Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word

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Wed 25 Oct 2017 14:17
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - oldroverboy.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/21/europcar-repai.../

Othet papers may cover it out of "premium"

www.theweek.co.uk/87056/europcar-scandal-have-you-...l

Edited by oldroverboy. on 25/10/2017 at 14:18

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Wed 25 Oct 2017 14:26
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - SLO76
I'm always amazed by people when they refuse to pay a bit extra for the damage waiver. I've hired cars through europcar and other firms before without any hassle what so ever but I always cover myself.

Not that I'm condoning this behaviour but it's always been a scam within the hire industry so everyone should protect themselves from it.

If the government wants to clean the industry up they should force them to make the damage waiver mandatory with it included it in any advertised prices.

Edited by SLO76 on 25/10/2017 at 14:28

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Wed 25 Oct 2017 14:43
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - nick62

I guess this year alone I have hired 20 cars at different airports around Europe.

The biggest problem for me is when you arrive late (in the dark and usually raining) and the pre-condition report is totally inaccurate.

I hired a car at Cork airport earlier this year arriving late at night due to a delayed flight. It had NO damage reported pre-hire. I drove the vehicle round to the arrivals area in front of the terminal where I could see in decent light, (the hire-car car park at Cork airport is in in virtual darkness). The car had bad damage on every corner and one wheel, (one wing was a write-off to be honest). It's a PITA to have to go back to the desk, but in this circumstance I interrupted the only person manning the desk I was so furious, but what else can you do other than boycott them?

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Wed 25 Oct 2017 16:51
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - Steveieb
In addition to the repair costs some companies are charging for the loss of rental of the vehicle whilst it is in for repair.
Got to the point where I don't want the stress of hiring except from a Canary Island company called
Autoreisen, who are part of the TUI group and gained the top rating of 92 per cent in Holiday Which.

Unfortunately only axailable in the Canaries and not available through a broker..
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Wed 25 Oct 2017 18:00
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - FP

I have used Autoreisen many times (on Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria) and they are indeed excellent. They have desks at the airports, cars on site and a fair fuel policy. I'm not sure why the fact that they aren't available through a broker is a problem. You can book in advance, lock the price and pay on arrival.

But yes - only in the Canaries as far as I know.

But whenever I hire abroad I make sure I have an excess insurance policy in place before I go and refuse all extra insurance at the point of hire.

Edited by FP on 25/10/2017 at 18:02

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Wed 25 Oct 2017 18:30
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - nick62

But whenever I hire abroad I make sure I have an excess insurance policy in place before I go and refuse all extra insurance at the point of hire.

Indeed, it is much easier to factor-in the cost of the extra insurance to nullify any exposure to a total loss, than it is to try and recover €2,000 to €3,000!

Edited by nick62 on 25/10/2017 at 18:31

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Wed 25 Oct 2017 19:21
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - kiss (keep it simple)

Some years ago we hired car from Autos Flores in Alicante airport. I think they just do Malaga now. CDW and all the extras were included. The car was a bit dented here and there and I put another one on the door for good measure. The other car we hired managed to kerb an alloy wheel but we never heard anything back from them after the cars were returned. The credit card showed the company was in Coventry!

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Wed 25 Oct 2017 19:55
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - badbusdriver

When we went on holiday to Majorca last April i wanted to hire a car for the full 10 days. There were some suspiciously cheap deals coming up on line, starting at something like £110! (for something with at least 5 seats and a big boot). But when i did a little digging i discovered this was due to very basic insurance coverage, and a little more digging uncovered lots and lots of horror stories of folks being charged an arm and a leg for the least little bit of damage, such a scratch on the wheel trim. So i did some more research and found some glowing testimonials for a place called Terry's car hire, run by an Expat. I got in touch and ended up paying around £500 for 10 days hire of a seat altea xl. The insurance was totally inclusive of any and all damage that may occur. In addition to this, the car was left in the airport car park with the key on one of the back wheels (yes, really!). When we left, the car had to be left at around the same spot with the key locked in the boot. Very convenient, very easy with no hassle, so i would highly recommend them to anyone heading in that direction.

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Wed 25 Oct 2017 20:06
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - nick62

I got in touch and ended up paying around £500 for 10 days hire of a seat altea xl.

Wow, that is EXPENSIVE, (especially in April). I hired a "compact" from Thrifty (otherwise known as Hertz) in Italy in August this year for £230 for 13 days, (via an on-line broker who lets you cancel or re-book within 48 hours of pick-up if the price has come down in the meantime with no penalty). I ended-up with a Merc C class estate diesel auto!

Edited by nick62 on 25/10/2017 at 20:06

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Wed 25 Oct 2017 22:29
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - badbusdriver

I got in touch and ended up paying around £500 for 10 days hire of a seat altea xl.

Wow, that is EXPENSIVE, (especially in April). I hired a "compact" from Thrifty (otherwise known as Hertz) in Italy in August this year for £230 for 13 days, (via an on-line broker who lets you cancel or re-book within 48 hours of pick-up if the price has come down in the meantime with no penalty). I ended-up with a Merc C class estate diesel auto!

Just checked my account, it was actually the villa that was £500, the car was £330. But as i pointed out, i could have got a suitable car for much less had i been willing to chance the 'holiday hire car insurance scam roulette'.Which i wasn't!.

And given the extremely comprehensive nature of the insurance i think that was a very reasonable price for total peace of mind. I notice you don't mention what kind of insurance you had?.

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Wed 25 Oct 2017 22:35
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - argybargy

I hired a car earlier this year to travel on the South Coast; fearful that my car, which was giving me problems at the time, might not manage the 1000 miles or so that I planned to drive.

Then I read some horror stories online about the company I'd hired from, the name of which began with H. The way these stories read, it seemed that the problem was not so much about the company but more dependent on which location you hired the car from. However, I decided that I couldn't take a chance on being ripped off, so I cancelled the booking and took my old jalopy instead. Turned out fine, and certainly a good deal less expensive than it might have been.

I'd think very hard indeed before hiring a car ever again. I've hired many vans and despite one or two of them having the bodywork of the average Kurdish gun platform, and thus virtually impossible to work out the condition before and after, I've never been landed with an unexpected bill for damage. Seems things can be very different where hire cars are concerned.

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Thu 26 Oct 2017 01:18
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - macski

I used to hire cars a lot and this never used to be the case a few years ago. I recall hiring from Avis via a broker in Finland and having an aerial stolen and I never heard anything, I herbed wheel once and only had to pay £50.

I hired with Sixt about ten years ago and that was the first time a hire company gave me problems. When I returned the car to Krakow Airport they flagged up the problem that the line holding up the parcel shelf when you open the rear tailgate was broken, they nearly made me miss my flight.

Since then the price charged by hire companies for waiver insurance has considerably increased as has the waiver amounts.

Again it was in Poland three years ago when some how the car I had on hire got a couple of minor scratches under the bumper, the company took £900 from my credit card.

Another scam I come across was in Portugal when I was told I had to buy extra breakdown cover if i wanted to be covered outside office hours!

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Thu 26 Oct 2017 15:06
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - Steveieb

Another suggestion is to use the Which recommended broker called Zest, formerly Economy Car Rentals.

They give a satisfaction report on each outlet so you can make an informed choice, and yes the same company canhave good and bad outlets.

They offer the additional top up insurance for £2.50 a day and have a 24 hour helpline to assist with any problems.

Always use them unless im going to the Canaries where i use Autoreisen and have been impressed by the professional approach they apply to this unregulated industry

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Thu 26 Oct 2017 15:15
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - Happy Blue!

I avoid all this nonsense when renting cars by buying annual car rental insurance. I have never had to claim, but it gives you a sense of invincibility at the rental return office when they start looking over the car.

The last time a company 'tried it on' they were actually being careful for me. They identified a mark or bump and spent five minutes looking for the previous rental document for the car. It showed the damage in situ before my rental, so I was happy and grateful for their care.

I prefer to get a car that is marked and bumped - harder to find a new one.

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Thu 26 Oct 2017 20:19
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - ExA35Owner

Hiring beyond Europe is more "interesting."

Booked a car with an international brand in Kenya. The agent came to the airport but didn't get round to holding up his sign so was ever so difficult to find. Got a Toyota Premio with over 115,000 km on the clock (website claims "New cars - on average 3 months old") and of course the infotainment system in Japanese, the satnav with map of Japan. As always photograph all the corners and all the (many) scrapes and chips. In the event the car worked nearly faultlessly and no silly claims for damage afterwards, because I'd made enough fuss about the photos.

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Thu 26 Oct 2017 21:21
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - oldroverboy.

Hiring beyond Europe is more "interesting."

Booked a car with an international brand in Kenya. The agent came to the airport but didn't get round to holding up his sign so was ever so difficult to find. Got a Toyota Premio with over 115,000 km on the clock (website claims "New cars - on average 3 months old") and of course the infotainment system in Japanese, the satnav with map of Japan. As always photograph all the corners and all the (many) scrapes and chips. In the event the car worked nearly faultlessly and no silly claims for damage afterwards, because I'd made enough fuss about the photos.

Once flew up to NYC from Miami having booked an "economy'' car last customer in the office before nice lady went home.. given some huge luxo barge as free upgrade as no clean cars available.

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Fri 27 Oct 2017 13:52
Car Hire companies - Bunch of ....... choose your own word - galileo

After a delayed flight arrived in Norfolk Virginia at 2 am, only car available was a Pontiac Grand Prix, a bit pricey but company credit card so snapped it up for a 150 mile drive on empty roads (no speed cameras either!).

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