Cheap Car Hire. Is There A Catch?

[fergusmca]

Checking out car hire in Spain for the end of May and have found deals for about 3 Euro a day for various cars even, with the big companies. Further down the page is the same car at a 'normal' price, perhaps 25 Euro a day. too good to be true?

[mikey4444]

I haven't been to Spain for over 40 years but 3 Euro/day sounds far to cheap to me.

[bookbinder]

Look at the small print. Is collision damage waiver included? What kind of insurance cover do you get?

[ubasses]

If you have a google around there are plenty of articles with advice about the pitfalls. After a 2 page spread in the Telegraph Travel section a couple of months ago it put me off completely. When you arrive, they will probably have loads of add ons and try to charge you for extra insurance to cover any excess you need to pay in event of damage. Friends recently slightly scratched a wheel and found their credit card debited with £400 when they got back. Do a lot of research.

[bhg481]

Outrageous mileage charge?

[Garador]

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

[Prudie]

Definitely too good to be true. I hire cars in Spain a lot. As others have said there are many pitfalls to avoid particularly the add-ons at pick-up and drop-off, the mileage, the fuel, the insurance. I wouldn't risk it. I've heard many horror stories of people getting large sums automatically taken off their credit card with little recourse. Oh and if you can give Goldcar a massively wide berth.

[Playbill]

You can take out insurance to cover ANY excess for about £2 a day or about £40 for an annual policy. I always have this.

[sunny-dave]

The other common scam is the "full to empty" fuel policy - where you have to buy a full tank of fuel (at premium price) even if you are only going to do a few dozen km. This can cost anywhere up to 80€ or more, with no refund for anything left in the tank when you return the car.

Look for 'full to full' or 'return the same' policies.

[TWR]

I use Autoreisen when in Tenerife Fergumca, they have offices all over Spain, book from the UK & sort out within the Airport office.