Key Post: Car Hire in Spain

I just came back from Malaga. Have been over there maybe 10 times in the last 4 years and never had a problem with a car.

Have used a variety of companies but this time used Carjet and was set up with Gold Car.

To cut a long story short, it was an absolute nightmare - we queued for over 90 minutes waiting for our car. There were no queues at any of the other car providers, just Gold, where the queues was miles up the ramp and around the corner.

For me, this is the clincher in any car hire. The other problem is that they charge you for a full tank of fuel and you bring it back empty. €72 for a full tank in a ford focus i thought was a hell of a lot, and on top of the 90 minute wait it didnt help.

I'm afraid to say that I wont be using carjet again. Its not worth the risk for the odd couple of euros that you might save.
 
That's interesting dieter1, we came across a HUGE line as you describe, for the Goldcar rental desk in Malaga too, but we were there in February. Luckily we were using another rental company so we didn't have to join the end of it but I remember commenting to Mr Girasole that the poor people at the back of the line would be waiting for absolutely hours before they even got to the desk. AurigaCrown had a similar line on that occasion but the other rental desks were completely deserted.
I thought perhaps there was an issue with the two companies on the day that was causing a massive delay as it seemed like a ridiculous queue for the middle of February, and a shockingly poor way to conduct business. I made a mental note not to consider either Goldcar or AurigaCrown the next time we were renting a car in Malaga, in case we ended up in a line like that.
 
Just bumping this to see if anyone knows of some reasonably priced car rental options in Spain lately?

Going in a few weeks and need to rent a car for a week.
 
The reason that there is always a big Q at Goldcar i because it is so good. I always use them . Last year, I waited for 2 hours. which is annoying. The drop off was a 5 minutes job. They charge you for a full tank so bring it back as near to empty as possible which is what i always do. Despite the wait, I will use them again this year.

www.goldcar.es
 
NEVER,EVER pay for petrol up front.It is a rip-off.
You should always hire a car that requires it to be returned with exactly the same amount of petrol in it.
I recently went to Tenerife South airport and noticed very long queues for one of these so-called cheap car rentals - I'd booked my car with Auto-Riesen and found it to be cheaper than all the rest.
€140 for a BMW 1 series for a week which I thought great value.

www.arcarhire.com/car-hire/car-hire.php

Here's a couple of comparison sites I always use.

www.autoslash.com
www.vroomvroomvroom.com

and, of course, the old reliable for sound advice.
 
It seems to be hard to find companies that will not charge you for a full tank of petrol i.e. "ask you to bring it back empty".

I will be hiring a car for 6 days and will not be doing much mileage. Would like an option where I can just pay for the petrol I use
 
Check malagacar.com. They give you half a tank and you bring back empty. Excellent service.
 
We're using vipcars.com later in the summer, they give you a full tank and ask you to bring it back empty (or as near to empty as you can).
 
Ceist Beag said:
We're using vipcars.com later in the summer, they give you a full tank and ask you to bring it back empty (or as near to empty as you can).
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Yeh but my point with regards to that method is that you are effectively being charged for the full tank, but if you don't need it all then it's a waste of money.

I think the option of getting half a tank sounds good. Then you can buy a little bit more if you need it.
 
Conan said:
Check malagacar.com. They give you half a tank and you bring back empty. Excellent service.
Click to expand...

Only available from Malaga unfortunately. Are you aware of any other companies that do not charge for a full tank.
 
Most of the big international franchises will not force you to buy a full tank of fuel up front which i agree is generally a bit of a rip off (despite the superficially cheap price per litre most people won't actually do enough miles and/or judge the petrol refills enough in order to drop it back with just fumes in the tank so it ends up costing money)

I've hired with Avis and Europcar in Spain and they certainly didn't force a full tank of fuel on you (they may present it as an option, but you can decline and just drop the car back full, filling it up yourself close to the airport when you drop it back)

I would imagine Hertz and Sixt are similar (they certainly are in other countries)
 
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