** Vehicle Hire queries **

drive 4 fun rental company are a pleasure to deal with. rented from them the last 4 times I was over there and i never had an issue. normally cheaper than other companies too!

I’m going to Barcelona in October. I’m finding Ryanairflights for half the price of aerlingus (with 20 kg bags), Ryanair fly into ElPrat, 12 km outside of Barca which is fine. But I can’t seem to be able to finda car hire company in El Part airport – all the car rental sites and comparisonsites are showing only the main Barcelona airport for car hire. Anyone fly intoEl Prat? Did you hire a car? If Yes, which company?

Thanks.

You're right - it is the main airport, just googled it - Thank you! I presumed it was an out of town airport with Ryanair using it.

Thanks for the car hire tips - much apprecaited.

we're staying 1 hour north of Barca in a rural area for the week hence we need a car.

anyone used 'Record' to hire a car in Spain?

Car is the only way to go on the Algarve. Public transport is awfully limited.

Best I could get for Type D, 2 weeks in july (15 days Sunday to Sunday) fuel returned as received, pick up at the airport and motorway tag, airport charge etc. is €285 with zitauto so going with them. I'll call them to confirm it again in the morning. I expect to get another few euro off then too.
I rang them to haggle and they dropped from their original email quote of €390 to that €285. (always, always ring and haggle with Portuguese car hire companies. Their email quote is just a starting price).

drive4fun were email quoting me almost €500 for the exact same thing, I could only haggle it down to €430, so no good.

I've rented a LOT of cars.

I always try to book as cheap as possible so I walk a fine line between price and quality of service.

Tips: Shop around online, for the best prices. - obvi
Buy full to full fuel package.
Return empty is a fallacy - it'll cost you money.
If you need something like sat nav, snow chains / winter tyres, do NOT ask for them at the counter, very often they'll be in the car. If they are not then just pop back into the desk and ask (pay) for them. It's a little gamble but it will cost you nothing.

Lastly, it's nice to be nice. You are dealing with people who have a busy job and get a bit of agro. A smile and a thank you cost nothing. If there is an upgrade going, who would you give it to, the up beat friendly person or the one self entitled one, huffing and muttering every 2 minutes?

Here are my experiences:

Goldcar - I can't say this strongly enough. AVOID. Think Ryanair in their 'we hate our customers' hey day. The thing is, they are slightly cheaper than most so everyone goes for them. Then everyone argues with them when they sting you with every charge they can. This leaves MASSIVE queues as each customer spends 20 to 30 minutes at the desk. The first (and last) time I used them, we queued for over 2 hours in Malaga airport just to get the keys, the fees (€110 for a tank of fuel in a Fiesta, if I remember properly) cost way more than the car rental itself. Every time I've flown into Spain or Portugal since I just stroll past that queue thankful that I'll never make that mistake again.

I've only dealt with Sixt once and it was not good, I got a new polo that could barely make it up a hill, unable to hit 100K on a motorway, it felt dangerous to be frank. Then they double charged me and it took me weeks to get it sorted. They only responded when I informed them that I was going to dispute the entire transaction with my credit card company. They generally get better reviews than Goldcar, who seem to be universally trounced, but my experience was a bad one.

I've rented with all the known companies at this stage, Alamo, Thirfty, Europcar, Hertz, Dollar, Maggiore, and they've all been fine, the only one that really stood out to me was Enterprise in Dublin airport. They were great.

If you are getting a late flight, make sure that your car rental company is still open, I've arrived in Italy at 10pm, picked up my bags only to find out that the rental had closed 15 minutes earlier.

My experience regarding the USA, unlike Europe where they hand you the keys at the desk, in the US you get your keys beside the car, if you fancy an upgrade, this is the place to ask for it. I was offered an upgrade at the front desk, I politely declined, in the car park, I was offered the same upgrade again but this time for 75% less.

Full Car insurance......that's a gamble.
I try to get full cover if I can, it's just less hassle.
But to date I've had:

My car keyed in the US (I took the upgrade to a Camaro ) poor Cammy
Someone crashed into the car in a ski resort in France, the car was parked at the time, we only saw the damage (passenger door pushed in) the morning we were leaving.
Had bumpers scratched and car doors whacked into the side of my car leaving marks in the UK, Italy, Spain.

For some time I have used a broker called doyouspain to hire cars at Malaga airport. In the last year I see huge changes and the car hire companies are quoting low rental charges in the hope of selling expensive addons when you go to them. More troubling is the attempt some of them make to charge you on return of car for alleged damage caused by you. I have had this fraudulent experience 3 times in last year. On each occasion they attempt to charge for damages they maintain was caused during the rental despite the fact that the damage was there when the rental commenced. I always photograph the car at commencement of rental as proof of existing damage but this does not always protect you. Be aware and be careful or you will be taken advantage of. Rental companies to be on the look out for are Record Go and Del Paso. Remember if the price of rental looks too good to be true then it surely is .