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Afternoon,
can anyone recommend car hire for the below please?:Larnaca (Cyprus)
Malaga (Spain)Thanks!
For LCA, I booked Sixt through Auto Europe and they were very good.
For LCA, I booked Sixt through Auto Europe and they were very good.
Thanks!
For Malaga, the imaginatively named Malagacar is our go-to. They’re not the cheapest (though prices are still very reasonable), but they include full insurance cover and no payment is required until you get the car. You don’t get any reports of the common rip-off tactics other companies try on such as telling you your payment hasn’t gone through and you need to pay again if you want the car (this actually happened to my nephew in May!)
We’ve always had new, spotless vehicles either identical or better than what we booked.
Because you don’t need to pay anything up front to get a great price, you can check back occasionally and often the price will have gone down (we saved 30 euros on a 4-day rental in May doing this).
For Málaga, I recently used Drivalia. I ordered an automatic and it was a very good car. The staff were good, and they didn’t even mention me returning the car an hour or so late.
As always, check the price direct and via two or three of the aggregators for the best price, then buy the insurance separately.
For Malaga, the imaginatively named Malagacar is our go-to. They’re not the cheapest (though prices are still very reasonable), but they include full insurance cover and no payment is required until you get the car. You don’t get any reports of the common rip-off tactics other companies try on such as telling you your payment hasn’t gone through and you need to pay again if you want the car (this actually happened to my nephew in May!)
We’ve always had new, spotless vehicles either identical or better than what we booked.
Because you don’t need to pay anything up front to get a great price, you can check back occasionally and often the price will have gone down (we saved 30 euros on a 4-day rental in May doing this).
They look really good and pretty competitive to what I’ve been quotes, especially with the additional driver! Can I double check they are ‘on airport’ instead of a bus to an off airport office? It wasn’t 100% clear to me. If so, I’ll be booking with them tonight!
Thanks for the recommendation!
For Málaga, I recently used Drivalia. I ordered an automatic and it was a very good car. The staff were good, and they didn’t even mention me returning the car an hour or so late.
As always, check the price direct and via two or three of the aggregators for the best price, then buy the insurance separately.
Thanks!
Malagacar is off site, but so are most of the rental companies at AGP. The price difference makes it a no-brainer compared with Avis and Hertz. These days we tend to stay near the airport on the first night and collect a car the following day for a less stressful travel experience – in May we stayed at the HIX AGP then walked to the rental location a short distance away the next morning.
If you want to read a few horror stories, have a look at reviews for DoYouSpain on TrustPilot! Someone recommended them as a broker to my nephew for our family holiday – they were really cheap but I read the reviews and decided they were no-go for us. My nephew went with them anyway and had to pay again when they got to the desk. I need to to ask him if he’s managed to get the first lot of money back yet! They look to have a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews but when you read them they’re often just about the booking process or look suspiciously vague and a bit fake.
Malagacar is off site, but so are most of the rental companies at AGP. The price difference makes it a no-brainer compared with Avis and Hertz. These days we tend to stay near the airport on the first night and collect a car the following day for a less stressful travel experience – in May we stayed at the HIX AGP then walked to the rental location a short distance away the next morning.
If you want to read a few horror stories, have a look at reviews for DoYouSpain on TrustPilot! Someone recommended them as a broker to my nephew for our family holiday – they were really cheap but I read the reviews and decided they were no-go for us. My nephew went with them anyway and had to pay again when they got to the desk. I need to to ask him if he’s managed to get the first lot of money back yet! They look to have a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews but when you read them they’re often just about the booking process or look suspiciously vague and a bit fake.
Thanks again, I read through some reviews last night and I see what you mean! The queuing system (@ Malagacars)for the off site bus gives me some confidence that we won’t suffer the usual free for all…Booking placed!
Ps, I hope your nephew gets his money back for the first booking!
Piggybacking on this…. any recommendations for Faro? Thanks.
They did get the money back. Turns out Do You Spain really hadn’t paid the hire company which would be one more reason never to use them!
When we first used the shuttle bus it took a while to find it so let me know if you need directions, though I think they might be clearer these days. It’s really not much further than the walk to the Uber stop.
Will do, thanks again!
Helle Hollis at Malaga. They wont play games and try to rip you off like many of the other operators. Even the big players frequently scam people at Malaga. You can use my homeowners club friends discount for 15% off, free 2nd driver and free fastlane service. H23614 is the code.
Malagacars are also good as other have said.
While this thread is still current, do all hire companies charge extra for taking a car across the border to another EU country? I noticed in the small print of our BAH/Avis booking that we’ll be charged 6 euros per day for this. It’s annoying as we collected the car in Spain but are staying over the border (which is all of 20 mins drive!) in Portugal.
Is there a genuine cost for the rental companies, or is it just another money-grab?
@NorthernLass The answer is that it depends, and it’s often difficult to find out just how much the extra charge will be. It usually is there to cover extra insurance etc.
I hired at VIE, and drove a few mins over the border to spend a week in Slovakia with Budget and they charged 10 euro/day for “Go east” cover” and additionally had to pay 12 euro for a vignette.
While this thread is still current, do all hire companies charge extra for taking a car across the border to another EU country? I noticed in the small print of our BAH/Avis booking that we’ll be charged 6 euros per day for this. It’s annoying as we collected the car in Spain but are staying over the border (which is all of 20 mins drive!) in Portugal.
Is there a genuine cost for the rental companies, or is it just another money-grab?
€6/day is a very modest cross border fee. You asked about the reasons for this previously and inter alia it covers additional insurance and breakdown recovery costs. I do love this default “money-grab” narrative!
Previously I asked if the insurance included in the rental covered other countries, which is a different issue.
If there’s a valid reason for charging it I’ve no objection and will give thought to when and where to collect future rentals! But it’s odd that it doesn’t come up more often given how many people drive around continental Europe on holiday.
@davefl alone has given several examples of “money-grabs” by Avis recently!@davefl alone has given several examples of “money-grabs” by Avis recently!
I don’t have a problem with cross border fees as long as they’re reasonable since laws/insurance/vehicle licensing etc are different from country to country even within europe.
South Africa into Lesotho required Avis to do a whole load of paperwork to get me a document to show the border control, similar with Nova rent a car going from Croatia to Bosnia to Montenegro. £20 or so each time. (They were very firm that I could not take the car into Serbia or Kosovo)
Within Schengen I can still understand it.
I have a 100% record on getting Avis to refund their incompenent/fraudulent currency charges on prepaid rentals. Totally different thing.
You should realise also that a lot of people won’t give a crap, won’t tell the rental company etc, just as those same people don’t even think to get even basic travel insurance. I’ve met loads of them on my travels, a young and very well travelled dutch girl springs to mind in Tbilisi who told me that neither she or her parents would ever consider it. It’s just not something on their radar.
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