Car Hire - Booking cancelled by Auriga Crown

We have always booked with DYS and last time (April) they sent us to Auriga however previously we where sent to Record Rent a car.  With Record we had to wait a long time for our car to be ready but we've got bookings via DYS in early July and August for Record so hopefully will be better off than Auriga.  My son is over at the moment and he texted saying he had car hire problems at the airport costing him extra so this thread has made sense of what he was trying to say.  If Record is OK I will let you know, out on the 1/7/09

Redhot

What exactly were the problems your son experienced. Was it through Auriga Crown? I assume the extra costs were to transfer over to someone else?

Phil 

Not sure to either question just that he had to go to another company on arrival and was made to pay extra. He was told to claim everything back from his original firm but they wouldn't recognise any payments he made despite having the paperwork.  Unfortunately I didn't go into the details but this thread sounds very similar.  I will post details if I can contact him tomorrow.

Guys

I have been following a similar thread on the home page. From comments made I have got a very similar priced quote to DYS from Expedia who offered hertz rental. Also, googled F & F car rental and got a price in July 40euros CHEAPER than DYS.

Not sure if  F & C are any good, bit worried due to their cheap price but they seem OK... has anyone used them, they seem to operate out of a transit van in Murcia Airport's carpark.

Phil

don't know about F&C but we used Victoria Car Rental who also operated from a van in the carpark. I was initially a bit wary about that but in fact in turned out to be an advantage as you didn't have to stand in those queues in the arrivals area. They were absolutely fine. I haven't used them this for this summer as I surprisingly got a decent quote from Hertz Car Rental.

good luck whatever your choice,

Balls, only just read this. booked with DOYspain for 7th Aug and just looked and its with Auriga Crown, is everyone cancelling now? also was this incident just at Murcia airport rather than Alicante?

Dan

I am looking at coming out this weekend - had booked through DoYouSpain - and it was expensive against other trips - they have just sent me an email cancelling (car not available, but offering me an alternative for £50 more!), have booked a different one, but not confirmed yet, so getting worried!

Ted

Just spoken to Tom at economy car hire, who we use for all our bookings.

He has told me that the problem they have seen with Arigua Crown has come about for 3 main reasons.

 Some people have booked vehicles and have then tried to extend their hire period. Because of demand they have been told that it is not possible but have then not returned the car on the due day. Basically extending the hire period without authorisation or payment (knowing that Auriga will just bill them for it.)

Added to this is the fact that  Arigua have reduced their fleet due to the credit crunch and the that  the demand for vehicles has been greater than they forcast.

I was told that the car hire companies have now taken steps (I don't know what exactly) to stop this happening.

Tom also stated that this problem has occured with a very small minority of bookings and he believes that the problem has now been sorted out.

Hi Phil, have you a booking with them? of just passing on info from economy? just interested if you do have a booking with Auriga Crown that you are going to keep it on the back of that info?

Thanks Dan

Hi Dan,

I have 2 bookings with Auriga. We have always used economy car hire and (touch wood) they have never let us down, so I have no reason to disbelieve the information I have been given. The other advantage is they are a UK based company so our contract is with them and covered by UK law.

From looking at the other postings it appears to have effected people who have booked but not pre-paid for their hire. I guess these are the easiest ones to cancel as there is little or no come back for the hire company.

We will wait and see what happens.

Thanks Phil, I am one of them people  :(  that went with DOyouspain! may pay a bit more and go with someone else as I don't want to be messed around when i've got 2 young kids in tow.

Hi Dan,

Its probably worth calling Auriga directly and asking the question. If my info is correct then they should be able to confirm it for you.

We also have a booking with Auriga Crown through DYS at the end of July.  I just called DYS and they said they would let us know if there was a problem with our booking before we fly out.  If there was they would organise another hire company and refund any cost difference. 

They say the problem is simply that AC have too many bookings and not enough cars but that it is a temporary situation only.

I'm inclined to stick with AC/DYS for the moment unless we hear from them in the next 4-5 weeks.

Good luck all!
Tim

We have just got back (last night) after a 3 day visit.  On arrival on Thursday, the queue for Goldcar was approximately 30 yards long, thank goodness we weren't with them, not a good start to people's holidays!  When we went to the car hire area in the car park, it has all changed and Goldcar do seem to have a monopoly on car hire in Murcia airport now with far more spaces allocated than any other company and at the top end of the car park. 

Difficult decision to make who to use now for car hire, Goldcar and cope witht he silly queyes or pay over the odds for Europcar, Hertz etc.

Lets all keep sharing experiences.

Lindsey & Martyn

Hi,

Have just booked with Atlaschoice for end of July, (found with travelsupermarket), at a very reasonable price. They have e mailed me to tell me that I will be getting the car from Goldcar Europa. Have always used DYS and Aurigacrown previously and found them very good, but this thread has made me really nervous of using them this time as the last thing you want is to  be stuck at the airport without a car!!

Let's hope the queue's not too long!!

Cherrie

Just got this reply from Carjat confirming the problems.......

Hello
Yes this is  a fact, this did happen with AurigaCrown, but I'm afraid there is no way of knowing which  bookings, if any, will be cancelled. If you like to be on the safe side ,  I suggest booking a different car (normal Clio) with a different supplier. We could book this for 330 euros, I'm afraid prices have increased for this season
Regards
Vlad
carjet

The reply below from Galwegian was not posted by us.  I was in the process of cutting and pasting reply from carjet when this reply from Vlad turned up.  I do not have any explanation for this.

Anyway when I contacted Carjet this afternoon they confirmed the problems with Auriga Crown and said that they were due to double booking by Auriga.  They could not guarantee our car rental on 15th August and we have now changed our booking to Goldcar for 87E extra.  Although we are not pleased, we at least are reassured that we will have a car when we arrive.  Not looking forward to the queue at Gold Car.

Hope this helps.

Ethnea

can someone confirm that Centauro are located in Alicante terminal? also good service?

Im sure I have used them before but been out so many times now have forgotten lol

Cheers Dan

Hi Ethnea

Your phantom post from 'Vlad' at Carjet seems to be a copy of a post I made yesterday, very strange.

Centauro are in the terminal at both Alicante and Murcia - always been very good for us.