Renting a car at Alicante airport spain

[Cleanbedlinen12]

Hello! Can anyone advise a car hire company? And any tips for hiring a car? I keep hearing horror stories! Thank you, am very nervous!

Hope you have deep pockets, prices are mad this year and you may find little or nothing available if you are travelling in peak weeks due to a shortage of hire cars. If you can possibly avoid it don't use Goldcar, their reputation is dreadful. Some people have taken shuttle services to their resorts and hired locally for a better deal. Off airport will almost always be cheaper than companies operating within the airport.

We have always used Centauro in the past with no problems at all. We always take full to full option and full up on fuel just before getting back to the airport. If you bring it back empty they charge a premium for refill. We take the insurance too, so costs more, but then no worries about anything happening. Haven’t been to Spain in a couple of years, so no idea of prices, but imagine they remain a decent option comparatively.

I used Goldcar a few years back with no problems. One thing I would say is sort out the additional excess coverage before you go, rather than signing up when you get there. The costs from the hire company can be extortionate, whilst a standalone policy with Allianz (I think) was less than £20 for two weeks when I went.

Some tips on the MSE website here www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire/

Much cheaper to buy excess insurance. I’ve hired a car for a day trip and the company wanted £21 for insurance. I’ve paid £12 separately. Would be a massive saving across the space of a week.

Do not use Goldcar. Try www.caronlinerentacar.com/.

Have to really agree around hiring before you get there as prices from the airport are ludicrous. I had a booking (with Hertz, I think) and it was peanuts for me, booked about a week before we got there - about £20. My DB joined us unexpectedly and to add him for the week at the airport when picking up the car, bumped it up to over £100.

I'd avoid Goldcar like the plague.
Go on tripadvisor forums, they'll probably be able to recommend something. If there isn't a good local company I tend to stick to the big ones like Avis or Hertz as reckon they're more reputable. Also buy your CdW policy separately at around £14 for a week.

As poster above, ABSOLUTELY have this booked before you go. Apart from car availability in high season being poor, the prices at airport are mental. Do it as soon as you can.

Another thing if it's for this summer - do you absolutely need a car ? You may find it's actually cheaper to hire taxis when you need them, provided you're not too remote.

Car hire at Alocante Airport is 'fun' shall we say. E done it for years visiting parent in Spain.

This year we have given up due to pricing... €65 a day the last time I looked. (I've previously paid around €12).

In terms of companies - they seem to be as bad as each other. They are all lined up on a wall in the airport. You'll queue for 1hr plus to get near them even if you prebooked.

They'll spend ages trying to get you to upgrade cars (you don't need to) and to take their excess insurance (again you don't need too - but I'd advise getting a cheaper stand alone cover before you go - car hire excess insurance or something I think it's called. The hire company will find something to claim on it when you return the car) Take photos of the car you get inside and out.

You'll hear horror stories on them all. It's hire cars....

We recently used recordgo in Spain. I was losing the will trying to find affordable car hire until I came across them on a fb post. Considerably cheaper than all the rest and we got a full insurance with them that meant when another car scraped along side ours in a car park they didn't care! It was such a relief. You do have to pay for the full tank of fuel before you pick up car which caught us out but they refund it to you if you return the car full again.

We also liked that it was a self serve kiosk at the airport rather than queuing.

Car hire prices are mad this year. We used to pay about £70-100 pw for a small car, but now it's about 3 or 4 times that

Do you need a car? Can you use public transport and some taxis? If not, we've used Centauro before without incident and we always buy our excess insurance in the UK, but then you need a credit card as you will need to leave a big deposit to take the car without their insurance, so most people won't have a bank account with that amount of money they can let the hire car company reserve for the holiday.

I do this circa 5 times a year. Book in advance then keep checking prices every few days and cancel and rebook if price comes down (I've done this 48 hours before travel and saved a lot of money). Try DoyouSpain Or Zest.
Buy you own separate excess insurance, don't buy anything at the desk or any of their upsells....these cost more than the car hire. In 15 years we've claimed on the excess insurance twice and both times paid out quickly. Look on Money saving expert for cheapest excess insurance.
All of the companies can be bad...I have used Goldcar several times with no issues. As long as you have your separate insurance, just book the cheapest car you can find - this is the point of having the insurance.
Zest has a pretty comprehensive insurance included (I still always get my own annual policy) and I find the car hire companies slightly better if you've booked through Zest, however if you have your own policy, it doesn't really matter.
Often Centauro have offers on Facebook page/sign up to newsletter....but usually still more expensive.
Shuttle buses are usually ok, often quicker doing this than queueing at airport - just make sure you're first off the shuttle bus to get into the office.
Make sure you have a credit card in drivers name with at least 6 months before expiry (or may be 3, check your booking) some people get caught out with this and I've seen people not been given the car they booked as they had missed this in the small print.

Thank you very much everyone. Have to confess to massive anxiety about this! Holidays are very stressful !

Thanks all! I looked at all your suggestions and Have booked with zest, they seemed the most reasonable, and the simplest website that ( I think ) I understood. Am looking for seperate insurance. I’m sure it used to be simple to hop on a plane. Thanks brexit/covid.

I recommend using DoYouSpain. I have been going for 12 years every summer to Alicante (Denia) at least 3 weeks. We have an apartment over there. And we always book a rental car through them. They compare options and instead of looking through many companies, you can use the filters and see all the options, prices and conditions. Its super easy to use, specially for people my age that don[t really control these new technologies!!!

Always use DoYouSpain to book my cars when in Spain