Hire car 'downgrade'
- Thread starter HangTime
- Start date
Last time I got a 20 plate Corolla Hybrid with no sat nav, missus got a Grandland X plug in Hybrid (which they didn't charge before dropping it off so was a waste of space) that she absolutely hated.
I book an auto as our car is auto and I'm not eager to go back a manual anytime soon
Sometime in the late eighties, (I think), I picked up a mid sized Opel at Düsseldorf airport to visit my son in Bielefeld.
It was a manual, and I complained loud and long to my kid about faffing around changing gear when not on the autobahn, saying that I wished I’d pushed for an auto.
He told me that I’d have more chance of being struck by lightning than getting an automatic hire car in Germany, and that if I’d lucked out and got one, I’d have had to take out a second mortgage to pay for it.
That is for a week right? Been pricing up a car for Spain at end of week, this seems ok but Goldcar who I think i had problems with in the past? Might give it a swerve tbh, any thoughts?
Any company with "crazy" in their marketing doesn't exactly inspire confidence, quite the opposite in fact.
Best we ever had was in Oz, free upgrade to a Ford Falcon XR6. 4.0 Barra, an beast of a car. Thirsty but worth it for the 1200 miles or so we did in it.
Soldato
My experience of two car rentals in Spain and Iceland have been good, except for the last one where I got given a Dacia Sandero instead of a Kia Rio. Admittedly it was in their small print that this was an alternative within the band, it was annoying that it is, in my opinion, a far inferior car. But it did the job - 1400km in 8 days without skipping a beat.
Soldato
I had similar in Corfu where i'd booked an Audi A3 saloon or similar and ended up with an Octavia.
I quite fancied having a play inside the A3 as i was considering one at the time, but then got "upgraded" to an Octavia which was the next size up. Worked well in the end as we had 4 adults so it was a lot roomier, but it was certainly more plasticy than i'd hoped for.
I quite fancied having a play inside the A3 as i was considering one at the time, but then got "upgraded" to an Octavia which was the next size up. Worked well in the end as we had 4 adults so it was a lot roomier, but it was certainly more plasticy than i'd hoped for.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Soldato
They have always done this though havent they, advertised the class "BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, or equivalent" then a mondeo turns up
IMO like with loan rates they should be forced to advertise the most common. So if their fleet is 55% of a certain model they should be forced to list that as the model the majority will get. They may find that if they have to advertise cars people are far less interested in hiring they lose to competitors who offer what people want.
IMO like with loan rates they should be forced to advertise the most common. So if their fleet is 55% of a certain model they should be forced to list that as the model the majority will get. They may find that if they have to advertise cars people are far less interested in hiring they lose to competitors who offer what people want.
Soldato
This would seem to be a textbook example of 'or similar' to me
Oh
They even admitted they brought it out of retitement due to how busy they were. It was dented, scratched and covered in dust. The upsode is we didn't have to worry about causing anynmore minor damage.
I'm surprised they didn't try and charge you for all the damage already done to it.
10 days with the ZS is finally over; in case anyone cares:
- Road noise is really bad
- Underpowered - the 90s want their 1.5L engine back
- Interior space is 'OK' although boot a bit small
- Good size touchscreen display that is fairly responsive but has very few options / unintuitive design
Key question - value for money? They are dirt cheap after all.
why the VAT rate at 21% and not 20% ?That is for a week right? Been pricing up a car for Spain at end of week, this seems ok but Goldcar who I think i had problems with in the past? Might give it a swerve tbh, any thoughts?
Soldato
Presumably depends which country he's booking it in
For people looking on the budget end I don't see what they offer over a Tivoli XLV Ultimate, which has way better spec, much bigger boot and longer warranty (although maybe question mark over this given the state of Ssangyong) for the same price.
Maybe in EV form they would be worth considering but presumably the road noise would be even more annoying, quiet running but you can't tell because of the huge racket on the motorway.
Because it's in Spain where VAT is 21%.
Thanks . I failed to notice that
More nonsense from Europcar, we'd paid for collection and chose a 16:00-17:00 timeslot so when 5pm came and went she phoned up to be told they weren't going to pick up the car until tomorrow! This is nonsense because:
1) We weren't informed of this change and had to phone up to find out
2) Need to go out tomorrow so might not be around waiting for the car to be collected
3) Insurance ended at 16:00 today but apparently we'd still be liable for the vehicle, so what if it got stolen or damaged?
Definitely won't be using this mob again.
1) We weren't informed of this change and had to phone up to find out
2) Need to go out tomorrow so might not be around waiting for the car to be collected
3) Insurance ended at 16:00 today but apparently we'd still be liable for the vehicle, so what if it got stolen or damaged?
Definitely won't be using this mob again.
Associate
Wouldn't touch Europcar if they paid me. They once canceled a car we hired on a sunday without telling us, we were left stranded in middle of france late sunday with nowhere to get another hire car.
Took us over 6 months to get our money back, and they only did it bacause of the French equivalent of Trading Standards.
Took us over 6 months to get our money back, and they only did it bacause of the French equivalent of Trading Standards.
Soldato
This is quite normal behaviour for them all IME. Pre-covid I used Avis quite frequently through work (enough to hit Presidents Club status) and sometimes cars wouldn't be collected for days at a time. I think they use delayed collection as a form of car storage. At one point we had maybe 10-15 Avis cars in the work car park all awaiting collection.