Have you been hit by extra car hire costs?

All car hire companies at Malaga operate arip-off on fuel.Their policy is to collect the car full of fuel and return it empty. The fuel is charged at premium rates. They will not allow the old policy of collecting the car full and returning it full.On a short time hire, which I do several times a year, this adds up to quite a bit as I never use anything like a full tank. The cars they rent out are almost falling apart with over 100,000 km on the clock.

Another thing to be aware of a Malaga airport is fraud on the credit card. Earlier this year I rented a car from one of the big players at the airport.In the confusion (over 1 hour wait to register) the clerk did not return my credit card. Before I could cancel it, 1500 euros had been frauduelently taken from it.

On the question of insurance, I take out CWD on line in the UK.At Malaga airport they want 4 euros a day insurance to cover tyres and windows, otherwise there is a 500 euro surcharge on any damage.

It would be good to see some EU legislation to control these companies.

I was ripped off by Europcar & Carhire3000 recently. They claimed I had done over 800 km, when I had in fact only done about 400. As I had no signed documentation of odometer readings, I have no proof – but I am so tired of car hire scams. Do I really have to take digital pictures of the car on pickup from all angles, including the instruments, get people to sign for every tiny scratch – or risk being ripped off? In this case it was £30, but it could have been any amount.

I hired a car for four days from Budget, picking up at Belfast International airport. I was quoted £103 with an additional charge of £25 for an airport pick up. I was amazed at the actual charge of £225.50. I have requested a full breakdown of the additional cost from Budget but have received no reply. The whole on-line quotation system is farce.

I was caught speeding while driving a Hertz car, and have just been charged £42 just for the”service” provided by Hertz in making my details available to the authorities. The T&Cs state that “if Hertz is required to pay and/or process road tolls, fines, charges or associated costs, we may charge you an administration charge for doing so. The amount charged from Hertz Corporation is not in regard to the amount of the fine, but just an administrative expense to work on the files”.
Is £42 a reasonable amount to enter a registration number in a database, get a name an address an send it out? Has this practice ever been challenged?

We’ve also been ripped off by carhire3000. Although the car hire was fully paid for in the uk, we had to purchase a full tank of overpriced fuel once at the car hire office.The car hire was supposed to be at the airport but it was offsite in an industrial unit- we had no choice at that point. The car we hired broke down on the last day. It would only travel at 5mph. We had to leave it at the hotel. The hotel tried phoning the company in Spain but there was no answer. We took a taxi to the town to visit the office but it was closed. We phoned carhire3000 as soon as we walked through the door in the uk. Then we emailed the next day. I have now been charged £500 on my credit card for two extra days hire (they say the car was ‘missing’), a car key and the tow truck! We are trying to dispute this but carhire3000 say it’s not their problem, take it up with the company in Spain. I used my credit card to buy the fuel but the car was hired in my husband’s name… do they have the right to do this?

I agree with Jem that you don’t need to take out the car hire company’s expensive per day Excess Waiver or SCDW policies. Use icarhireinsurance at http://www.icarhireinsurance.com a London based insurance company who specialise in annual and day policies for anywhere in the world. £2.99 per day in Europe for extensive extra cover for any hire car. Would like users of icarhireinsurance to give feedback to Which? magazine on any difficulties experienced, if any.

On holiday from Canada,I need a one- way rental from Edinburgh to London.
Ordered car on-line from Budget Car Rentals,Edinburgh Airport.On arrival at Budget ,salesman suggested an upgrade for better driving comfort ,at greatly reduced price(35 pounds versus 67) Signed a rental contract that was difficult to understand,especially the actual cost of the upgrade per day.The estimated total cost was higher than expected,but not able to question it after departure because not given copy of the contract . Just given a small document ,which was even more vague regarding what exactly the estimated cost comprised of.
Returned car at Gatwick Airport,where there was no one from Budget ,who could address my concerns.
After contacting customer service head office ,on return to Canada,it took them one month to respond,which basically amounted to; sorry but you agreed to every charge,as evidenced by rental contract signature .
On reviewing the rental contract,it appears that all the charges were circled beside my initials after my departure.Had I been given a copy of the contract at the start,I would have challenged the salesman immediately.The facts are: 1. I did not ask for an upgrade.2. I did not ask for windshield insurance,and 3. I did not as for theft insurance.
I essence,I ended up paying over 900 pounds ,when I should have been billed half as much.

i.hired a car from europcar hire car on line for 1 week at bournmouth uk airport.i paid upfront.113 pounds when i collected it i was asked for a total of 304 pounds which is a 200% increase on original price a total ripoff .geoff.

Yes.! Sometime due lack of knowledge about car service, you have to pay extra bugs.

When enquiring about car hire included in our Thomson Villa Holiday in Portugal for 3 adults and 2 children we were informed the price was for 2 x 4 seater cars and if we wanted a 5+ seater it would cost over £200 (the original car has only 4 seatbelts and not enough room for luggage for 5). Has anyone else had this issue or been able to resolve it in a sensible way? Two of the adults in our party do not want to drive abroad.

Car hire prices in the UK (particularly at UK airports) are a consumer rip off and in 2017 impossible to accurately compare. This is yet another financial rip off with little control run on the same lines as most insurance company car insurance premium calculations. The car hire company small print hide a multitude of pitfalls, descriptions and charges that are not easily understandable up front and reasonable. Studying Mandarin is a better option. Damage excesses of £1250? Premium location fees – airports? Tyre, windscreen, clutch failure or damage ‘get outs’ and additional excesses are all sensible but not shown in on screen quotes (Unless of course you like & prefer Russian roulette?) Full excesses for all cover with maximum driver protection ie SCDW & mechanical damage etc should be present in all quotes as a mandatory requirement at the start of any quote, for all comparisons. Consumers can then agree to reduce their hire costs as they wish, rather than find a quoted £19 day car hire is nearer £65. Consumers should not be pressured into additional fees and be confronted by hidden costs from car hire companies in a stressful time starved state at the airport arrivals. Beware too the con tricks of a fuel tank out ‘full’ – In the ‘hurry’ to check over the exterior of the car in the hirer queue. Few hirers bother to check the fuel gauge circled by the hire staff as ‘FULL’ at start up before driving away. If you find it 3/4 full as you are on your way down the motorway – it can be an expensive hire if you already down on fuel by a quarter of a tank (at a cost of £20 upwards) with a full tank or worse expect the hire company to refuel your car at exorbitant fuel prices. I hope this isn’t yet another ‘con trick’ to reap profits?

I find when I am looking for quotes now, that most of the rental companies are offering Collision Waiver Damage for “free”. I think they have switched on to the fact that a lot of people are savvy enough to arrange their own Car Hire Excess Insurance. Consequently how can you ask them to deduct the cost of something which is “free”? It would be good to see a response from Which? on this.

Hi,
Thank you for these useful article and tips.
I just rented a car in Barcelona to explore the city and to drive along Spain. I have Visa Gold which specifically covers Spain, and a letter to show this. The agent at the car rental desk didn’t care to see it. He just put a EUR 900 hold on the card and we were on our way.
The insurance excess on this car was EUR 900 and the guy at the desk offered me excess waiver at EUR 17/day, which total EUR 153 for the entire rental period.
Unfortunately icarhireinsurance don’t offer the product to non EU residents. Someone introduced me to https://www.carinsurent.com which covers the “excess” insurance at a low annual fee and offers car hire excess waiver insurance to non EU residents. Anyone needing to buy cover in Spain might contemplate this, but you need to understand the system, as this is not “complete” cover, just the last part of it