Car-hire in Spain and credit cards?

[helen202]

Looking to rent a car when we go to Spain in June and would like your opinions on the various companies,would also prefer not to have to pay for the full tank of petrol at the start that so many insist upon. Picking up in Seville airport and dropping back to Malaga airport.

Some of the companies seem to insist on a credit card. I only have a Visa debit card and no chance of getting credit with the bank for a credit card. Do you know if a Visa debit card will suffice?

Not sure about credit card. We used Sixt both times we visited Spain and they were very good. Also look at getting your additional insurance here rather than pay their extortionate rates. Try Questor, it's about £4 a day or £40 for an annual policy. It covers all excesses, tyre and windscreen damage etc.

Thanks rainbowmagic. I checked sixt out and they were twice the price of others! My biggest problem seems to be the credit card, it seems almost all of them want you to have a credit card and the only one I can find that allows a debit card insists you use their extortionate top-up insurance. The card has to be in the name of the main driver too which is a problem as my husband will be driving but the card's in my name, so extra cost for additional driver, all of which is costing about 100eur extra!

Anyone have any suggestions or helpful experiences?

credit card is standard for car hire everywhere, its very rare to find one that doesn't require it. You might find one that lets you pay a large cash deposit but I doubt it.
Even if you find one that will let you use a debit card, it will have to be in the drivers name, thats a legal requirement. You might be able to use a pre-loaded credit card like a Visa Pure.

We use a company in Portugal regularly and I pay cash upfront for full insurance so I don't have to leave a card imprint. I don't like to leave SN I print since a car hire company tried to use my card fraudulently.
It's a small local company so if might be worth trying to find one of those

www.bravocarhire.com/hiring-a-car-in-spain-without-a-credit-card.php
www.malagacar.com/

Don't use a company called Gold Car, they seem cheap but then pre-charge you a massive amount for petrol on your credit card.

I would advise against Malaga car without a credit card. We have a Spanish bank account with a debit card and they refused to charge to our account wanting everything on an English credit card.

We use a little company called Autos Lido in Malaga, but they aren't in Seville. The one way hire makes things harder/more expensive.

Check moneysavingexpert - I am sure they have threads on car hire abroad without using a credit card.

Agree with nobeer; Gold Car will rip you off. We were charged £149 last year for a compulsary full tank of petrol.

Voucher codes.co.uk have lots of car hire discounts today, may be worth a look?

Thanks everyone for your responses. Myadvice for anyone looking to hire a car with a debit card then I suggest sending an email to the carhire places first, as I have wasted loads of time going through various internet sites, checking prices etc and then finding all is not how it originally seemed.

So it looks like I can get one going through one of the brokers and taking out the extra insurance, but I have to drop off and collect at the same location (the ones that allow debit cards don't allow one-way), so it's a bit of a pain as we will have to get the bus from Seville to Malaga airport to pick up the car which will lose us a few hours. Bus or train costs close to €100 so we're not saving anything but it looks like I've no choice.

I will have to use the full-empty fuel policy but it does give a max charge which is under €100 so sounds better than some seem to have got with Goldcar.

Has anyone used Record car rental? The best option seems to be with them.