Car Rental - Malaga (AGP)

Avoid Gold Car rentals in Spain, a real rip off operation. Unfortunately, many of the rental car consolidators will put you with them. All of the consolidators I usually use - AutoEurope, EuropebyCar, and Economy Car Rental, will all put you with Gold Car in Spain.

Top Car Auto Reisen has gotten good reviews on prices, service, and honesty on European timeshare boards for Spanish car rentals, but I have never used them myself.

I initially booked the only reasonable automatic I could find with Doyouspain.com for 356 euros for 12 days. It was a huge price difference between that and the stick shifts that were going for around 75 euros for the period. I tried off site and didn't find a better deal for automatic.

Based on Doogie's last post, I requested a quote from Rentacarspain and they quoted me 73 euros for the entire time for an automatic!
How could there be such a HUGE price difference between one company and another?

How will I know if they assign me to Gold car? What happens with Gold car?
If I am aware of the potential rip offs, can I protect myself?

optimist said:

I initially booked the only reasonable automatic I could find with Doyouspain.com for 356 euros for 12 days. It was a huge price difference between that and the stick shifts that were going for around 75 euros for the period. I tried off site and didn't find a better deal for automatic.

Based on Doogie's last post, I requested a quote from Rentacarspain and they quoted me 73 euros for the entire time for an automatic!
How could there be such a HUGE price difference between one company and another?

How will I know if they assign me to Gold car? What happens with Gold car?
If I am aware of the potential rip offs, can I protect myself?

Click to expand...

Optimist,

I suggest you try out Sixt. I ended up booking with them after they were recommended by the Marriott Abduluza where I am staying. The Sixt rate for an automatic ranges from Euro 125 to 145 for a week.

Doogie said:

Optimist,

I suggest you try out Sixt. I ended up booking with them after they were recommended by the Marriott Abduluza where I am staying. The Sixt rate for an automatic ranges from Euro 125 to 145 for a week.

Click to expand...

For the time I am going, the first two weeks of January, their quote is $350 to $400 (two different models). I am ok with paying that, if I know that the 75 euro quote is not legit.

Years ago I rented from Malagacar ( http://www.malagacar.com/) and had a great experience. It was much cheaper than other options and they had a plentiful amount of automautics (at the time it was very expensive to rent automatics from the major companies).

Here is the Trip Advisor thread on Goldcar. Look at the pages for the last two or three years to get a good picture. If you don't want unexpected charges, do not use them.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...sta_del_Sol_Province_of_Malaga_Andalucia.html

optimist said:

I initially booked the only reasonable automatic I could find with Doyouspain.com for 356 euros for 12 days. It was a huge price difference between that and the stick shifts that were going for around 75 euros for the period. I tried off site and didn't find a better deal for automatic.

Based on Doogie's last post, I requested a quote from Rentacarspain and they quoted me 73 euros for the entire time for an automatic!
How could there be such a HUGE price difference between one company and another?

How will I know if they assign me to Gold car? What happens with Gold car?
If I am aware of the potential rip offs, can I protect myself?

Click to expand...

For the past few years, I have used a company called Economycarhire. They are very popular, have won prizes for their service and I have had no problems with them. They use a variety of car hire companies - some in the airport but also a couple just outside the airport (mini-bus picks up and takes you to their office and garage - 3 minutes away). You can go on to their website and register with them, and when you put in the details of what you want, they show which car hire companies they are using. Some have a 'fair fuel policy' which means that whatever is in the tank when you take it, you have to bring it back with same amount in. Others companies charge you for a full tank which can add another 80euros or so to your bill, and you bring the car back empty -if you haven't used all the fuel, you don't get a refund. That's sometimes why some of them start with really low prices!!

You need to check what insurance you are getting with your deals. 'Fully inclusive' is best and covers you for most things - in UK we call it fully comprehensive insurance. Only thing it doesn't cover are tyres, window screens, replacement keys if you lose the key, etc.

Never looked at prices of automatics as they are not so widely used as in USA. But usually a lot more expensive I would think. That price of 73 euros seems way off the mark.

Good hunting

Sue

I rented from NATIONAL and had no problems. I would take my own GPS.

We are flying into Malaga but out of Granada due to flight schedules. I wanted to rent from Hertz because they have a good deal on an automatic BUT it seems Hertz doesn't have a Granada airport location - only one in the city. Anyone have any experience with this? Should I just use a different company?

Deb

We are in Marbella now and ended up renting from economy car rental in the end. I really wish I had stuck with a name brand company. The extra you pay for turns out is for good reason.
We had trouble finding our luggage and waited in line to report it as lost for a good while before finding out that the luggages arriving on transfer go to a special carousel. So almost an hour after landing, we started to look for the car rental desk. Economy does not have a desk with all the other car rental companies at the airport but I was glad to see that there was someone holding up a sign with my name when we exited the airport. We followed him for about 1/4 mile schlepping all our luggage, found the car, loaded it up only to find out that he was not from economy car rental, but from yougospain, even though they had never confirmed my reservation so I thought it was cancelled. So we had to walk back to the airport, look for the guy from economy, who was nowhere to be seen. After fifteen more minutes and asking many people if we could use their cell phones and being refused, we just turned on our U.S. phone and called him. He had left the airport. He agreed to come back and we had to schlep, one more time, to a location 1/4 mile away to find the car. The car was old and full of scratches but at this point we didn't care, we just wanted to be on our way. But just one more thing, he wanted to get paid. But I had already prepaid, I said. Ah! This was for the gas! At that point I realized why there was such a long thread about car rentals in Malaga.

If I were you, I would stick with hertz and take a cab to the airport from the Granada location in town.

Carolinian said:

Avoid Gold Car rentals in Spain, a real rip off operation. Unfortunately, many of the rental car consolidators will put you with them. All of the consolidators I usually use - AutoEurope, EuropebyCar, and Economy Car Rental, will all put you with Gold Car in Spain.

Top Car Auto Reisen has gotten good reviews on prices, service, and honesty on European timeshare boards for Spanish car rentals, but I have never used them myself.

Click to expand...

I just had a great experience with GoldCar in Malaga.

I paid about $50 a week in January for a Citroen Belingo incl. insurance through a consolidator.

No lines at the GoldCar counter and a positive surprise: You still have to pay a lot for the gas (around $150 incl. Diesel surcharge) but they now have a FlexFuel policy meaning you get a partial refund for unused gas.

I dropped off the car early in the morning before they opened using the safe and got an eMail confirming my gas refund a few hours later.

Overall I paid around $170 for driving around 400 miles incl. gas.

Malaga car hire

Its that time of year when I look to sorting out my car hire for a Christmas trip to Malaga.

Sixt is looking unusually inexpensive (£127 for 14 days), though it's a company that I have not previously used and unsure if I am overlooking some obvious add-ons that pop up at some later date.

Are they reputable and reliable ? Any thoughts, as usual, are appreciated

Thanks

We rented from Sixt in Malaga and turned the car in Madrid. They were less than half the cost other companies were charging without insurance--and Sixt included the insurance. They were very easy to deal with, and the car was a practically new Renault. We wanted a car that would hold our luggage (and we had quite a bit because we arrived in Malaga via a trans-Atlantic cruise) and keep it out of sight because we were warned that luggage theft is a real possibility in tourist areas in Spain if the luggage is visible. I don't remember the model, but it took all the luggage, and we liked the car a lot. It had a GPS, but we used our own, partly because we were familiar with it already and partly because the built in one either functioned sporatically or I was using it incorrectly.

At any rate, we were very pleased with Sixt. You'll need to take a cab to get to their office. The employees were very pleasant and all spoke English. If you aren't turning the car in where you rented it, get detailed instructions for how to find the correct spot in whatever city you'll turn it in. In Madrid, it wasn't where other rental car turn-ins were (that, of course, is one of the major reasons the price is so much lower), and we would have been in real trouble locating it if we had not had the assistance of the native we were renting an apartment from. Even he had trouble finding out where we were supposed to go, and he decided it would be best if he led us there to make sure we did actually succeed in turning the car in.

greenfrog said:

Its that time of year when I look to sorting out my car hire for a Christmas trip to Malaga.

Sixt is looking unusually inexpensive (£127 for 14 days), though it's a company that I have not previously used and unsure if I am overlooking some obvious add-ons that pop up at some later date.

Are they reputable and reliable ? Any thoughts, as usual, are appreciated

Thanks

Click to expand...

We always use Sixt in Malaga, never had a problem with them. The cars were all new and of a reasonable price. Staff were professional and there were none of the large queues and hidden extras that the budget operators had. I won't use anyone else.

I'd imagine the price is a reflection of a slow period.

Thanks for both of the very helpful replies

I am going to give Sixt a try and will report back in December

greenfrog said:

Thanks for both of the very helpful replies

I am going to give Sixt a try and will report back in December

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Just looking to rent a car in Malaga (late February) and saw this thread... any update on your experiences?

Using the 'Cars' link from the Veuling website (using them to fly from Paris to Malaga and back), they're showing some insane deals... Marbesol has a "Mini" (Kia Picanto or similar) with unlimited mileage for 29 euros for a whole week...including the collision damage waiver, apparently.

We're happy to cab it to an off-airport site to save some good money on a week's rental... just sounds too good to be true.

I would book it and think later, but you have 48 hours to cancel for free. After that it's a 20-Euro penalty.

Any other thoughts/suggestions?

I was looking to book a timeshare at Las Mimosas Beach Club but can't find much for reviews (none here, 3 on Tripadvisor) so I'll start a new thread for that one at some point.

I'm seeing a company called "Marbesol" offering a week's rental of a Kia Picanto or similar for 29 Euros, incl. unlimited mileage. And CDW insurance.
Am I likely to be hit with the fuel 'scam' on this, or some other nasty surprise?
(late Feb., Malaga pickup and return)

I would have 48 hours to cancel with no fee, or have a 20-Euro fee to cancel after that.

Anyone had experiences with Marbesol?

Thanks...

Update as promised

Our rental from Sixt went like a dream. We hired a 2 door economy car but received a 4 door compact, approx. 4 months old, clean and in perfect condition. As mentioned by previous posters, the 3 members of staff we dealt with (on pick-up and drop-off) were very helpful, professional and easy to deal with. We never felt at any point during the rental that a problem was lurking around the corner.

Definitely would recommend them and would make sure that they were the first hire company I would get a quote from next time round.

greenfrog said:

Update as promised

Our rental from Sixt went like a dream. We hired a 2 door economy car but received a 4 door compact, approx. 4 months old, clean and in perfect condition. As mentioned by previous posters, the 3 members of staff we dealt with (on pick-up and drop-off) were very helpful, professional and easy to deal with. We never felt at any point during the rental that a problem was lurking around the corner.

Definitely would recommend them and would make sure that they were the first hire company I would get a quote from next time round.

Click to expand...

That's good to hear. Always use Sixt in Spain, never had a problem and very good rates especially if you are able to pick up from a non-airport site.

I've never heard of them. The fuel scam is quite prevalent within Europe with many of these budget companies. If the deal looks too good to be true then it probably is.