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Original poster

Experiences of car hire booked via Ryanair?...

21 replies

Laquila · 01/08/2019 20:25

We’re flying with Ryanair and I’ve booked car hire via them with Europcar (Palma) but am now panicking slightly, having read a lot of bad reviews on Trustpilot. I mean, obviously it’s Ryanair, but I’d assumed we’d be dealing with Europcar and that in that sense it would be like any other rental booked directly with them. The T&Cs look kosher and we won’t buy their damage refund insurance/SCDW (we’ll buy a policy via insuranceforcarhire.com or similar) - has anyone successfully booked a car via Ryanair??...

OP posts:

BadHairDyeDay · 01/08/2019 20:31

I booked with Europear not thru Ryan air but with easy jet. The problem as you say is not the airline. Nor is it the car hire company. The problem I found is that if you book through an airline, a whole plane-load of passengers head for the Europcar kiosk at the same time which can result in a very long wait - in your case in Palma temperatures! So it'll do no harm to book wirh another company just for that reason alone

Original poster

Laquila · 01/08/2019 20:46

That’s interesting Badhair (no offence 😁) - I hadn’t thought of that. Although there were loads of options for different companies when I booked, so I’d be surprised if that made it any busier than usual really. But yes, not looking forward to hanging around in those temps for however long, with grumpy kids and parents in tow!...

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Original poster

Laquila · 01/08/2019 21:44

I can’t get into the Ryanair Manage My Booking thing anyway to cancel it - it’s almost as if Ryanair don’t want you to 🙄

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Original poster

Laquila · 02/08/2019 06:39

Bump

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azulmariposa · 02/08/2019 07:05

Book the insurance with Europecar. If you do not you'll have to pay a massive deposit on your credit card and you won't be covered by their breakdown service. I know it's an added expense, but those deposit insurance are a con!
We recently broke down in a hire car, their brake down service picked us up quickly and when we got back to the airport to get another car I nearly had a heart attack at the list of costs for recovery and replacing the car. It was in the thousands! Thankfully we had booked the full insurance and didn't have to pay a penny.

Original poster

Laquila · 02/08/2019 07:22

Thanks Azul! When you say those deposit insurance are a con, what do you mean? The car hire excess insurance policies that you but for other providers?

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BarbaraofSeville · 02/08/2019 08:25

I disagree with buying the insurer's own insurance, it's way overpriced - 10 to 15 euro a day usually. You can get your own excess insurance at home for about £2 a day. You will have to leave a credit card deposit of around 1000 euro, but we've never had a problem doing this, never not had a full refund.

Make sure you take lots of photos of the car at the beginning and end of the hire.

Watch out for the fuel policy if you don't plan to drive very far. Many of the less scrupulous companies are full to empty, which means that you pay (over the odds of course) for a full tank of fuel that you won't use and then don't refund. We only get that if we know we will use most or all of the fuel.

Is there a cancellation link in the email that confirms the booking? We've used Hiper and Centauro in Mallorca without any issues.

Best thing to do is read Moneysavingexpert's advice on hiring cars abroad and follow that.

QuilliamCakespeare · 02/08/2019 08:50

Definitely get excess insurance. If you don't you can be charged a crazy excess (£1000) for something as simple as a punctured tyre or a cracked windscreen. We used Firefly to rent cars at Girona airport and they were really good.

BubblesBubbly · 02/08/2019 08:59

Hi @Barbara I’ve just used your advice and booked excess insurance through money saving expert. I haven’t had to give any sort of deposit! Just cost £35 for an annual cover.

BarbaraofSeville · 02/08/2019 09:13

No, the deposit is to the car hire company when you are at the desk.

You will then need to leave the deposit on a credit card. If you don't take their insurance, there's no avoiding this.

We've never had a problem with the car hire company accepting our own excess insurance or them being all 'hard sell' on there's but I did hear Martin Lewis on the radio a few weeks ago getting into a stand off with a foreign car hire company because they wouldn't accept his, but it sounds like he used one of the companies who are very very cheap for the car hire, because they hard sell you into all the extras, but I can't be bothered with that and I wouldn't have thought he would be, being a multi millionaire, but obviously it's a point of principle for him.

I just want to avoid being ripped off and actually pay the price I was quoted.

Original poster

Laquila · 02/08/2019 09:36

Thanks Barbara, that all makes sense. I’ve bought a policy with carhireinsurance.com so am covered for the excess, but as you say they’ll still take the deposit (I think it’s 1040EUR).

i guess if there was any damage they’d then take this as he excess and we’d claim it back via the third-party excess policy. We’ll make sure to take plenty of photos though, thank you!

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BuzzShitbagBobbly · 02/08/2019 09:43

Make sure the credit card you use is in the lead driver's name or they might charge you a second driver fee.
And it usually has to be a "proper" cc, not a prepaid one.
If the name Goldcar comes anywhere near, run like hell.
Don't forget your DVLA code thingy.
Make a point of taking loads of photos and get them to mark every single dint and scratch, even if they say it doesn't count.
Take return photos too, especially if it's just dropped off and not signed for by the rep.

MrsL2016 · 02/08/2019 09:55

I recently used Ryanair to hire a care through Europcar at Porto airport. No issues. Bought our own extra insurance and had to put £800 deposit on a credit card.

BarbaraofSeville · 02/08/2019 10:07

It looks like you don't need to worry OP. Europcar look like a 'proper' hire car company, and while they're all crooks to some degree (we use Enterprise at work and they're forever piling on extra charges) they're probably not as bad as the likes of Goldcar, Record and Rhodium, who are just Goldcar in disguise.

One trick is to think about whether the price you've been quoted is reasonable - if they're only charging 2 euros a day or something silly, there's no way they can run a profitable company on those charges so there will be hard sell of extras.

We usually pay 50-100 euro/pounds a week for a small Fiesta sized car and keep a list of companies that seem decent and it's always been fine.

Original poster

Laquila · 02/08/2019 10:20

Thanks all, I really appreciate this! Barbara, it’s costing about £470 for a week (mid-Aug) for a 7-seater so we’re certainly not getting that much of an incredible bargain 😆 but I think it’s reasonable. I’ve seen Goldcar and Record advertising at closer to £320, which seems too good to be true...

Certainly if we’d just hired direct from Europcar I wouldn’t be giving it a second thought, so as you guys say I’m sure it’ll be fine.

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BarbaraofSeville · 02/08/2019 10:24

Yes, I've noticed that small cars seem a lot cheaper than bigger cars, by more than you'd expect.

It probably won't help you this time, but if you have more than one person willing/able to drive, it can often be cheaper to hire two small cars than one big one, but you do have to watch for boot space.

Added advantage that more flexibility for days out if people want to do different things and smaller cars can also be easier to drive and park if you go somewhere with narrow winding streets etc.

BubblesBubbly · 02/08/2019 10:28

I see @Barbara. Thanks.

Abrahamkin · 03/08/2019 19:39

We hired a car through Europcar via Ryanair. All was fine. Beyond booking we had nothing to do with Ryanair but all worked through Europcar. The only thing is as pp mentioned: they had the car listed as full to empty so we had to pay for a full tank of fuel at Europcar's prices (higher than at a normal fuel pump) at the counter, and there is no refund for any fuel left in the car. This information was also not very clear on booking (though clear if you read the smaller print, so we did know about it). Do check it out.

Original poster

Laquila · 03/08/2019 19:57

Thanks Abraham. Our booking is full to full - to be honest I couldn’t work out at the time whether that was preferable or not, but I guess it is!

Barbara we’d have hired two cars if wed has a willing second driver but having seen my dad drive recently I decided it was safer to get him in the backseat 😳

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TheDuckSaysMoo · 03/08/2019 20:03

Europcar is a reputable place so you should be fine. Check if they have a members club. Avis's club let's you join the executive queue and is much faster.

BarbaraofSeville · 03/08/2019 20:31

to be honest I couldn’t work out at the time whether that was preferable or not, but I guess it is

Full to full would be almost always better. Only time it has caused us a problem was when we went to Malta and was flying home on Sunday morning.

All the petrol stations near the airport were closed but you could use an automated pump that only took 10 euro notes and no instructions in English. It took a bit of working out and we 'had' to get a McDonald's breakfast to get a 10 euro note. I don't think you'll the car was properly full but the gauge looked full so we got away with it.

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