The hidden fuel charges that pump up car hire prices

What you have described is a common theme. Although the practices of these car hire companies in Spain is far from transparent a number of problems occur because the hirer, in this case “Jo” has not read all the details carefully when making the reservation on line. For example, to have the ” Excess Waiver Included and Additional Driver” is not unusual, but I would recommend you take a screen print of any offers made online, so that you can produce this should there ever be any dispute about what was offered exactly. When Record Car said there was no additional driver included, this was a clear mistake and on your confirmation voucher which you should have with you when you collect the vehicle, it would have clearly stated this. Excess Waiver is not the same as Zero Excess, which is also offered normally during the online booking process. Even when No Excess is taken, you will still need to leave a deposit, which is for security purposes more than any other reason, as many cars are never returned !

Finally we offer the option of a full/full fuel policy in Spain, and this is what you should have taken out before arriving, to avoid the 91 EURO charge.

Last year in Spain I had zero excess insurance as part of the package booked online (with Auto-Europe), however as usual there was no cover for tyres, windows, etc, which I knew when I booked. At the desk I chose not to buy Goldcar’s expensive 7 EUR/day relax insurance to cover the rest. I had no problems but I spent the rest of the holiday worrying about it to a degree, so this year I investigated buying cover in the UK. Initially this seemed very attractive and would work out much cheaper for full cover, however after reading many reviews of the various companies servicing Malaga airport it became apparent that if you don’t pay for the extra cover locally they are far more likely to try to rip you off by saying you caused damage that was caused by some previous hirer. If they do this to you then you are very unlikely to be able to obtain the documents needed to be able to claim on whatever policy you bought in the UK, and they can charge what they like to your card without asking. Even if you could obtain documents to meet the requirements of your UK insurer then it is likely to require significant stress! Also you might end up in a lengthy battle with the insurer to get the money back. Basically you have no defence against the scam if you choose this option. On the other hand if you buy their ‘extra’ insurance locally then as a result they probably won’t try it on with you because they know you bought the insurance.

The safest option is to find the cost of the paid locally ‘extra’ insurance before you book, and just consider it part of the hire charge. Also if the fuel policy is full to empty then just assume you’re going to get ripped off with this at 100 to 120 EUR per tank that you may or may not use, and consider this as part of the overall hire charge. Assume as well that whatever they say they will charge your card in EUR will be converted automatically by their computer into GBP at a bad exchange rate. You know all this is going to happen in advance so there won’t be any surprises when you get there and it will be a less stressful experience!

What I’ve said sounds very much like it’s just ‘giving in’ to the dodgy practices they have over there. Normally I wouldn’t condone such views and would want to put up some sort of fight, but it is clear certainly with car hire in Spain that there is nothing that can be done. With the current economic situation these companies are so desparate that they’ll do anything to get your money, and they are all guilty of it to some degree.

Taxis could work out cheaper overall if you’re not doing much, but then of course they can rip you off too.