Why pay extra when rental cars break down abroad?

In the past I rented a television from Radio Rentals/DER. If it went wrong they turned out same day to fix it or replace it. I am amazed that a company would consider renting you a holiday car without some sort of guarantee of reliability and help and support if their car breaks down. It’s just another made up reason for getting more money out of you. Who would risk hiring a car on that basis. I expect there’s another company that will insure you for breakdown and other costs not covered by the car hire company cheaper than them.

Over the last 20 years flying into the UK, Ireland, the US, the Philippines and Belgium where I lived, I have been a regular renter of cars. I must say that, except for a couple of times where some basics (such as Tax) we add-ons to the price quoted, I have a first class experience, even when cars had some external scratches. The only comment I would make is that I have seen many renters not even walking round the car before they drive off – major mistake! Otherwise no complaints whatsoever.

I hired a car in the US a few years ago which did get damaged. Whilst driving on a coastal road I hit some debris that fell from the cliffs and damaged the underside of the car and put slow punctures in two of the tyres. Luckily I managed to get the tyres pumped up shortly after which gave enough time to get into the nearest major town and find a branch of the rental company, which was Enterprise if my memory serves me correctly. They were totally fine with what happened and changed the car over for one of a similar class within about 30 mins and at no extra charge.

I have no idea what i’d have done had the car been broken so much I couldn’t drive the 50 odd miles to the nearest town and the thought of sitting in the pouring rain on a coastal cliff road with rocks falling around you is one i’m glad i didn’t have to experience. I didn’t check the policy for breakdown cover as I assumed it would have been included, although I wouldn’t have been surprised if a charge had been made. It’s certainly something i’d check for next time.

With regards to the cars being faulty when you pick them up, I wonder how many people would have the knowledge to make checks when they pick it up. I only have a limited understanding of cars, despite travelling way over the national average every year, so unless a tyre looks visibly flat, the bodywork is so damaged I think it will impede driving the vehicle or a dial/light shows on the dashboard then I would be none the wiser if there was something fundamentally wrong with the vehicle. I also question whether some people would have the confidence to raise any queries as anything some hire companies can be quite intimidating and often give off the air that they can’t really be bothered with you and just want to get you & the vehicle away as quick as possible.

We have just returned from Tampa in Florida. On collecting the rental car we had a hard sell on an add on called Road Safe at $12.95 per day. This was supposed to cover us for breakdowns or any other nasty occurance. Our hire period was 37 days. If you add that up it doesn’t add up . We declined gracefullyas that works best. When they slipped the contract into the wallet we saw those magic words….24 Hour Roadside Assistance 0800…..
Incidentally , the first two cars were clunkers . We took them both back and finally ended up with with something nice. Traveljigsaw refunded £25 for the inconvenience.

It really is a shame we drive on the left in some ways,as when ever l go on holiday to europe l hire a car over there as l don’t fancy trying to cope with driving on the right in a left hand car. Next time l am going to hire an auto as well,anything to make it easier. l always assumed that breakdown cover was included in car hire as the car belonged to the hire company and if l ran the company l would feel it was the companies responsibly to provide that as l think all excesses should be covered. The hire companies have an very cavalier attitude in this respect,but what the answer is l am not sure,as this is a worldwide problem and difficult to fix,you just have to have your wits about you, not always that easy when you arrive at a strange airport or city after a long journey and all you want to do is get your car and get to your destination.

should have been right hand car,in previous comment

My experience (July 2014) was that we did have breakdown cover for the vehicle and when I called the emergency number the tow truck was dispatched and arrived within an hour – TO RECOVER THE CAR.
We were expected to organise our own taxi to get us back to the rental company office to arrange a replacement. This was at our expense and as we were over 90 minutes from the Rome car rental the cost of the taxi was around £100.
This was in Italy, the car hire company was Firefly and it had been arranged through Opodo.
When we got to the rental office they didn’t have any cars big enough for our party so we had to go to another rental company and rent a new vehicle, obviously at much higher cost as it was height of the season and we had limited alternatives.
So at the moment I’m out of pocket for two hire cars for the same two weeks and in future I will pay attention to the breakdown cover small print. The stress of breaking down on an Autostrada on the first day of the holiday with a full car and all our luggage, travelling back to the rental company and finally arriving at our destination 6 hours later than planned was not good.

I recently hired a car through Holiday Autos. The supplier was Centauro at Alicante. They tried to sell their excess cover to me at 8 euros a day but I declined as I had an annual excess cover policy. When I declined they said that without their excess policy I would not be covered for mechanical breakdown. Ludicrous I thought so I still declined but worried throughout the two week holiday. I took this up with Holiday Autos because my hire voucher said breakdown assistance is covered. I am waiting to hear back. However, I have since looked up my annual excess cover ( £39pa ) and breakdown recovery, lost keys, misfuelling etc is covered under this policy so if you want reassurance take out an annual excess policy. It is still wrong that some car hire firms do not include cover in the actual hire fee; it is their car after all !!

I just hired a car at Geneva airport for travel to France for 10 days in March 2018 through Auto Europe which took me to the rental company Dollar (part of Hertz). In the weasel words in the contract, it says that roadside assistance is available for 37.80CHF (£30) per rental. If that is not purchased at the desk when collecting the car and breakdown assistance is subsequently required outside Switzerland then a “handling fee” of 540CHF (£415) will be applied. This does nothing to change my ongoing mistrust of the entire car hire industry and the cynical tricks they continually dream up.
Having said that, adding the £30, still makes my particular deal come out cheaper than the next best alternative, so I’ll be paying it. It’s just the way it is done that irks.
I have an annual car hire excess policy which covers “towing” but that’s not going to be of any use to cover what is in effect a penalty charge if the car I’m paying to use breaks down.