Car hire alicante

We have rented through Goldcar many many times without issue. We never buy their insurance and often get the Fiat 500 for less than £30 a week.

There is a trick to not getting fleeced, by them or any other company. Deal direct, not though an intermediary and read then stick to the contract terms. Virtually all the problems people complain about relate to themselves. 

We have an excess insurance policy for under £40 a year. We thus don't need any further insurance at the desk...however...we understand that we will have to leave an excess deposit of E1200 when we don't. We always go full to full rate on any rental. I spend a few minutes confirming the damage on the car is all recorded, then leave it back clean tidy, refuelled, withing the allowed mileage and on time. I also check it has all it's paperwork and accessories before leaving the airport. I take a video, including the mileage at both collection and return but as yet never needed it.

The reviews people leave on all hire car companies are universally poor. Read them carefully and virtually all are from people who broke the agreement.

It's probable that my recommendation of Goldcar will be ridiculed, I tell it as I see it. I do appreciate that very occasionally something will go wrong and people are wrongly accused etc.....hence my purchase of an annual excess insurance policy.

Where did you get annual insurance from ?

Reducemyexcess.co.uk

I think we got £10 back from the Quidco cashback site as well.

Goldcar.es is the direct site. Click on the flag and it's in English.

We always book a car when we book the flight, however, we check periodically to see if it's gotten cheaper. If so we simply cancel for free and rebook at the lower rate. It's amazing how much the price can vary, literally hundreds of pounds. 

You probably think I'm a right bell end for all the faff we put ourselves through but we have limited funds and every penny counts.

We are trying to do same as planning to come over regularly. We just booked a fiat 500 through centauro for 90 euros but they then charged 120 for fuel??

We never use anyone else but Goldcar. We book online and you don't need to pay anything upfront. You can save 5% but we don't. At the desk we decline their insurance excess and anything else they offer...upgrades etc. We only book full to full and you get around 100 km per day allowance. 

Payment, YOU MUST leave a deposit on a credit card of 1100 euro for the damage excess plus a second amount to cover the fuel, it was 95 last time we booked, 1195 in total blocked from our credit card available balance. This is unblocked from your credit card within a week of return so long as no damage and car was returned full. You then pay for the rental as agreed at time of booking.

We always top up in the 24hr services on the A7 motorway approx 6 miles before the airport....coming from the Murcia direction.

Hope this helps. Car hire is a flipping nightmare. I know others who keep a car in Spain (for holidays), parked near the airport, which is also a nightmare. One car was washed away near San Javier!

Some other tips we have learned along the way.

Don't hand you credit card to the desk clerk. If your credit card is declined you can't pay the excess deposit and thus must buy their insurance. They can be putting in a wrong pin code behind you back in the full knowledge you car is blocked after three failures. Those guys work on commission.

Don't even tell them you have your own insurance excess policy either. It leads to an argument over it's validity in Spain, with them etc etc......to brow beat you into buying theirs as well. 

A credit card can be unblocked, without phoning your bank, by simply getting a balance enquiry at a cash machine entering the correct pin.

Don't let them give you a "free upgrade" to a diesel car either. It's got an environment charge, per day, which quickly mounts up. Diesel is more expensive as well.

This information was hard earned after many many years business travel....I'm not a complete tool, honest!

Think all the information  you have provided  is real good nice to have good information  and good sencevas well

Where do u buy your excess insurance policy  please for 40 pounds

Search on Google for 'Car Hire Excess Insurance' lots of options.

An annual policy is better value that a one time policy.

Reduce my excess .com

We used centauro car hire from Alicante last time and it was very straight forward

It was the contact less collection service and they did not even take deposit or ask about excess….staff were still on hand and very friendly