ECONORENT CAR HIRE ****FUEL RIP OFF BEWARE*******

Hi All

I have just returned from Spain and had arranged car hire with Arguscarhire and was booked with ECONORENT from Alicante Airport.  On arrival at the office at the booked time it was all in darkness and we had to wait 25 mins before they arrived with a Hyundai Getz vehicle.  I went into the office to complete the paperwork and was charged 60 euros for a tank of fuel !!! They then gave me a ticket that I had to pay to get out of the car park and then locked up the office and took off before I had even got in the car.  When I started the car the fuel gauge didn't even touch the full marker!! When I put fuel in the car I put in 30 euros worth of fuel which was just over 28 litres of fuel and low and behold the fuel gauge went to the exact same place just below the full marker.  The car didn't have a tank that could take anywhere near 60 euros worth of fuel and this is just an absolute rip off and I feel people need to be made aware of this issue.   Please BE AWARE if you get allocated ECONORENT that they just rip you off for fuel big time!!!!  I have asked Arguscarhire to address this issue on my behalf and I will report on their progress in relation to a refund on the overcharged fuel

Personally I would'nt ever go near Argus or their agents. I made a typo when booking which meant I was paying an extra day.It took 42 e mails and threats to get a refund from Argus. Customer Service is non existent.

Sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with ECONORENT at Alicante Airport. We use ECONORENT all the time and book it through another agent. We have never been charged for fuel on any occasion, the procedure for fuel has always been to pick the vehicle up FULL and return it FULL. For a small car the cost of the fuel is never more than 30-35 Euros approx. They used to always pay for your Car Parking fee, but because they have had to move to the upper car park level they say that they can no longer do this for you. Just checked our agents website and it is still the same procedure with the fuel.

Must agree with GOLFMAD. We would never book with anyone else but Econorent. When we bought our place three years ago we tried several and Econorent are streets apart. Full to full, clean & tidy cars and Martin in the UK office of Hire Cars in Spain has always been very helpful. We fly Luton to Alicante, walk past the queues in the arrivals hall, up the stairs in the car park to their offices, the paperwork is written out and ready to sign and we are on the motorway in 10 minutes.

Regards

Susan & Glyn

 would just like to say we would not go with anyone else but Econorent, Martin is so helpfull  and as for the petrol you pick up full and drop off full no problem, you also book well in advance, but don't pay till you pick up car unlike some who take it when you first book, could be six months in their bank instead of yours, so long live Econorent you do a great job.

With Econorent, you got to make sure that you have the exact  amout of euro as the person had not got any change & we ended up in paying slighlty more as we wanted to pay cash. Also we had to pay a small car parking fee. Other than that  we have no complain. 

I was told to return the car empty so whether I have just had a bad experience or they have changed their fuel policy I don't know but I do know that 60 euros charged for fuel in a small car is having a laugh!!!  If they refund the overcharged amount I will be first to give credit where it is due but until then...... watch this space.......

 I think it depends who you book with. HCiS have an agreement for full/ full at Alicante and Murcia. I collect our car a week today and have saved 50€ on the cost by checking the price last week. A quick email to HCiSs and my booking was changed to reflect the cost cut. Never had any problems, but usually hire from Murcia. Will be using tem from Alicante in Feb, so thanks for the heads up about the parking fees, will have to ask Martin about it.

Mark

I think it must be down to who you book with! We have used Econorent the last 2 times and have booked a further 2. We book through Hire cars in spain, and have always had the full/full option which of course means you only pay for the fuel you use.

so thanks for the heads up about the parking fees, will have to ask Martin about it.

I usually go through Econorent as Hire Cars Spain have a full/full policy.  Last time I had a diesel and it only cost 19 euros to fill up after a week.

Although they have moved upstairs in Alicante and you have to pay the parking fee, I was told either cash downstairs or credit card in the machine.  The machine was easier and its the first time I've had a charge for 23p on my credit car so I shouldn't worry too much about it.

Hi all

I'd just like to re-affirm some of the positive comments concerning Econorent. We hire about 8 times a year and having discovered them some couple of years ago after traumas with Goldcar, Record, Argos etc, we would not consider any other company. Admittedly it's now a bit of a trek to their new office at Alicante airport and we now seem to have to pay to leave the carpark, when before the van was nearer and they trotted off to buy your exit ticket, but I think any bad experiences should be considered rare events and probably to do with the booking agent. Book through Hire Cars in Spain and you won't go wrong.

I understand people with positive comments about ECONORENT and I am glad to hear that they appear to be a decent company, however it was ECONORENT themselves that charged the 60 euros for fuel and not the agent I booked through!!  If they rectify the situation and prove that they are a good company I will be the first to sing their praises but really I shouldn't have been charged it in the first place......

In reality they are no different to any other hire car company offering full/ empty. They all fiddle you on the petrol. I paid 60€ for a Focus that would only take just over 40€ a couple of years ago. Try and find a company or agaent (such as HCis) that have affiliations with a company and can offer full/ full. The only problem I have had with Econorent at Alicante is being charged GBP instead of Euro.

Mark

 Hi

I have used Econorent at Alicante on many occasions pick up full and return full .when they moved upstairs to there  new office and the guy handed me the ticket to pay for getting out of the car park I was not to pleased he did explain that it was to far for him to go down to pay and come back up It was no problem when the Van was almost at the exit however it was only a few cents and better than Queues inside at all the other companys. And I have used them since and will continue to do so.The last time I used them the guy got me to walk around the car and mark all the scratches and dents on it which they never did before I was a bit amused because it was not a new car but was in good condition.

Regards

martin o

The below is the reply from ECONORENT which in my opinion is pathetic!!

We have been in contact with Traffic Econorent and they have responded to us regarding your query. They have informed us that the reason that they did not meet you at 21.00hr was that AENA Flight information had given them a landing prevision time of 21.15hr and this is why there was nobody in the office.

In relation to the fuel as I have already informed you on an email on the 28th of December 2009  car rental agents do charge premium rates on fuel and this is the reponse that we have received from them. They say that the fuel mark in that car is not working properly and didn't touch the full mark. They have provided us with a breakdown of the fuel charge on rental.

Tank Capacity of Hyundai Getz is 45L

Price of petrol was 1.1265€/L

Their premium charge  is 1.16€/L

Thus a full tank Hyundai Getz = 1.1265 * 45* 116 = €58.8033 which is rounded up to €60.

Unfortunately, we must respectfully decline a refund on the issue.

Hi everybody,

been here before but was then called 'beware of Goldcar', anyway, I have just returned from Almeria flew over on the 20th December after disruptions from the snow, Picked up my car from Aurigacrown, paid the 36euros for insurance and 40euros for fuel and was told that if I bring the car back full then my 40euros would be refunded. On returning my car this morning was told that my credit card would be credited with the 40euros. This was the price for a full tank of fuel so it wouldn't have mattered if I took it back empty. I was talking to a fellow passenger who showed me her agreement with Goldcar. 60 euros for fuel, 14 euros because it was diesel plus 46 euros for insurance. Same rip off that I had last time out. In future I will be very careful who I hire with.

Regards

Tech

Returned my Econorent car to Murcia at the weekend, should have been full/ full but our car hadn't been returned and we got a upgrade (f.o.c) on 3/4 / 3/4 (yes it was a free upgrade as I didn't pay for fuel).

I asked about paying for parking and got the following reply:

Airport parking fee at Alicante: First 20 minutes is free after the flight has arrived then after this the customer is responsible for the car park fees charged by the airport at €0.10 for every 10 mintues.

This is due to two reasons firstly for some strange reason they have had a lot of customers that go for a coffee before collecting their car and this is not right but the main reason is that they have moved upstairs and the paypoint upstairs only accepts cards and they cannot go downstairs and leave the office unattended. Most people are usually out within 30 minutes and if the plane is delayed they do not bring the car to the airport until they see it is landed/landing.

I am a little confused as to why you would be paying for extra hours/days? as the cars are brought to the car park for each flight and even when they were downstairs it usually only cost 0.10 cents.

Obviously this is a small disadvantage to the companies in the arrivals hall but I am sure you will agree it is a lot better than waiting hours in the arrivals hall! 

So hopefully that clears up some issues

Mark

We have used Econorent several times and have had no problems. On the 28th December we had an 8 hour delay, when I phoned Econorent to tell them that I had no idea when we would be landing, ( thanks to lack of info from Easyjet ) he said " No problem, I will check on internet " We finally arrived at midnight, our car park charge was a few cents. They are cheaper than any other and cars are clean and tidy.We take it back full, but find that a tank of diesel takes us a while to use up, and we travel around quite a bit , think we paid about  50 Euros for fuel throughout 2 weeks to take it back full.

Hi All,

Can somebody please email me the web address for this econorent please.

Have tried to google but cannot find?

Ta Tony

We always book Econorent through   hirecarsinspain.com .   Put in your info, dates etc, and a list of available hire cars comes up, Econorent usually at the top.