To hire a cheap car in Spain?

[FreshAprilStart]

Had this in travel section but zero replies, so reposting here in hope of some advice.

Going to Malaga in the summer. Need to hire a car for a week from the airport and return there.

Prices vary widely. Some cheap options but not with the known large suppliers. ArgusCar about £120 pw but huge security deposit.

Known companies (hertz, Avis etc) double at about £300 pw for no excess.

I'm edging towards the cheaper companies as I don't want to overpay for essentially the same car, but DH thinks it's not worth the risk or hassle and better to go with the more reputable suppliers.

AIBU to go cheaper?

Anyone any advice or similar experience?

Hi, my parents regularly hire cars in Spain and pay separately for insurance to cover the hire car excess, which makes it so much cheaper. Have a look on Google to see how much that would be x

Thank you. Someone else said that too. Will investigate.

Have you looked at Cicar? They are very good, zero excess, cars in excellent condition and very reasonable, we've used them in the canaries and my grandparents used them a couple of years ago in Spain for s month when visiting relatives.

They also include an audio guide to the area with a map so as you drive around you select the associated track number on the CD and it tells you about the area, history, culture etc

Use doyouspain.com to compare. I’ve used for years, always pick the cheapest and never had any issues

We always use bmet no problems at all fully inclusive of insurance, you just have to make sure you take it back with the same amount of fuel. No deposit 👌

We used Cicar in Feurtaventura. They are very good. We had a Seat Leon with parking camera and it was only about 10.00 a day. Insurance was included. Definitely recommend them.

We hired a car last year from All in Car Hire. They were cheap and have a great service.

If you use one of the separate insurance to cover the excess then you'll find that the hire companies won't give you stuff like breakdown cover.
You'll also have to pay a huge deposit on a credit card.

We've used Goldcar, now they have terrible reviews everywhere, but they are all due to not takings out their own insurances. We pay about £250 for a fortnight hire and their top level of cover, so don't have to pay any excess if there is an accident or damage to the car.

Firefly is another company, think they are something to do with hertz but are cheaper.

We have used this one several times in Malaga with no problems www.hellehollis.com/?rmsrc=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw5dnmBRACEiwAmMYGOY8riDzpIMFCjVaRh-GrSVR19L6wZ0RyrufnAeaWO2lE4hIHSodmoRoC1_0QAvD_BwE

Definitely avoid Goldcar! We had already paid upfront (including the insurance) but they refused to give us the car unless we paid an additional €100 for an extra jnsurance policy, we ended up stuck at airport for 2 hours arguing and they were incredibly aggressive, it was awful. It has made me very wary of any cheap hire companies as a result

Look at reviews on TrustPilot for the company you are thinking of using first.

Another tip I sent to go on the TripAdvisor forum for Malaga and search car hire. It will tell you the companies to avoid. We always do that, for wherever we're going, and have never had a bad experience yet.

We took out an annual excess insurance policy, I think it was about £20 and we used it 3 times.

Not Goldcar, they recently came out as the worst company
We have insurance4hire annual cover as we hire cars in Europe 4 or 5 times a year. We regularly go to Spain and use a small local car hire company but we actually land in Portugal so giving you their details wouldn’t help.
Look on travel forums for who to choose - and avoid

Another tip is to, not I sent.

I don't know where that came from

We go to Malaga most years and always use Cargest they are great "off airport" by apart 10 metres but pick you up. They are pretty cheap. Gold Car and Marbesol have heard mixed reviews and they often have extra charges.

Don’t go with anyone in the airport. My tip would be malagacar.com - go online and look at the reviews. They are hands down the best in terms of quality of cars, no rip off charges and customer services. There is a mini bus that picks you up outside the airport and takes you to the office - takes a couple of minutes at most. I have been renting cars in that area for 20 years and I would never go with anyone else.

Also, malagacar.com will accept the additional insurance you take out yourself - some companies put a lot of restrictions in place, blocking credit cards etc. If you go on price comparison sites, you can find the insurance.

I’ve used Argus car hire and they were fine. From Malaga too!
We do buy our insurance before we go though so we don’t get flogged it when we are on holiday. I bought a policy recommended by Martin’s money.

We've used Centauro in Mallorca for years. Not as cheap as the cheapie cheapies, but off airport so cheaper than Hertz etc. and never had any issues.

Brilliant advice everyone!

Love mumsnet

We normally always go through doyouspain for comparison. Always been fine.
However, avoid these 2 companies-
Dickmann’s - flight was delayed so we were late getting there. They cancelled our booking. Left stranded at an industrial estate somewhere in the middle of Alicante. Luckily someone stopped and gave us a lift back to the airport.

Goldcar- seem to be ripping people off right left and centre these days with hidden charges. We had been using them for years with no issue then got stung with €240 added on credit card for excess mileage! Others on a forum I’m on been stung for lot of different reasons.

We always book Avis via BA. you don't need to fly with BA. it's about 30-40% cheaper than via Avis direct and if you have a BA loyalty ac, you get a free extra driver.

We use Autoreisen in the canaries, no big deposit and the quote is what you pay...not sure if they are in mainland Spain, worth a check. We've had bad experiences with Goldcar, Do you Spain, Cicar and Europcar

Another recommendation for malagacar.com. They are good value & we've never had a problem with them. As others have said, take out your own extra insurance before you go. I've used insurance4carhire as someone mentioned above.

Agree with Trevor ^ I've always used Autoreisen with no issues at all.