Car hire scam!!

P

PACHA CHA

New Member
HEY ALL!
I've noticed most Spanish car hire companies are asking you to return hired cars empty...which is impossible when you only have the car for 4 days!
On top of this they charge 60-70 euros for the full tank they give you!
They must be making a bomb out of this con!
Anybody know of a way around this?
 
I noticed that when looking for car hire earlier in the year, I think when i checked through carjet they had the same facility so i cancelled and went through BK rent a car (via doyouspain) whose policy was to give you the car with a full tank of fuel, charge you for it, but refund the whole amount if you returned it back full. However when i was there last week they gave me car with half a tank of fuel and didnt charge anything just told me to return it half full again. Would recommend them as they were cheap and on site at the airport
 
we got ours through the spotlight links, 'motoluis' - 55 euros for one day for a ford focus - 10 quid each between 4 - good value & at two days notice. would heartily recommend. if they had a smaller one it would have been more like 35-40 me thinks.
 
The company I booked with is Holiday Autos...who subcontract to "HIPER MENORCA IBIZA"
They are a lot cheaper than the other ones, but they make up the cost with this scam....it sucks....I'm gonna be kicking off at the airport!
I mean...how am I going to use up a full tank of fuel, in 4 days on the tiny island of Ibiza? Especially as I'll only be going to cala d'hort or Salinas most days! :twisted:
 
if your not happy then walk away, surely you read the terms and conditons when you booked?

There are plenty of cheaper alternatives around but you might have left it a bit late to get something alternative now though.

Google is your friend:)
 
Well, in the long run it works out the same price as other companies as the original quote is so cheap.
They just use this tactic to bump up the price when you get there....which is a scam!
 
We hired a jeep last time from BK autos in San An bay. We got the car with about a 1/4 tank and stuck €20 in for 4 days took it back and it was no problem. We organised it on the net through Amigo Autos, who were rubbish. I had to phone them 3 times to find out were the car was and spent about 2 hours trying to find it.:evil:
 
Hiper car rental

Hi this is the rental condition on cars hired fom Hiper FUEL:
The fuel consumed during the valid contract period will be payable by the lessee, the lessee must refuel the vehicle with the appropriate fuel.
The vehicle will be given with a full tank of fuel and has to be returned full except if:

a) the rent is more than 10 days,
b) airport drop offs
c) returns out of offices opening hours.
In these three cases, lessee will be charged for a full tank of petrol, price variable depending on the model of the car and lessee is asked to leave the tank of petrol as empty as possible.

so reading into that 1 to 10 days if tank full return full after 10 days tank full bring back empty
 
This is still ongoing. Avoid Hiper Car at all costs.

We had to wait for a bus and then as it was too busy my wife had to wait back at the airport for over an hour whilst I picked up the car. Service very, very slow when I had already completed everything on line and the car is a hunk of junk.
 
well I guess your loophole is 'as empty as possible'. If you are here for 4 days then you should not be reasonably expected to do marathons and loops around the island to empty the tank.
 
shane_saintsfc said:
It's not scam as it's written in the contract when you book.
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When I booked via Holidayautos car hire price comparison site it does not provide any T&Cs. Normal car hire companies do not do this, so in my books a scam.

A warning for those that are interested not to use Holidayautos or Hiper Car.
 
I had the same thing when I went out for openings. Full tanks and return empty for 4 days. I used just over half a tank. I don't think it's a scam though as a high percentage of companies do this and was explained when I picked up the car so I could have said no and walk away.

3 days and under - Pick up full and return full.

4 days and over - pick up full and return empty.
 
Dirk Bigler said:
When I booked via Holidayautos car hire price comparison site it does not provide any T&Cs. Normal car hire companies do not do this, so in my books a scam.
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Dirk Bigler said:



A warning for those that are interested not to use Holidayautos or Hiper Car.
Click to expand...




The problem there is with holiday autos not with Hiper in fairness. These intermediaries don't disclose the principal hire company until you've committed and purchased. Most do, however, allow you to drill down to fuel policies. I phoned them on the one occasion I used them to check the exact fuel policy on a quote before booking.



Hiper are by no means the worst of the 'alternative' companies at the airport... and I can say that having had to use most of them at some point due to stupid flight times arriving after the in-terminal desks shut at midnight. Their shortcoming is the age/condition of their cars. Goldcar have very new cars but their fuel and insurance conditions are harsh even for short hires :arrow:


On another thread (re Menorca) ...


kimajy said:
“Dealing with Goldcar” (skip if you're not interested in cars or rentals !)


Goldcar in fairness are one of my least favourite car hire firms after a terrible experience in Malaga. Amigo Autos stitched me up with them :evil: (inexperience of Menorca firms, little time to research and desperate to get something pre-booked before midnight I went for a voucher and wound up with this !). Here, sited on an industrial estate 10 minute drive away from the terminal car park. Only one minibus driven by a very ‘likely lad' with an 8-person capacity. Having waited out the first shuttle, when he returned it was a scrum to get on :evil:.


The English were trying to be polite – and weren't gonna get on this one either it was quite clear. Spanish girls were taking advantage of others' "manners" scrabbling to q-jump :roll: and quickly filled the bus :evil:. Mayhem. I threw my suitcase in the back and shoved my booking under the driver's nose. He said it was full and I'd have to pay the fine for over-capacity. But got in anyway and told him that's “fine”, let's go :lol: .. all the other Brits were left on the forecourt again.


About ½ an hour more queuing on arrival with two girls servicing the whole operation and a dodgy printer :roll::roll::roll:. Was polite but bristling by the time I got served. Immediate attempts to strong-arm me into extras. Forced to buy a 110Euro tank of fuel and despite a 2-day hire was warned they were not authorised to ever refund it in full as their T&Cs said “must be returned as empty as possible”. Plus they checked the mileage and charged that way if they liked even if I filled it. What bolloc*s :evil::evil::evil:. Tried to force me to buy 40Euro insurance on a 30Euro rental by threatening I had no 24-hour emergency cover and only 3rd party insurance so in effect an unlimited damage excess without it 8O.


Plus I had to pay 600Euros 3rd party damage excess on the spot. Well, I had standalone excess protection to £3,000 already so I risked it and said no thanks. Must be one of the few people ever to do that but hate this sort of sharp practice. F*ck it.


On the ‘plus' the car was very new, upgraded, diesel Citroen C4 with lots of oomph and a cracking set of speakers 8):p. On the minus it was scratch and dent-free 8O .. and getting the knack of opening the boot was quite another matter ! :?
Click to expand...
 
Dirk Bigler said:
When I booked via Holidayautos car hire price comparison site it does not provide any T&Cs. Normal car hire companies do not do this, so in my books a scam.
Click to expand...
That's just not true.

I've used 4 different agencies in Ibiza (Hiper, Centauro, Europcar, Arigacrown) and at some point or other all I've had pick-up full, return empty rentals with each. My rentals are usually for 10-14 days.

I suppose it's not the best for short rentals, but for a week+ I really see no problem with it. I usually use at least a full tank. Plus, the price they charge you for fuel is the market rate so no gripes there.

Chief point being: it's not a scam.
 
Well, Holiday Autos are a bit quirky. I've booked with them twice for Ibiza this summer - one has come out with Centauro in June with a return empty policy, the second in September with Atesa with a return full policy. Funnily enough, the 'return full' car is for 14 days and the 'return empty' is just for a week.

The other problem is that you don't find out until you've paid and received your voucher. Not massively bothered at the end of the day but i think there IS something a bit grasping about the return empty policy, particularly for short periods.

And even if you did somehow manage to use all the fuel in the tank you've still ended up paying over the odds for the initial tank compared with doing it yourself at a garage.
 
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