BEWARE OF GOLDCAR

I always use Atesa and once when I wanted a car and they had not got any available for the days I wanted so when I complained they said don't worry they would get me a new car from Citroen which came with 15km on the clock. I returned it a couple of days later with 2,500km on the clock. I felt so bad I cleaned it before I took it back!

I have never had any problems with Atesa. Atesa is the leasing arm of citroen - highly recommended!

The problem with a lot of other car hire companies is they are tweaking their prices to apear no. 1 in the various internet portal sites and piling on the extras when you are standing in their office and have no choice. It's the same with cheap flights really?

The problem is the internet. People have no loyalty and buy on price alone. My advice is find a good company that treats you well and stick with them even if they are not always the cheapest. You get to know the staff and they get to know you and then they will look after you.

Below is another complaint about goldcar.

 For my part, I don't think Goldcar are any worse (or better) than many of their competitiors. It's just difficult to find ONE Company that is reliable and treats you as a sensible person.

I booked over the internet and found Goldcar to be one of the cheapest, 47 euros for 9 day hire, nil excess etc from Almeria airport.

However, when collecting I was charged 81 euros for a full tank of diesel, in a Fiesta...

So, I did a lot of driving, trip to Murcia IKEA from Mojacar etc. On the way back, the full low light came on about 30km from Mojacar so I put 10 euros in only to see the fuel gauge register as one third full!!! So, at best a full tank would be less than 40 euros, so how on earth do they get away with charging double the cost at a petrol station (and no doubt they arrange a discount rate for their fuel!

I'd like to see a website where not only the basic rental price is shown, but the cost of fuel and "extras" such as additional drivers, child seats etc.

If you booked a Ryanair flight for pennies and then found you had to pay again on boarding for a seat, there would be an outcry, yet rip off fuel prices are just as outrageous.

Hi Kevin

You may like to use this company who are fast getting themselves a wonderful reputation. Full/full fuel & a great personal service, mentioned a number of times on the forum.

http://alandaluscarhire.com/default.aspx

I think that the best prices are generally found via Do You Spain.  I got my Easter 2011 hire for £6 per day which is great.  If they allocate you Goldcar (who tried to charge me an extra 60 euros for fully comp last year when it was supposed to be fully comp already) then you simply email DYS to say you don't want to use Goldcar and they will offer you another company.  I will NEVER use Goldcar again after that fiasco.  Arlene.

 Goldcar are not the problem -its the UK brokers who mis-sell the insurance on the web. I for one will never use Carspain.com or any broker linked to Cartrawler a Dublin based bunch of cowboys.. I just used Goldcar for a 2 week hire through Carspain & got  royally ripped off I then extended the hire at the airport myself when the Goldcar price and service was great and much more affordable.

Another thread covers the same issues. Take out excess insurance seperately..

As I said before find one good company and stick with them and they will look after you.

When I am doing business with anyone after a couple of deals I have a discussion and to the service standard I expect. But it's fair to say Spanish companies are more difficult to do deals with and that is tied into their history of Franco days and a very poor understanding of customer service just blank expressionless faces!

I negotiate on everything and always have but price is not everything and it's service that really counts so decide what really matters to you.

The internet in many ways is a double edge sword in that you can find "cheap" but not always servive/quality.