Murcia car hire - update.

I booked mine last night and had the news they couldn't honour it when I got back from work. A bit annoying that their website still allows you to think you have a booking though!

Mark

Same thing happened with Carjet last week. I booked a small 5 door car for four days August bank holiday was priced at 103 euros. For some reason the email did not arrive that confirms the booking and tells me who it is with so I ended up emailing Carjet. they informed me that they could book it but the price was 133 euros. I asked why they could not honour the quote they gave originally and they said it is likely that their supplier had run out of cars at the original price so could only book at the higher price. I ended up booking with hirecarsinspain for 103 euros.

Hi lytton

I booked the car on Saturday, a Fiesta through hirecarsspain.

hi booked a car back in june with goldcar from murcia airport for 3 weeks starting on the 18th august to september 9th .just logged into goldcar to print voucher when i noticed ive planned to pick the car up 3.30 but arrive 4.30 so used the option to change the times just in case / as i done this the original price 470euros went up to 780euros . i phoned them up and they said nothing they could do as the computer takes it as a new booking at todays rate .i would have cancelled but getting a car elswere is no cheaper so beware

Will someone please tell me why most visitors to Spain insist on using agencies? Companies like DYS and Carjet are in this to make money from someone and its invariably the punter that gets screwed with add-ons for this, surcharges for that and oops sorry that car is no longer available but we do have this which will only cost you an extra £xx or £xxx.

I never use agencies and always deal direct with the hire companyies themselves. Auriga used to be good, but they will now screw anyone using them with all their extras.

This extra for underbody damage, wheels and clutch is just another gotcha. 99.9% of all hirees are hignly unlikely to go off road so damage to the underside is equally improbable and since when did a car need a clutch change much before it has 100,000kms on the clock?

The Full / empty business is yet another huge scam...70 Euros for a Fiesta tank-full. I think not!

My Scenic has a 60 litre tank and it costs me less than 50 Euros to brim it from empty...

For a while I worked for Hertz in the UK; it takes about five minutes to do an inspection walk around when you pick up a car;

Make it obvious that you are checking the car over and dont let them rush you...there may be other clients in the office waiting to pick up a car, but its your money on the line here...

Check the tyres, all of them including the spare for cuts and scuffs;

Check all the lights including the brake lights (for which a second person is required),

Check the hazard lights are working properly; check that lights that are supposed to be amber are amber and not white where the amber varnish has flaked off the bulbs.

Check the bodywork for scratches,chips, dents or scuffs particularly on the four corners...(Remembering that parking by touch is perfectly acceptable over here...)

Check the windscreen for damage due to chippings, (not that they use loose chippings over here...)

Pop the bonnet,

Check the oil and coolant levels, make sure the wash bottle is full.

Check that the car has at least one warning triangle and has Hi-Viz flak jackets for all occupants and  a spare bulb pack.

Report any findings to the hire company rep before you accept the car and ensure that your findings are noted on the hire document.

All of these things will be checked by the hire company when you return the vehicle; dont give them any excuse to find a fault that you should have picked up when you accepted the car.

OK Victor Meldrew retires, back under his rock, muttering under his breath...

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Two reasons for me. 1. You don't have to pay until you pick the car up, handy when you are booking 6 months ahead. 2. The agencise normally are cheaper than going direct. I have checked the quotes I have had from DYS and HCiS against the main agents to find there can be a huge difference in favour of going with the agency.

Mark

Does anyone know if the rental car shortage at Murcia was just a summer phenomenem or is it continuing into Sep/Oct?

My wife still has a car for next month (hopefully) which was booked 3 months ago along with mine in October (booked at the same time but with a different agent). But as below, it is continuing as January 2010 bookings are also affected.

The sceptic in me says that now they have us used to higher prices, they will stay that way and not come down again when finance is more readily available.

Mark

Definately affecting October, I had one cancelled by Carjet a couple of weeks ago, it was with Auriga. I was told by Carjet that Auriga is now in the control of the bank. As I also had a 3 week September booking with Auriga via Carjet she cancelled that one too, rebooking was only double what it originally cost me!!

I agree with Mark, I also feel that they will continue to charge high prices as we are now used to them. It will be a brave company that decides to lower prices!

I've had to pay £75 for ONE DAY's hire with Europacar to get me from the airport to house next week because I'll be on my own with a lot of baggage,may have got it cheaper elsewhere perhaps but Europcar are the only one's with a drop off locally. I'll be getting the train back up!

Regards, Poppyseed

Have just checked on the centauro site to see if there were any cars available for me to pass on info to anyone who might be interested.

I put in our dates for August which we had already booked a few months ago. We are paying 340 euros for 16 days for a fiesta (which, as i mentioned before is normally automatically upgraded, will let you know if it is, as it does say subject to availability, but always have been upgraded in the past free of charge). If I wanted to book it now it would cost 640 euros. Also, I checked the points, have 90 euros worth so far, not counting the August hire which can be used towards the car hire whenever we want it. Thought I'd mention it again as I feel it is a good deal. I didn't ask to be a gold card member, it was automatic, so not sure if you would have to use them a few times before you were entitled to become one. The rate the car hire charges are rising so every little helps

 I have a booking with Aurigacrown for 23 days starting in September. Does anyone know if that will be cancelled? If I check with the car hire company / broker am I inviting them to cancel the booking? Kevin