Car hire in Malaga Airport?

[elguiri]

Does anyone have any experience of car hire in Malaga Airport. The usual suspects of Hertz, Sixt, Europcar, Avis, Budget and Enterprise all seem to be there, along with a huge selection of local ones (which are about a third of the price of the others)
Looking for short/no queue on-airport pick up, reasonable price and if possible child seat included for free.

I am Avis preferred, Hertz 5 star.

• This topic was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[Aston100]

Malaga seems to be one of the worst places for dodgy car hire firms, and there are reports about dubious practices by even the big name operators (finding ‘scratches’ and other ‘damage’ after you’ve returned the car, and things of that nature).
Helle Hollis is the firm I used and which was also recommended by a whole bunch of people on sites such as Tripadvisor.
They have a complimentary minibus that picks up / drops off. Only a 2 minute ride from the airport to their premises.
Go full to full on the fuel policy; there is a petrol station a couple of hundred yards away.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[elguiri]

Aston100 wrote:

Malaga seems to be one of the worst places for dodgy car hire firms, and there are reports about dubious practices by even the big name operators (finding ‘scratches’ and other ‘damage’ after you’ve returned the car, and things of that nature).
Helle Hollis is the firm I used and which was also recommended by a whole bunch of people on sites such as Tripadvisor.
They have a complimentary minibus that picks up / drops off. Only a 2 minute ride from the airport to their premises.
Go full to full on the fuel policy; there is a petrol station a couple of hundred yards away.

Thanks, with a 4yo in tow, would prefer not to have to have an additional bus in the process though.

[Aston100]

elguiri wrote:

Aston100 wrote:

Malaga seems to be one of the worst places for dodgy car hire firms, and there are reports about dubious practices by even the big name operators (finding ‘scratches’ and other ‘damage’ after you’ve returned the car, and things of that nature).
Helle Hollis is the firm I used and which was also recommended by a whole bunch of people on sites such as Tripadvisor.
They have a complimentary minibus that picks up / drops off. Only a 2 minute ride from the airport to their premises.
Go full to full on the fuel policy; there is a petrol station a couple of hundred yards away.

Thanks, with a 4yo in tow, would prefer not to have to have an additional bus in the process though.

If you look on google maps, you’ll see the Helle Hollis site is well within walking distance from arrivals – 5 mins tops I reckon.

EDIT: go away Captcha

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[NorthernLass]

I’m using MalagaCars next month following a number of recommendations on here. Off-airport but they are certainly cheap and no payment is required until you collect the car. Packages with unlimited mileage and full insurance cover look to be excellent value.
They also respond very quickly to any email queries.

[bruinbrown]

We used Hertz at Malaga airport back in December 2019 and they were fine. The car was clean, no problems returning it etc etc. The only issue was that they didn’t understand the 4 hour hertz grace period that you got with hertz status but it was all sorted quickly

[elguiri]

NorthernLass wrote:

I’m using MalagaCars next month following a number of recommendations on here. Off-airport but they are certainly cheap and no payment is required until you collect the car. Packages with unlimited mileage and full insurance cover look to be excellent value.
They also respond very quickly to any email queries.

Hmm, I’ll see if I can find those recommendations through search then. I know TA has a load of people either saying good or bad things about them, but also seems like half of them were confused as to whether it was malagacars or malagacarhire they used…

Actually had firefly on Amex Travel pop up at £9/day. But then I read the reviews.

[elguiri]

bruinbrown wrote:

We used Hertz at Malaga airport back in December 2019 and they were fine. The car was clean, no problems returning it etc etc. The only issue was that they didn’t understand the 4 hour hertz grace period that you got with hertz status but it was all sorted quickly

Was there jump-the-queue or suchlike with status?

[NorthernLass]

@elguiri – I think their website actually stresses that they are not Malaga Car Hire 🤣

[Jan M]

Goldcar is usually OK. Not used them in Malaga but used them extensively on the Canaries. If you use the discount code “MyGoldcarClub” (from memory) you get 35% off.

[Aston100]

Jan M wrote:

Goldcar is usually OK. Not used them in Malaga but used them extensively on the Canaries. If you use the discount code “MyGoldcarClub” (from memory) you get 35% off.

Goldcar is the firm that seemed to have most of the complaints when I was doing my research. So many negative comments on TripAdvisor, mostly regarding additional charges for damage that you didn’t do.

[NorthernLass]

There are numerous articles dedicated to how bad Goldcar is!
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/travel/goldcar-rental-so-bad-it-has-its-own-complaints-website-34193/

We have used Europecar a couple of times. They also have some pretty bad reviews but we’ve never had an issue. I don’t know if a combination of being a Spanish speaker and doing a thorough examination of the vehicle (with photos) prior to driving away makes them less likely to mess us around.

[bruinbrown]

elguiri wrote:

bruinbrown wrote:

We used Hertz at Malaga airport back in December 2019 and they were fine. The car was clean, no problems returning it etc etc. The only issue was that they didn’t understand the 4 hour hertz grace period that you got with hertz status but it was all sorted quickly

Was there jump-the-queue or suchlike with status?

When we were there, I’m pretty sure there was no queue at all when we turned up so didn’t need to bother with queue jump or the like.

[elguiri]

Hertz don’t offer free additional driver for Amex Plats do they? It’s coming out same price as Avis at the moment, which does give us that via BA

[memesweeper]

NorthernLass wrote:

I’m using MalagaCars next month following a number of recommendations on here. Off-airport but they are certainly cheap and no payment is required until you collect the car. Packages with unlimited mileage and full insurance cover look to be excellent value.
They also respond very quickly to any email queries.

I’ve used them, no issues.

[colinc57]

Some places look walkable but means crossing main road. I used Wiber…. Buying their all inclusive package ( insurance) upfront. Damage- no problem. Would not like to have relied on third party cover though.

[nn]

we rent 7+ times a year – malagacar every time. i don’t even bother checking prices elsewhere.