nick46

What's the crack with hiring a car abroad?
I've never done it, but I'm hoping to go to Spain in May for 4 days and will need to hire a car from Seville airport. I've had little look online and it looks like a mine field with lots of hidden charges!
So, what do I need to do and what should I definitely not be doing?

smiley

Just do it through well known car hire companies do it online easy select pick up date location boom done they do check your licence in Europe so declare any points ect

bigdel

Another tip is never take their offer of excess waiver insurance, it's far cheaper to take out a policy before you go, reducing your excess liability to zero

nick46

Yeah but the price seems to vary massively! I've done a few searches via the comparison sites such as skyscanner, and they are giving prices as little as £45 for 4 days! I then did a search directly through Hertz and they wanted something like £150ish. So what's the catch?
What's the deal with insurance? These companies offer enhanced insurance but I've read articles online to avoid these like the plague and sort your own insurance out. I've read an article in The Guardian online and they reckon you can get an annual car hire policy for £40?
Like I said it looks like a complete mine field!

bigdel

all depends what sort of car you want, and when you want to go

I just got a quote for 4 days from Seville airport in May for 4 days from 4th May from https://www.zestcarrental.com

£118 for a Focus, plus they seem to do a reasonable excess waiver insurance too, £3 a day extra so £130 all in

Mark Shead

nick46

Also when you book a car, what time do you put for your pick up and drop off times? Do you put the time your flight is due to arrive when picking up or would you put it as around 30mins later? When dropping off would you put is as around 2hrs before your flight is due to leave or the actual time of the flight?
Probably very stupid questions but I do not want to be stitched up with extra fees!

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

we had a hire car years ago in spain and i smashed into the back of another car - was an scot expat and he didnt really care as all the cars are battered there - we even gave it back and pointed the damage out to the hire company and the guy just shrugged his shoulders lol but we did take out their insurance for this very reason and it was no hassle at all

bigdel

Given your reputation for breaking things Ran, I'm surprised anyone would rent you a car, regardless of condition 🤣

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

they honestly didnt care what state the car was in lol. Most of the cars in spain are battered old wrecks anyway

Fudgey

iTrader: (4)

The Black Count

I have been going to Seville regularly for the last 10 years working in the Airbus factory on the other side of the runway to the airport and will be going again in a couple of days for just over 2 weeks, I use Europcar, not the cheapest but always reliable, friendly and hassle free. Being on the road in Seville is a nightmare, half the drivers are on the phone or engrossed in conversation with a passenger and in the mornings will be drunk, the other half are trying to get around them in any way they can, undertaking, overtaking and going through gaps a smart car would struggle with!! indicators are either not used or at the very last minute and then not turned off. Roundabouts are a complete free for all and stopping at red lights is just advisory, unfortunately a colleague got hit at a junction and lost a finger, accidents are very common. Best advice I can give you is to take out FULL insurance, be brave and forget the highway code.

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

just like driving in Southall

nick46

Well thought I better update this thread now I've returned from Spain.
I ended up using a recommendation from a work colleague and booked a car via a website called 'do you Spain.com' and went with one of the small cheap firms on there called 'Ok car rentals', again as recommended by my mate. Paid absolutely peanuts for the car and had no issues what so ever. I took out the enhanced insurance policy from 'do you Spain.com' to cover the excess should any damage occur. Now this did mean that when I picked the car up the rental company put a €1050 block on my credit card due to me not taking out their insurance which was loads more expensive than what I paid. No problem though cos if needed I could just claim this back from my insurance.
Now when it came to the car, I ended up with a Citroen C3 which was pretty gutless (but then again most things would be considering I drive a 330d with 673nm!). I went over the car with a fine tooth combe which I'm glad I did as it was littered with battle scars - some pretty obvious and others not so. The car was black so needless to say it showed up every little mark and blemish. I must've gone round the car four times and I marked down on the form they gave me every single thing. The diagram of the car was pretty much covered in circles and crosses by the time I'd finished with it! I also took photos of everything as there was no way I was being stitched up. The woman that dealt with me was quite amused by my drawings.
On returning the car, I fuelled it up when we got back (there was a fuel station right next to the rental place) and a chap came out with all the paperwork, had a quick look over the car (no where near as thourouh as I did) and all was good. Paperwork was signed off by both of us and we were shuttled back to the airport.
All in all a hassle free experience and a pleasant company to deal with, but I think thats down to me doing my homework and taking my time to check and document everything (there was another couple picking a car up at the same time and they were gone in no time! So God knows how they got on when they returned cos they obviously didn't really check everything).
Thanks for all the advice - and to anyone thinking of hiring a car in Spain, you can save a shit load of money by going for one of the cheap small companies but for God sake do your homework and when you pick the car up take your time and dont sign the check sheet until you are absolutely certain you've got every last mark, dent or scratch, and also photograph everything. I even took a picture of the odometer to verify the start mileage.
On a side note, what is it with all the cars in Spain? Pretty much every other car on the road has got big dents and massive scratches down the side of them! Do the Spanish not know how to drive or something?

focusv8

Don't think they've ever grasped this driving on the wrong side of the road thing.

nick46

Yeah that's just weird. Why on earth would you want to drive on the wrong side of the car and road! Maybe that's where they're going wrong!