Car hire companies profiteering big time! - Page 2

Wiber in my opinion is the best company I've ever hired from in Spain. Since they first opened though, I've noticed them increase their prices. I'm afraid in Spain, it's very much a lottery and I always have my own annual insurance to ccver the unknown! Take plenty of time/dated photos as well.

I usually book through DYS and, because of bad experiences my list of companies has shrunk considerably although I haven't been out there since 2019. Optimistically, perhaps customer service might improve since Covid!

Hi, I have always used Recordcars in Alicante airport and found them to be “honest” with their prices, in what you see is what you pay. They too have increased their prices by almost 300% last year a two week hire in August for a Quashqui was €473 with the full comfort insurance, and this year the same two weeks is €1200.

I am a member of their record club, it’s free to join and you get an extra 10% discount.

We have delayed our holiday until the end of September this year and the cost is still €742 and you have to pay up front unlike previously when you just booked the car and paid at the counter.

I am tempted to hold out a bit longer but it’s almost a gamble.

Maybe it's not a viable business model then. I think this lady is outraged that a small car costs so much more now compared to her previous experience with the same company.  If it's not a good business proposition to rent out cars then why are do many doing it. 

Car rental companies make a lot of money on insurance charges, sometimes costing more than the  rental cost but the bottom line for the customer has to be whether it is good value or not. I think the increase she outlined is exhorbitant  and I think it will put many holiday makers off.

ann - you have to appreciate the Spanish business attitude: if a business like a restaurant for example is not getting enough customers to cover their costs, they will put prices up until it balances, but this puts off more customers, so they put them up again....this goes on until they have no business and it closes. Similarly landlords with a successful business tenant will raise the rent until the business goes broke and they have an empty shop. Seen it too many times..

Don't quite follow your logic. If they all did that there would be no car hire in Spain! It only takes one company to price things right for customers and the others will follow......eventually.

Check out estate agents: the normal rate in the UK is around 2% commission, in Spain it is 5% + VAT. They argue that houses are not selling (then shout about how good the market is, time to buy etc) so they need to charge high fees to cover their costs. This means sellers try to put the commission onto their asking price, so the house becomes less likely to sell...it is all lunacy but if you ask anyone about it you get a shrug and that most annoying phrase "this is Spain..."

Yes Peter, I've seen it myself but it is not universal. I've been in business here myself for almost 14 years and that is exactly how landlords behave, charging for inflation every year when there has been none despite what Govt. determines is an official rate. Also automatically increasing the annual rent by a fixed percentage but that is not unique to Spain. It applies to most countries. 

 But that same landlord was most helpful during the pandemic so that helped enable us to remain in business.  Not all landlords are so accommodating though. 

 Usually car rental companies are franchises and operate following a business model determined by the original creators of the business.  These are often non Spanish so in this particular case it is not necessarily a Spanish mindset that operates this policy of overcharging.  Indeed, in many other Northern European countries the same attitude of over charging is often demonstrated. An example of this being the policy of charging hotel rooms on a per person sharing basis and I have not seen it in Spain. I've only ever experienced per room charges, perhaps I've been lucky.

 There are many other examples of 'rip off' in other countries and I really don't think the average Spanish business person follows that way of thinking across the board. They are much smarter than that. 

I guess I'm suggesting that in every country there are smart minds and not so smart minds at play, it's not just Spain. 

I'm not sure why you live there?

Typical agents fees in Spain are 3%, less if you haggle, and remember they operate differently to the UK. In the UK you get a board stuck outside your house and agents send prospective purchasers to you to sell your house. In the past, I've had Spanish agents drive me for miles to view properties, and that has to be paid for somehow.

Car hire charges will level out just as other industries will after (if) this pandemic ends!

In reply to Peter and estate agents fees, you are right but equally when you are putting in an offer on a Spanish property it is common here to place a 'cheeky offer' , often to the point of being insulting. Overall though you will get your property for substantially less than what you would pay in other countries. You might get a few grand off a property in Ireland or the U.K. but here that few grand can be really substantial. Our last property purchase here was 10K less than the asking price. That wouldn't happen elsewhere.

The Rental companies don’t pay retail prices for their cars, so that isn’t the problem.

For the rental companies to survive, they have had to sell off a percentage of rental cars,to save on depreciation.if you look at retail prices in June they are quite reasonable as the supply and demand isn’t there, once you hit mid July the prices rocket this year because they don’t have the amount of cars to supply at holiday season.hence the sky high prices.

And they know people will still hire.

I would hope that towards the latter end of the year it will calm down again hopefully