Hi all. I thought I would just add to this discussion instead of starting a new thread.
I was going to go with Motoluis again, as I thought they were really decent the last time I used them. Which was a good few years ago mind, but I’v heard good feedback about their services recently.
I think I left it a little too late and they didn’t have the availability for the days we wanted unfortunately.
So I had a look on the Turborentacar website and luckily we managed to grab a decent deal on a wrangler jeep for 3 days. Boom! They seemed a bit more flexible with their pick up and drop off times.
So I picked up a cracking looking jeep at 0900 in San Antonio, about 100m from the hotel.
They took a €700 deposit, which I think is quite steep. I can’t remember what Motoluis took, I think it was 200. I took out the insurance cover with them though, so I wasn’t too worried if I’m honest.
The jeep itself was spot on. Could handle pretty much anything that the roads threw at us. Well, apart from when I clipped the mirror of a builders van on the way back from Port San Miguel. Luckily the bloke was super chill and just laughed it off. Point to note, some of the little streets are a bit tight for larger vehicles like jeeps. It sharpened my senses up anyway, so that was a bonus.
We visited some of the very nice beaches on the island at Cala Vadeller, Portinatx and Port San Miguel. We got up early and out on the roads when it was still cool and quiet. This made the drive very enjoyable. My missus was the navigator, she just used a map app on her iphone and it got us exactly where we wanted to be each time.
I found it pretty easy to find parking spots at these beaches. They all seemed to have a free parking area somewhere, just as long as you don’t mind a short walk after parking up. This was at the end of May, it’s probably a lot busier in peak season.
As for driving on the local roads, I found it pretty easy to adapt to. Just remember to drive on the right side of the road if you’re British. This is easy to remember when other cars are around, but I found my mind can switch off a little sometimes when I’m on an empty road. Everything else was pretty easy to follow. I’d done a little bit of research beforehand, on driving in Spain, just to give myself a bit of awareness.
I’d say the majority of other road users we encountered on the roads were fellow tourists. So just gave them a really wide berth and didn’t hang on their rear bumper too close. Gave them plenty of room as they were in the same boat as us driving on unfamiliar roads. A couple of times I had local drivers behind me. They obviously know the roads really well so I just pulled in and let them pass. I then tagged onto them and followed their lead, making use of their local knowledge. I must make a special mention to scooter riders. I used to be a bike rider myself years ago, so I always keep an extra eye open for people on two wheels. There seemed to be scooter bikes buzzing around all over. Encountered them in the built up areas mainly, but also seen quite a few on the rural roads. I imagine it only gets worse in the busier months. Keep it in the back of your mind when you’re driving around.
We usually drove back to the hotel around early evening time and the roads seemed a bit busier now, but nothing too bad if I’m honest.
I handed the jeep back on the evening of the third day. The assistant from Turbo had a quick look around and then transferred me my €700 back. He didn’t seem too concerned, just seemed like a cursory look to check for obvious damage. I had taken a 360 video of the jeep on the first day just for my own reference, which is a good idea when hiring vehicles. No worries here though.
I must add, one thing I wasn’t too keen on was driving at night. Roads seemed a bit more manic and the dark spots put me off a little.
My concerns were confirmed one night when we were coming back from a night out in Ibiza town. We jumped in a taxi as we couldn’t be bothered waiting for a bus. Our taxi driver was a bit of a maniac driver, I swear she was doing 90 along a little road! Had some Spanish music blasting as she was flooring it. My missus was looking at me with that crazy/terrifed look in her eyes and I think she was expecting me to tell her to slow down. I was actually looking forward to my bed so I just played it cool and looked out of the window.
Anyway, the taxi driver soon chilled out when we got onto the main dual carriageway road as there was a police van cruising along. So she started taking it easy and slotted in behind them. If only they’d seen her a few minutes earlier she would deffo be getting busted I think.
So we had just pulled off the roundabout at that kind of archway entrance that takes you down toward where UNVRS is, when a car in front of us suddenly veered straight across the road and crashed into a barrier!!! The car bouncing straight back off it as if it crashed into an upright trampoline or something!
Was so random and happened in a heartbeat!
Obviously my missus was having kittens at this point.
The police officers stepped out of their van looking as surprised as us!
The driver appeared to be fine. He calmly strolled down the road rubbing his chest and then sat down at the bus stop next to us and casually lit a cigarette!
The road obviously being closed now, we went on a wild detour through some back roads past all kinds of villas and farms. I actually quite enjoyed it. Goes without saying though my missus was less than impressed. But what can you do
Think I’ll avoid the roads at night time from now on.
Side note: was tuned into Ibiza Global Radio the whole time. Was a really good soundtrack for our journeys out.
i didnt lost so much money after Record Go scaming me 230€ extra cover for credit card story, and 103€ for dirt in the card, add old car 30000km, poor aircon with 40°C in car
