Like a mug, I booked a Holiday Autos car in Madeira for Xmas week - £138 including CDW. I also bought excess insurance at the recommendation of moneysaving expert, in the UK costing £13 for the week. Had I checked the reviews on the car supplier - "Goldcar", I'd have been more worried than a fat guy at a buffet, as they are rightfully terrible. I had a 15 minute hard sell at the airport desk, where the Goldcar woman laughed at me for being foolish enough not to take out Goldcar's own excess insurance at a cost of 109 euro for the week. She kept throwing scenarios at me such as losing a key, lightning hitting the tyres, fatalities, bail bonds and bottoming the car on sunken reefs (or so it seemed). As I refused point blank, she got stroppy, and charged me 94 euro for a tank of diesel in the car, charged my credit card with a 1200 euro excess in case the car was damaged (wtf is cdw for?), told me she'd charge me 30 euro if I lost the swipe card for the Goldcar carpark on return, and instead of a Peugeot 308, landed me with a basic Skoda Fabia. Then the bitch made us wait 20 minutes at the car park until she was ready to come out and check the car over with us before I took it away. Had I read the existing reviews on Goldcar, I would have cancelled, but hindsight is so feckin' precious.....
I hope you took a load of photos of the car before driving it away - with that woeful attitude to customer service, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to sting you for alleged "damage" caused to the car during the rental period which was there when you picked it up. Make sure you also take a load of photos of the car when you drop it off, including mileage and the fuel gauge. I had a bad experience with Budget rental at Barcelona airport where they stung me for a tank of fuel even though I returned the car with the tank full (and the rental period was such that I had the option of returning the car full), as well as charging an exorbitant amount for a new tyre when we had a puncture on the way back to the airport. Hope the rest of your trip goes better.
Had the same the HA this year. Gave mate details, he booked 4 days and paid the extra, turned up said no you haven't its either €600 deposit or another 50 for their cdw. Which he took so what. Should have been £30 each tops ended up 80!!
These are the charges threatened by Firefly if you wanted to risk not taking their additional cover. CDW only covered 3rd party, theft of car, if you could prove no negligence on your part(!), and bodywork oddly. All else like a puncture would set you back 250-325 Euro; broken hub cap 150-250;
How much is the excess? All this insuring the excess has to be a scam, hasn't it? After all, that's an annual premium of £650 to insure, what, £1000? I assume that all these scams are really how car insurance makes money.
I have used goldcar a couple of times and they are indeed a pain. The car substitution is within what I'd consider reasonable, in fact you probably got a slightly better car. As for fuel, return the car brim full and demand the €90 euros is refunded - they are required by law to do that. All charges must be quantifiable so gargling for fuel when a car is returned full is illegal.
Interestingly I've had several rental cars where the hubcaps were removed to prevent exactly that. Annoyingly one also had the aerial removed to prevent theft.
I got ass raped with a car when I went to the Guggenheim a few years ago... Spanish hate Brits for some reason... Probably coz we kicked their ass so much over the years!!
I've looked into this for my trip to Cartagenga...Looks like fucking minefield! So many tales of non-consensual arse rapeing!
Tbh we ended with a similar operator because it was cheap but £160 for 5 days ended not cheap! Hertz may have been a better option I reckon best option is get new credit card, book with that, then close when you come back to stop any charges..
I found a small outfit that hire the car with no add ons. You pay your money, all insurances are covered, take the car, fill back up with fuel and no credit card swipe!....Not so complicated....I loath all the robbing and coning that seems to be associated with car hire! I'll let you know how it goes
Hertz own Firefly. It seems they've hit on the idea of keeping cars within the Group once they pass the mileage at which they'd have previously gone to auction, only now they pass them on to the subsidiary 'bargain' brand. As many have found, they are then offered out at basement prices, but with a string of blackmail-flavoured "extras" by which they end up costing the unwary traveller just as much and probably more than a car from the parent brand. Having fallen for this once, I'll only hire from the leading brands at their going rates with all cover declared beforehand.
Hey Nelson , I,m off to Cartagena too early March, very interested to hear how this pans out for you. Would appreciate any feedback on your return.... What bike are you bringing? Have a great trip
