Useful Tips For Booking a Hire Car in Spain
After the cost of the flights and villa, the next most expensive item on your list of holiday costs is usually the Car rental. What you may not realise, however, is just how many car rental companies are out their chasing your booking! Fierce competition means lower prices to tourists, but it also means that car rental company margins are reduced, which adds pressure on them to find ways of making money out of their customers. The information that follows will help you to avoid some of the problems and additional costs that the care rental companies may try and levy.
Rental Costs and Mileage
The cost of hiring the identical car, for the identical period and even from the identical company can vary dramatically. This is down to a lot of factors. Hiring at the airport is always more expensive if you don't have a booking, so make sure you book before you leave the UK. Most pre-booked car companies in Alicante don't charge extra according to how many miles you drive, but a couple do. This is more prevalent at Valencia airport, where a lot of those hiring cars are businessmen and not tourists. If you just want to hire a car for a few days and not for your entire stay, then it is usually cheaper to book with a local company in Javea. Again, a little shopping around will save you money. When you are here all you need do is pick up a local English paper and you will find loads of car rental companies advertising. It is also more expensive if you pick up a car at one airport and drop it off at another.
Model and Size of Car
The more expensive the car to purchase, the more expensive is the rental in Spain. Also, a very minor increase in the size of the car can mean significant extra rental costs. Most of the cheaper companies will not reserve you a make and model, but rather just tell you a 'band' of car (A, B, C etc.).The cars in the cheapest band tend to be very underpowered and have virtually no boot space. Great if you are a couple without luggage, totally impractical if you have a family. The second band tend to be marginally more expensive, but will offer very little extra space, which usually means that a family of four will opt for band C or equivalent. But as this band is the most popular, the prices jump up markedly. So before you book think about your luggage. We are a family of four and have a policy of taking only one large fixed hard suitcase, one large holdall and a piece of hand luggage each. (Its amazing how much you can avoid taking on holiday, simply because most of it never gets used by the pool and because of the heat!) This simple policy can save £100 on a fortnight's rental due to being able to fit into a band B or equivalent car. If you are a large family then clearly this is not a possibility for you, but the principal is the same. If you can fit into a larger car and avoid the estate or people carrier, then you can save up to £200 on your holiday costs..
Petrol
Petrol policies vary by company, but most will give you some petrol in your tank and expect you to return it with the same amount in its tank. If this is the case you will save yourself money by filling the car up to the necessary amount BEFORE you return it. Otherwise, the rental companies will charge you for refilling it and at a much higher rate per litre of petrol than the petrol stations.Petrol is much cheaper in Spain than the UK, so if you over fill it a bit to be on the safe side it won't cost you a lot to be safe. Most petrol stations in Spain have manned pumps who will ask you how much petrol you want. Just tell them the cost of the petrol you want to spend in Euros and that is exactly what they will put in.
Insurance
One of the biggest scams in the holiday business is insurance (both travel and car hire). Travel agents, online booking engines, travel insurers, breakdown assistance companies and the man on the desk at the car rental pick up desk all have a form of insurance to offer you. The funny part is that none of these cover the same thing. The most annoying and most frequent scams is when you pay for CDW (collision damage waiver) when you book the care hire in the UK and yet when you arrive you are told that this doesn't cover damage to tyres, wing mirrors and bumpers! This gives you two choices. If you are going to 'buy them all' you may as well do this when you arrive at the airport. The difference in cost per day is marginal to what you pay through your UK booking agent. The second choice involves selecting only what you hope you will need. Before deciding, have a read of the note below on 'Prior Damage to the Car'.
Prior Damage to the Car
Few cars available for rent in Spain are free of scratches, scuffs and minor dents. The question is 'did you do it, or was it the person who rented it before you?' The last thing you want to do when you arrive late at night at the airport is spend time arguing with someone over the state of the hire car. So here is a little tip. As soon as you get to your hire car and before youit, take out your video camera or digital camera and take a few pictures of the outside of the car. If your hire car is parked next to wall, make sure you move it and take pictures of the side by the wall. One of the most common ways of hiding prior damage is to make it difficult to notice any damage when you first get to the car, by parking it up against something, or in a dark area of the car park.. Also, whether you have a camera or not, take the slip of paper provided by the rental company and check to see if the marks on the car are crossed on the diagram of the car. If its not, draw them on the diagram and show it to the rental office BEFORE departing.
Booking Agents or A Rental Company?
Booking agents are companies that don't actually own any cars, but use their own brand. Some quite big brands use networks to provide the cars and don't own any cars themselves. Other companies have their own fleets in one country and exchange customers with a similar company in another country. Why is it important to realise this? Because it can save you a lot of time and trouble when you arrive in Spain. A good example is Holiday Autos. When you make a booking with them for example to Alicante, you could actually be seen to by one of three companies. These companies then actually supply the cars under their own brands locally. In this way they can often sell very low cost car rental over the internet, because their system defaults to the company who has the lower cost available at the time of booking. The problem arises when you get to Alicante and you are not sure which of the three companies you are supposed to be dealing with. This process can be very slow. On two separate occassions members of our family have had to call their helpline in the UK, be transferred to India and have someone in India fax the local office in Alicante to confirm exactly which local company is the one to use. That would not be too bad, but when there are twenty people in the queue ahead of you this process can cause long delays. If you are going to use a booking agent then make sure you get the exact details you need from them before you travel.
Paperwork at Pick Up and Drop Off
The paperwork process for hiring a car in Spain is usually a manual and dreadfully slow process. You can help by making sure you have all the necessary information required in hand when you arrive at the pick up counter. So it is wise to allow for some extra time on the ground in case of queues. The companies will take a credit card deposit and all your passport and driving license details. The process when you return the car can be a lot quicker. But beware! If you have used a credit card as your deposit, you might find that a deduction has been made when you get your bill. This is because the rental staff of some companies are told to go and find any scratches etc. and then make sure that a deduction is made if the correct insurance cover has not been taken out by the renter. One very simple way to avoid this is to insist on accompanying the car rental member of staff as they check over the car. This may delay you for a few minutes, but will ensure you get no surprises when you get home.
Take Care of the Vehicle When Parking and Driving in Spain
There are a lot of narrow streets in Spain. If possible, fold in wing mirrors when the car is parked. Park slightly out from the kerb until you are used to the car, so as not to scuff the hub caps. Give way to anyone competing for a position and never leave anything in the car when its parked out of sight. Simple and logical yes, but arguing with rental companies over damage is an absolutely painful experience you would do well to avoid. Bear in mind too that the Spanish drive differently than the British and often do things you would not expect. Especially on motorways and when overtaking. So it pays to be patient. Also, whereas once the Spanish police were very lenient on drink driving, they now have really clamped down and have far more power to stop you and take action than do Police in the UK. So think twice about that extra drink!
Javea Car Hire
As it is usually cheaper to hire a car locally, rather than at the airport, some prefer to pre-book their car hire with a local Javea firm and then have a representative meet them with the car at the airport. This can work quite well. If for whatever reason they can't meet you, however, its more expensive to hire at the airport without pre-booking.
Javea Cars, Ctra. Cabo la Nao, Pla 37 Javea. 96 579 3312.
Sol Mar 96 646 10 00.