** Vehicle Hire queries **

davidm25

*sorry for cross-posting, I missed this tread originally*

We're heading to Portugal for the family holiday this summer and will be hiring a car at Lisbon airport. I've never rented a car in Lisbon before so looking for some advice for what rental company to go with (or not) for this. Any experience or recommendations you could share would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave

pajor

Dinarius wrote: »

Can I hire a car in Dublin and hand it back in London?

It would be for one day.

If yes, any recommendations?

Thanks.

D.

According to a quick Expedia search, Hertz offer the above. Costs nearly €2000 though..

Marcusm

Dinarius wrote: »

Can I hire a car in Dublin and hand it back in London?

It would be for one day.

If yes, any recommendations?

Thanks.

D.

You may be able to hire one in NI and return it in London. Enterprise used to allow this.

Marcusm

davidm25 wrote: »

We're heading to Portugal for the family holiday this summer and will be hiring a car at Lisbon airport. I've never rented a car in Lisbon before so looking for some advice for what rental company to go with (or not) for this. Any experience or recommendations you could share would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave

I found Hertz/Dollar/Thrufty good and price competitive in Lisbon and Faro (separate trips) this year. Basically all the same company with differentiation through the contract (eg Dollar has mileage limits). All major companies at terminal in Lisbon.

coylemj

davidm25 wrote: »

Thanks everyone - for those who booked with a company and had a good experience (Centauro and National have been mentioned), did you take the 'full' car insurance package or stick with an excess one?

The insurance that you buy at the rental desk is always more expensive than an excess policy you arrange yourself. And the rental company policy will often not cover glass and tyres while a lot of excess policies do.

There's really no contest - an excess policy with AIG covering rental in Europe costs €25 for 7 days or €50 for 12 months. You will still get the hard sell at the rental desk because they get a big slice of your money as commission when you buy their cover but if you are renting from the big companies, they dont push it too hard and will back off when you say that you have your own policy.

The practical difference on the day is that if you decline their cover, the rental company will block an amount of money on your credit card to cover damage, if you have a debit card they will withdraw this money from your account. If you do bring the car back damaged, you pay for the damage (up to the level of the excess), get a receipt and claim from your excess policy when you get home.

mloc123

EverythingGood wrote: »

Have used Centauro twice in Lisbon, never had an issue. Carhire is such a hit and miss thing....

The main issue we had was they are off-site. We arrived and had to get a shuttle bus, which is fine but it was going to be a 40minute wait because of the queue. In the end we got a taxi the 2-3 km to their office (had a 2yr old with us at the time and did not want to wait). When. We got to the office we queued for over an hour to collect the car.

Dinarius

Marcusm wrote: »

You may be able to hire one in NI and return it in London. Enterprise used to allow this.

Think I’ll be driving my own then.

Thanks.

D.

davidm25

mloc123 wrote: »

The main issue we had was they are off-site. We arrived and had to get a shuttle bus, which is fine but it was going to be a 40minute wait because of the queue. In the end we got a taxi the 2-3 km to their office (had a 2yr old with us at the time and did not want to wait). When. We got to the office we queued for over an hour to collect the car.

Good to know!! Thank you for that info, we will be in the same boat (2yr old) so very good to have that.

davidm25

coylemj wrote: »

The insurance that you buy at the rental desk is always more expensive than an excess policy you arrange yourself. And the rental company policy will often not cover glass and tyres while a lot of excess policies do.

There's really no contest - an excess policy with AIG covering rental in Europe costs €25 for 7 days or €50 for 12 months. You will still get the hard sell at the rental desk because they get a big slice of your money as commission when you buy their cover but if you are renting from the big companies, they dont push it too hard and will back off when you say that you have your own policy.

The practical difference on the day is that if you decline their cover, the rental company will block an amount of money on your credit card to cover damage, if you have a debit card they will withdraw this money from your account. If you do bring the car back damaged, you pay for the damage (up to the level of the excess), get a receipt and claim from your excess policy when you get home.

Thank you for the info, I appreciate ie. The problems seem to arise around that insurance cover - if you buy it they seem to leave you alone after that, but if you don't then that's usually when any trouble there is starts. But as you say, you are paying dearly for it, most of the quotes I've checked out are charging (a lot) more for the cover than the actual car rental :-/

davidm25

Marcusm wrote: »

I found Hertz/Dollar/Thrufty good and price competitive in Lisbon and Faro (separate trips) this year. Basically all the same company with differentiation through the contract (eg Dollar has mileage limits). All major companies at terminal in Lisbon.

I really appreciate the first-hand recommendation, thank you! I'll check those ones out.

enfant terrible

Hi guys,
On the ryanair website it says

"Excess
The car has a damage excess of EUR 950.0 (Includes tax) and a theft excess of EUR 950.0 (Includes tax). Please ensure that you have the excess amount available on your card when you pick up the car.

Deposit
The supplier will require a deposit amount of EUR 400.0 at pick-up.

Does that mean I need 950+950+400 free on my credit card to cover everything?

Or do I just need 950+400?

Thanks

Savage_Henry

Which company and where?

enfant terrible

Savage_Henry wrote: »

Which company and where?

Flying into Berlin Schoenefeld

They all seem to be like that

Enterprise
Excess
The car has a damage excess of EUR 950.0 (Includes tax) and a theft excess of EUR 950.0 (Includes tax). Please ensure that you have the excess amount available on your card when you pick up the car.

Alamo
Excess
The car has a damage excess of EUR 1000.0 (Includes tax) and a theft excess of EUR 1000.0 (Includes tax). Please ensure that you have the excess amount available on your card when you pick up the car.

Dollar
Excess
The car has a damage excess of EUR 950.0 (Excludes tax) and a theft excess of EUR 950.0 (Excludes tax). Please ensure that you have the excess amount available on your card when you pick up the car.

Deposit
The supplier will require a deposit amount of EUR 950.0 at pick-up. It is a guarantee held on the credit card in the event of damage or theft of the vehicle. It will be automatically released if there is no damage or theft during the rental period.

coylemj

davidm25 wrote: »

Thank you for the info, I appreciate ie. The problems seem to arise around that insurance cover - if you buy it they seem to leave you alone after that, but if you don't then that's usually when any trouble there is starts.

What do you mean by 'trouble'? Either they force you to buy their insurance (which happens with some of the cowboys) or they allow you to take the risk - with or without your own excess insurance. But if you decline to take their insurance, they will cover themselves as I explained earlier.

If you rent from the big boys, you can decline the insurance and there will be no 'trouble'.

Sully

Some hire companies will hold your excess if you're not taking the excess waiver. Pretty sure Enterprise don't anywhere.

Ryanair is just a broker and I wouldn't rely on the information. If you know who you want to pick, contact them directly to clarify requirements

Quazzie

enfant terrible wrote: »

Hi guys,
On the ryanair website it says

"Excess
The car has a damage excess of EUR 950.0 (Includes tax) and a theft excess of EUR 950.0 (Includes tax). Please ensure that you have the excess amount available on your card when you pick up the car.

Deposit
The supplier will require a deposit amount of EUR 400.0 at pick-up.

Does that mean I need 950+950+400 free on my credit card to cover everything?

Or do I just need 950+400?

Thanks

You just need 400 on your card.

If there is damage the remainder will be requested upon your return

PaulKK

Have an auto megane estate booked in Bordeaux in a couple of weeks with Sixt via Argus.

Excess according to Argus is 1300.

Anyone got any idea what Sixt charge at the desk to reduce the excess? I could get some third party excess insurance but I prefer to just not worry about that stuff on holiday.

Lex Luthor

I picked up a car yesterday in Faro from dropping ve4fun
Stress free
€140 for 10 days
Bought the year policy from AIG for 49eur before I came
Asked me at desk if I wanted to buy the SDCW insurance and said I had my own and they moved on
Very easy to deal with
Would recommend

irishgrover

Lex Luthor wrote: »

I picked up a car yesterday in Faro from dropping ve4fun
Stress free
€140 for 10 days
Bought the year policy from AIG for 49eur before I came
Asked me at desk if I wanted to buy the SDCW insurance and said I had my own and they moved on
Very easy to deal with
Would recommend

how much of a hold did they put on your CC? also did you get the spelling of the company correct? thanks in advance

Sully

PaulKK wrote: »

Have an auto megane estate booked in Bordeaux in a couple of weeks with Sixt via Argus.

Excess according to Argus is 1300.

Anyone got any idea what Sixt charge at the desk to reduce the excess? I could get some third party excess insurance but I prefer to just not worry about that stuff on holiday.

SIXT website should show it all. I looked then up in Croatia and it seemed to protection for this that and the other. Added up saucy enough. Everything seemed an extra cost.

elperello

Never trust the information given on a brokers site.
You must check the site of the car rental company that is supplying the car,

PaulKK

Sully wrote: »

SIXT website should show it all. I looked then up in Croatia and it seemed to protection for this that and the other. Added up saucy enough. Everything seemed an extra cost.

It doesn't list it. I emailed them and they mentioned that I need to ask at the desk in Bordeaux as it varies by location.

coylemj

PaulKK wrote: »

It doesn't list it. I emailed them and they mentioned that I need to ask at the desk in Bordeaux as it varies by location.

Varies by location :eek: Sixt is a multinational car rental company, are they suggesting that each location negotiates it's own separate insurance?

They're using a BS excuse to avoid answering your question because they know that if they did quote you, you'd go straight away and take out an excess policy. Which is precisely what you should do.

biffontour

Hi guys,

Just looking fo an info on my situation, am heading to Tenerife on holidays and am looking to rent a can but going on any websites it’s all only Credit cards, I only have a visa debit

1. If there is a deposit to pay, how much?
2. What do I need to be wary of and are there any recommendations for companies to use

Any advise/help is greatly received

coylemj

I've never used them but www.cicar.com are highly recommended for the Canaries and the reason I'm suggesting them to you is because they have no excess so (I assume) there shouldn't be a problem using a debit card.

I rented an Opel Corsa from Europcar in Lanzarote back in Feb. last. The excess was €870 but they only reserved €300 on my credit card.

salmocab

I rented a car last week with cicar, I didn’t use a debit card but it is an all in price. It was in Lanzarote and was I think 160 for a week for a seat Leon.

Munsterbhoy

PaulKK wrote: »

Have an auto megane estate booked in Bordeaux in a couple of weeks with Sixt via Argus.

Excess according to Argus is 1300.

Anyone got any idea what Sixt charge at the desk to reduce the excess? I could get some third party excess insurance but I prefer to just not worry about that stuff on holiday.

I've a capture auto booked in June from Bordeaux with hertz and the super cover with no excess is €120 pw..

coylemj

Munsterbhoy wrote: »

I've a capture auto booked in June from Bordeaux with hertz and the super cover with no excess is €120 pw..

An excess policy with AIG costs €25 for a seven day rental in Europe or €50 for an annual policy. Excess is €50, covers up to €4,000 per rental.

Stratvs

I’ve used Cicar (Cabrera Medina in Lanzarote) multiple times over 15+ yrs in Tenerife & other Canary Islands. You can prebook on their website, nothing to pay then. They will take card or cash at airport. It’s fully inclusive ins and have never had a problem. Fuel is bring back same as at pick up.

Mike3549

You can also pay cash with cicar. Im in tenerife atm paid by cc but they will take debit cos you get full insurance, zero excess, we just had to pay 30 or 35 deposit for fuel