booking. Very good price for a 3 week hire and zero problems

ironclaw

SkyScanner now compares rental car companies.

Atlantic Dawn

Used Alamo, Budget and Ryanair, it depends where you are going as to what will be best deal, sometimes smaller operators near the arrival airport can offer best deals but Google the company first to see if they are a basket case for service/complaints.

Make sure you are comparing like with like coverage particularly when it comes to what insurance is included. Sometimes you will find the .com version of the site cheaper for the very same car than the .ie, worth comparing both.

TrailerBob

^^^ good advice.

I had this 5 years ago with Avis for USA hire. Checked on the .ie site and got a quote. Checked their .com site and it was €40 cheaper for the hire of the exact same car and extras. Probably down to currency conversion rates, which can be a consideration when paying up front versus at the desk (assuming it's non-euro)

DaveyDave

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Used Alamo, Budget and Ryanair, it depends where you are going as to what will be best deal, sometimes smaller operators near the arrival airport can offer best deals but Google the company first to see if they are a basket case for service/complaints.

Make sure you are comparing like with like coverage particularly when it comes to what insurance is included. Sometimes you will find the .com version of the site cheaper for the very same car than the .ie, worth comparing both.

Just on the topic of Alamo, I booked a car with GPS in Toronto next May for a week for €400, using Alamo.co.uk and got it for €300. Intermediate class with unlimited mileage, CDW and taxes included for both. I always make sure to select 'resident of Ireland' on .com because Americans pay huge taxes we don't have to.

Interestingly enough, Enterprise charged all the American fees on their .ie website for an American rental.

Saw a few cheaper ones on Kayak but they were dodgy rental companies that had major customer service issues and reports of cars in rag order. Not much difference between €275 and €300.

Philb76

Sorry if thread hijack have booked car for Spain through douspain this time the rental company is goldcar any experience with them anyone

elbyrneo

Philb76 wrote: »

Sorry if thread hijack have booked car for Spain through douspain this time the rental company is goldcar any experience with them anyone

Goldcar the worst of the worst in Spain. Depends on airport but queuing time and servixe awful. Search the forums here in case you think I'm being harsh.

. If you booked through Argus you can usually cancel and rebook with different provider. Take out 3rd party excess insurance too, not with Goldcar (just make sure you have enough on your credit card for the hold, 1200 or so usually)

Is1ldur

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I have to rent a car in Italy for about a week in late September, early October, from Naples, dropping off in Rome. Can someone advise what I need to do to make sure that it goes relatively easy and straightforward? I want to ensure that I dont have to pay excess, etc. I remember paying for car hire online before only to have to go through a whole load of stuff when picking up the car that my excess was not covered, credit card deposit and all that.
Any straightforward tips? Ideally I'd like an Alfa Romeo also! :-)

Philb76

elbyrneo wrote: »

Philb76 wrote: »

Sorry if thread hijack have booked car for Spain through douspain this time the rental company is goldcar any experience with them anyone

Goldcar the worst of the worst in Spain. Depends on airport but queuing time and servixe awful. Search the forums here in case you think I'm being harsh.

. If you booked through Argus you can usually cancel and rebook with different provider. Take out 3rd party excess insurance too, not with Goldcar (just make sure you have enough on your credit card for the hold, 1200 or so usually)

Thanks very much for the info it's barcelona airport online reviews are not pretty usually book with the big names but we need it for 12days and the price was tempting always use 3rd party excess insurance don't have a good feeling about this

Charles Babbage

Allinall wrote: »

Www.autoeurope.ie

Sorts them by price and car categories .

I’ve always found it great and easy to nagivate.

Choose “Full/ Full” for fuel option to avoid getting ripped off.

Another vote for Autoeurope. I had a reservation in the US and the bank stopped my credit card (fraud, nothing to do with me). I was able to switch my reservation to Dollar who took a debit card. They also state the T&Cs in a clear way.

Henry Ford III

mrcheez wrote:

heh, I used to work for those guys, but they seem to have map-only results now.

mrcheez wrote:

Is there a way to just get a list that I can sort by price?

Look again. Argus rentals do price comparisons. I just ran an example from their site.

mrcheez

Couldn't find it, what did you click?

elbyrneo

Philb76 wrote: »

Thanks very much for the info it's barcelona airport online reviews are not pretty usually book with the big names but we need it for 12days and the price was tempting always use 3rd party excess insurance don't have a good feeling about this

I used Firefly in Barca airport this year. They don't get the greatest reviews either albeit better than Goldcar. Other than a grumpy guy at the desk, waiting time was zero, car was perfect, full tank to full tank fuel, rates were ridiculously cheap (booked last minute when realised I could, via Argus, cancel previous booking and rebook the exact same car with the very same provider firefly, via Argus, with 48 hours notice. Price was 66eur total rental for 9 days for focus estate, from time of original booking of 190euro) No hassle at all.

If you end up with Goldcar note all scratches and damages on forms, take pics, and then take pics of car when returned to show it is on same condition.

Philb76

That's the plan photo everything wud cancelling credit card when I get back be an idea missus suggested it the car Will be doing about 1000kms over the period am concerned