Snel

I like many regular visitors to Spain buy a yearly policy to cover the excess amount of the car hire. This saves a lot of money as the extra insurance they want to charge to cover this can make a cheap car hire very expensive.

I recently booked through Do You Spain a car with Gold Car.

The usual procedure is that they will take a 900 to 1200 Euro block against your credit card for the excess which you are insured for on your annual policy.

On my last hire Gold Car claimed at the counter that the block against my card had been refused. I couldn't prove otherwise and ended up paying an additional 140 euro on an initial 35 euro hire. I checked with my credit card company the next day and they assured me in writing that no attempt had been made to put a 900 euro block against my card which I had a spare £5000 limit on.

Do You Spain and Gold Car have refused me a refund.

Interestingly they took the hire cost against the same card they had refused 5 minutes before!!

To add insult to injury the car given only had half on tank of fuel on a full/full contract!!

BEWARE

Rosemary

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst BEVS moderates Europe. Moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. This is so that members gain the information that they are looking for and find their experiences on the forums to be friendly and worthwhile.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge about the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

rspltd

I only used GOLDCAR once!

terryjune

ive just used all in car hire from malaga airport. they were recomended somwhere on here,no hidden fees , good service , will definitely use again

amideislas

Sorry, but the car hire business, especially those on the lower end of the price scale, have adopted this and a few other ways of clawing back the money they'd otherwise get from higher prices. In fact, the cheapest can often be the most expensive.

First, never ever hire a car through a "broker" such as "doyouspain". In this circumstance, nobody is responsible for anything, except you.

Second, if you want a cheap rate, forget your 3rd party insurances and buy the exoensive insurance they sell at the desk. This is the only insurance they'll accept without taking a large deposit. If they take the deposit, there's a 50-50 chance there will be damage, whether you damaged it or not. They will keep the deposit, and it will be your problem to collect it from your insurance. Unfortunately, they may never give you a receipt for the repairs, so your 3rd party insurance don't pay it.

The alternative is to book direct with a major player that has a reputation to protect. Such as Sixt. The hire always goes well with their like, but it isn't cheap. But the more expensive car hires can often be cheaper than the cheapest car hire who keeps your £500 deposit for nonexistent damages..

jonboy

I booked Centauro car hire via Auto-Europe and used Insurance4carhire to cover the excess. All went well as usual. Auto-Europe insist any funny business at the hire desk is referred to them at the time and they will deal with it.
Insurance4carhire have in the past paid out when needed and saved me money and anxiety.

rspltd

I hired from Sixt and as usual when I took the car back I asked a representative to sign that the car was received in good condition. Three months later. I received a letter from Sixt head office stating that the car was received damaged at Alicante and they held me responsible. Fortunately I was able to show the signature of their representative. They sent me a begrudging apology but said that by the time all the paperwork had arrived at head office they had no idea of whom caused the damage as the car had been hired out many times so they wrote to all the hirers.

Snel

Btw I have claimed on my 3rd party excess insurance for a damaged windscreen and they paid out with no problem. Not bad for £38 per annum.

This excess insurance the car hire companies charge is just a rip off at £6 a day especially if you hire every month.

casa del sol

Been visiting Spain for well over ten years and always hire a car at airport on arrival, reserved online at home, have never taken the extra insurance or paid elsewhere for any kind of car insurance. Never had a claim, not had a problem with any of the car hire companies, all good. Must have saved a fortune over the years, enough to pay a claim in the future if need arises.

I wonder what percentage of car hire is where a claim for damage or injury is made....would make interesting statistics.

amideislas

Well that's generous. Didn't need to prove the damage? It's usually difficult to get a receipt for repaur if damages from a car hire.

A few years ago, I was bandited out of £300 for damages that didn't exist (the car hire had taken £300 deposit because I refused to buy their brand of insurance because I'd already bought it on their website, but apparently this was "third-party"). The car hire never gave me a repair receipt for nonexistent damage, so the "third party" insurance I paid on their website refused to pay.

So, what is the name of your insurance company? If they don't need any proof, I'd like to claim that £300 back.

By the way, £6 per day is a bargain. I think I was charged £20 per day.

Snel

You will need a receipt but this was sent to me by the hire company for the amount of the repair that was taken off my credit card.

The submission of claim was all done on line with Quester Insurance Services (I'm not promoting them BTW there are plenty of companies offering excess insurance cover).

andyr35

Bob. Kindly explain "spammy", so I don't fall foul a second time? Regards, andyr35

Rosemary

We use the words spam or spammy when a new members post is of an advertising nature especially if it includes an URL. Unfortunately we do get a fair amount of spammers so we tend to be cautious and remove such posts. People are welcome to recommend companies that they have had good service from but as there is a no advertising policy people cannot push their own company or the company that they work for so if you think about your original post you may realise why Bob reacted in the way that he did.

I hope that you understand my waffle.

Welcome to the Spain forum.

Rosemary

andyr35

Thanks Rosemary. It didn't occur to me that in adding the name of the company it would automatically generate a link to their site. Apologies for my error! andyr35

Fredbargate

There are lots of threads on car hire and the pitfalls so any advice welcome

I will be visiting Santiago de Compostela next month and most places I look are using GOLDCAR but previous posts are not good.