[Travel] Hiring a car abroad

[Weststander]

icarinsurance.com. I have renewed this every year and works out at about £38 this year for any one claim up to £5000. Never had to use it (yet) and just show the hire company the document. One desk at Dublin said it's not legal, we had a differing of opinion but they still ended up not getting the excess waiver money. As above I ALWAYS video the car before and after.

I've always done the same eg Questor.

Then not falling for coercion when collecting the car, the excess insurance is more than enough.

One of their scare tactics is to take a chunky hold against your credit card.

 

[Weststander]

A lot depends on how long you intend staying for, my trip was to be 3 weeks. These were my calculations for a one way journey of 1250 miles taking 18 hours thus overnight in France
Ferry / Tunnel £100
Fuel £260
Overnight hotel in France £100
Tolls £100
£560 or even £650 gets me, my wife and Land Rover to my holiday.
Add return you could be looking at £1300 tops. Compare that to flights (23k bags) and small car hire.
When I was much younger (1990's) I lived in Majorca and drove back to England in a day!! Ferry to Barca docked early morning and, in my little Citroen AX, drove like mad. Only once mind alone. Other times with family and always overnight stay.

Have done that a few times, saving £ 4 figures. Flights for 4 including hold luggage have risen exponentially, especially as the airlines are seeking to rake in huge revenues to mitigate pandemic losses.

 

[Si Gull]

I've always done the same eg Questor.

Then not falling for coercion when collecting the car, the excess insurance is more than enough.

One of their scare tactics is to take a chunky hold against your credit card.

Questor have always worked for me. Take the deposit hit on the credit card knowing you'll get back (eventually) anything that's taken in the event of damage.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

Another vote for icarinsurance by me

And me. I have a friend who successfully claimed on it and it definitely works, ie they pay the claim.

I’m currently in Spain with a car hired from Malaga. I generally use autoeurope.co.uk and go with the cheapest. Watch out for the “full to empty” fuel con - if you’ve booked “full to full” which is the norm, (I.e full when you pick it up and full when you return it) and they try to get you to have “full to empty” ie they flog you a tank-full for about 80 euros and then you are free to bring it back empty (which of course is impossible unless you push it back to the rental return). It should state “full to full” on your prebooked agreement, so be sure to insist on it if they try to pull this one.

 

[Sirnormangall]

THIS and thrice THIS. Even if you hire a car in this country.

Agreed- it’s a must to take photos / video before you drive off. Hire companies have twice tried to stitch me up for previous damage but my photos saved me.

 

[Badger]

It's funny reading all these stories of people getting screwed over by car hire companies. I have hired cars in Canada/US multiple times over the last few years and I've never had any issues, despite always refusing the extra coverage because I have cover with my credit card. Maybe it's just because so many people hire cars in North America, so they just want to get you in and out without the hassle of trying to get money for every little scratch.

I'm not sure if it's the same in the UK, but a lot of credit cards here give you some insurance coverage for car rental. Worth checking.

The one time I rented a car in Europe was in The Azores a couple of years ago. I did actually scratch the car trying to navigate through the narrow streets of Ponta Delgado at 11pm after a long flight. Thankfully it was the same corner which already had a scratch, so they didn't notice when I returned the car

 

[HeaviestTed]

Just a general comment, I hate hiring cars in the uk. It is a rip off and they take the piss.

I’ve hired cars in Greece and it was cheap and they didn’t care about a small scrape I did - here it would have cost thousands.

 

[BrightonCottager]

Questor have always worked for me. Take the deposit hit on the credit card knowing you'll get back (eventually) anything that's taken in the event of damage.

Ditto to Questor. Had to use it once and was easy. Also ditto to avoid Gold cars. All the operators seem to be persistent at trying to get you to upgrade and some try the '3rd party insurance won't cover you for everything '.

I always go for full to full fuel options.

Check if there's a clause about how clean the car has to be on return - I almost got charged for returning one containing 'too much sand'.

Also be careful with electronic keys. A mate got charged €300 for replacement key and bringing it out to him after one got wet (he went swimming with it in his budgie smugglers ).

 

[bristo]

Avoid TopCar - they're in Tenerife so maybe elsewhere in Spain, but never again! Thank GOD we did a walkaround, as we picked up the car after closing time - someone has actually crashed the car whilst parking it at the airport so it was dented and scratched before we even opened the door!

If I did have to, depending on price, I'd just do their CDW instead of go via the broker / 3rd party excess route - much less hassle. I think overall, for the amount of stress caused, I'd rather just suck it up and pay the extra £10 a day or whatever than spend a couple of weeks panicking after dropping it off. That goes for any company now, no matter how reputable they are.

Shouldn't be several hundred quid for the CDW excess waiver - that seems excessive, unless you're going for a month?

Fuel policy, just ask for it to be full on collection and then return it full yourself, make sure you do top up (or else they can charge whatever the like per litre), and make sure you keep the receipt showing where and when you topped up!

Used TopCar each year for the last 15 years from Fuerteventura airport. Never had any problems with them. Good service, very competitive prices (€80-100 in April/May p/w for VW Polo or similar) €6 p/d full insurance. Fuel policy is full/full.

 

[Harley S]

I travel to Alicante many times a year and another strong warning about not using Goldcar and their very heavy sales tactics. The cars were also getting older with more damage as time went on.

I've used them via their website direct and by some UK brokers and never had issues until a rental last year when they tried to charge me EU 297 for damage that was there already ( took a full video on pick up ) I also got an email stating I had had an accident and to fill in a form ! On returning the car, I refused to sign the "machine" and said I would deal with Head Office.

When back home, I tried to contact them by email & phone many times but got nowhere. In the end I put in a claim with the bank and got a full refund.

I now use holidayautos.co.uk (broker) and choose Firefly ( opposite Goldcar ) and they are excellent - so far - with newer cars and I often get a better car than selected. By using the broker, I have previously amended bookings FOC where there was a flight delay or cancellation. Worth considering as some refuse any changes.

One tip I now use is to record the conversation with the sales agent and the returns staff, always repeating what is discussed with regard to any agreement of any potential charges.

Good luck and have a safe journey !