Cheap Rental Cars Abroad...

I have used Goldcar and Guerin in the past and make it quite clear I have my own insurance to cover the excess (https://www.carhireexcess.co.uk/). When I went to Faro last year I used Budget who had awful reviews on google but I didn't have any issues and they were cheaper than the local companies. The only extra charge you should expect is the one for the tolls if you want them to activate the tag in the car.
 
We had a similar issue over Easter going to Spain. It is worth checking out if you pick the cheaper cars in the Airport or have to get a shuttle bus to somewhere else. The shuttle bus only covered the driver of the vehicle and passengers had to wait in the airport. We found we could hire two cars for significantly less than a 7+ seater. I used Goldcar in the end and would recommend based on my experience although reading the reviews prior to going not everyone has had the same experience.....

We had a Focus estate (£110) and a Polo (£45) for a week when a Galaxy was going to be £500+.
 
Cheap, poorly reviewed places can be OK but you have to do your research and know exactly what you’re getting in for.

I use a chain over here which gets terrible reviews, but will rent me a 2-3 year old Jetta for about £5 per day. I just email them a copy of my excess insurance before arriving and they reluctantly confirm via email that nothing else is required.

I then print the email, take it down to the desk and hand it to them when the clerk starts trying to sell me their “obligatory” insurance. He then takes it to his boss who approves it, I get the car, do a walk around video showing any damage, and then drive off. I’ve done this many times and never had any issues.

It’s more hassle than with a major company, but at 23 most of them will only rent me tiny city cars, and charge me vastly more money.
 
I have my own insurance to cover the excess (https://www.carhireexcess.co.uk/).
have you ever had to claim ? are they not going to take it out of your credit card and you then have to jump through hoops to get the excess company to pay out ?

Yes - the hire car comapnies know most people will take the excess, so the daily rates are subsidised, but if someone has an accident with you, it does not ruin your holiday.
edit : Farao its £10 p/day

looks like with enterprise a megane 4days farao, all in £200
 
have you ever had to claim ? are they not going to take it out of your credit card and you then have to jump through hoops to get the excess company to pay out ?

Yes - the hire car comapnies know most people will take the excess, so the daily rates are subsidised, but if someone has an accident with you, it does not ruin your holiday.
edit : Farao its £10 p/day

looks like with enterprise a megane 4days farao, all in £200

You pay for the damage and claim it back, I haven't had to claim but my GF did and it was sorted within a week.
 
I have used Goldcar and Guerin in the past and make it quite clear I have my own insurance to cover the excess (https://www.carhireexcess.co.uk/). When I went to Faro last year I used Budget who had awful reviews on google but I didn't have any issues and they were cheaper than the local companies. The only extra charge you should expect is the one for the tolls if you want them to activate the tag in the car.

I've used Budget many times in Portugal with no issues.

When I visit the UK I only go for the well known companies as the cheaper ones in London are scam artists in my experience.
 
Spain / Portugal is generally for holiday makers on a budget so this comes as no surprise that car hire firms like to try and rip people off. Personally I would stick with one of the more familiar names.
 
When hiring on Greek islands I used to go for 'budget' airport rental, but I realized that it usually ends up costing me the same as the high end companies.

You end up in a rubbish car where you are lucky if the headlights work.
You have to pay fees and waivers when you pick the car up and they often charge you for the full tank of fuel (over priced) before you get in the car.
None of this hidden per se, but you have to read all the documents carefully to find where it mentions the extra you will pay at the airport.

With Hertz, my rental company of choice, you pay everything in advance.
You get a nice, well kept, car and you bring it back with a full tank, so you can pay normal fuel prices at the pump.
If there is a problem you can just come home and call someone here and they can easily sort everything for you, without you having to argue for 30 minutes, in a dark car park, that the dent on the car was there when you picked it up and is even drawn on the stupid diagram in the guys hand! (Bad experience)

I use the more budget rentals when I am not hiring for the entire holiday and I just want a car/moped/quad bike for a few hours from a rental place in the resort.
 
Spain / Portugal is generally for holiday makers on a budget so this comes as no surprise that car hire firms like to try and rip people off. Personally I would stick with one of the more familiar names.

The only company that has tried to rip me off in Portugal was Hertz, so whatever.
 
Got a car booked myself for a trip to Croatia later this year, booked along with my flights through Ryanair as it was the cheapest price, and its with Alamo/Enterprise so a large company
 
I hired a car in Faro Airport recently with Sixt who were fine aside from the long queues because they spend 30 minutes with each customer trying to sell them extras.

Bear in mind the algarve has the world's most ridiculous toll system - you can only pay the toll charges in post offices a few days after using the toll road and the post offices don't open on weekends. Whoever thought of that idea is a moron. As such you'll likely need to pay an extra charge to the car hire company if you want to use their tracker which pays the tolls automatically
 
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