Hi Broigel,

Not as simple as I thought, sorry.  I've just gone through Carjet again for our September trip and there's no way of telling which company you get till you've booked.  I didn't end up with Auriga, but got Goldcar Rental, who have a desk at the airport and only do full to empty.  I could have waited till I'd booked to let you know, but it was your thread that reminded me to book, so I only booked after I posted you.  Too tired of messing around to change it now - I'll just have to put up with Full to Empty.  At least we've got 2 weeks to use up the fuel!

 

Hi Lago98

Thanks and I will try through Carjet. However I just have to show you a copy of my e-mail of 6/10/06 - after having the usual deja-vu experience, this time at Alicante where my broker, arranging a Full-Full basis, got me with Auriga who denied all knowledge of it and stated categorically that they would not do it. I had a long fight but my broker Isabel eventually got my fuel refunded. I probably spent the cost of it in mobile phone-calls and told myself I would never use Auriga again.

e-mail of 6/10/06 to Spanish car hire broker:

"Re my booking DYS-2606000 I would like to say 3 things:

1. I requested fuel on a Full-Full basis and you placed me with Auriga - who do not do this arrangement. I am disappointed with this because I have used you lots of times before and there has been no problem.2. Auriga were terrible: they did not care about my booking, would not help in any way and always knew nothing of what Isabel had arranged with them.3. Finally, a big THANK YOU to your Isabel who was so helpful. She persuaded Auriga re the fuel, she extended my booking, she contacted Auriga lots of times until they finally got the message, and she kept me advised the whole time. Once again MANY Thanks Isabel."I will try Carjet though.Cheers

Hi Broigel,

 For 2 weeks in January this year I booked a car for Murcia airport using http://www.carjet.co.uk.  They booked me in for a car from AurigaCrown Car Hire, who are based in San Javier, not the airport, but have a shuttle pick up / drop off service to/from the airport.  Although their literature calls for Full-Empty, I asked them for Full-Full and they said no problem.  I paid for the full tank on pick up and got it re-credited to my card on return.  I had booked a Renault Kangoo, but got a much nicer Ford Focus estate. If you do this through Carjet, make sure it's Auriga, because I believe they are a broker (like most) who use more than one firm.  Most of the car hire companies say they will allow full-full for a short trip (4 days or less) but this was 13 days.

 So it can be done from Murcia!

Hello,

 

Sorry, new to this forum so may be way off the mark. Can windowshopper stop plugging holiday autos. This is not the case when i have telephoned or emailed. To get them to give you any information beyond their standard script is near impossible. Once again, they cannot tell me the company I will be hiring from, so how can they tell me if it is a full-full deal?

Hi JCTravel

What you find is that you deal with a broker firm who takes no notice whatever of your requirements but pretends that the car hire firm they place you with will deliver what you requested. Having placed the booking they take no further involvement and you are left at the mercy of the car hire company. Certainly when you arrive to pick up the car, there will be no-one at the broker firm you can contact and you are presented very neatly with a take it or leave it option. We have been ripped-off time and again: our paperwork states what we had requested and the car hire company refuses to honour it - for a multitude of reasons.

We got done again this visit. The usual broker firm I deal with stated that no-one at Murcia Airport does Full-Full. The only car hire company (not brokers) I know who operates either Full-Full or 'half full - half full' is Record Rent a Car. Their website actually states 'we do not make money out of fuel'. So although I thought they did not have a desk at Murcia, I tried them anyway and sure enough they took my booking with the condition that fuel was not on the Full-Empty basis. Their confirmation said go to the Solmar desk to pick up the car. You can probably guess the rest: we turn up at Solmar who say they booking is not with Record but with them, their policy is Full-Empty, 50 euros please, not interested in any of our documentation, nobody available at Record to phone at that time and, quite simply, take it or leave it. 

Rip-off Spain! - at least for us.

Hi Mollybrolly

 Have to say that this is not the case - there is not one car hire firm at Murcia airport which does not operate the Full-Empty rip-off and the only one I have found at Alicante is Record. All the rest are Full-Empty.

HI,

Last year we booked with holiday autos and ended up on a full-empty deal. They explained nothing during the booking. This year when asked more detailed questions they can give no answers. They cannot even tell us who we will be hiring with until after we book! (then with a cancellation fee) Maybe it is all to do with their deals in Spain as when used before no problems with holiday autos. We need to know who we will be hiring with as last year at Malaga airport we waited over one hour and 15 minutes as they had booked lots through Crown rentals when all the other desks were empty. Obviously they do not check all suppliers, or do not care about making customers wait.

On this subject does anyone know a decent hire company that will give you all the facts upfront via email? Basically cannot afford to wait that amount of time with kids in tow and a villa with a deadline for key collection.

Thanks,

JC

most car hire companies expect you to return the car with more or less the same fuel as it had when you collected it.

 vests included

try www.bestpricecarhire.com

 

Thanks for both these suggestions - I will gladly give them a try and hope that more customers resist the Full-Empty policy.

Hello

 

Try www.carhire4holiday.com .

 

Rgds 

Pete

 Re point (1) - NOT SO !!

This is a very sore point with me: in Spain the most common fuel policy is Full-Empty, i.e. you pay at collection for a FULL TANK, not at pump prices but at whatever the company charges, and then you are supposed to return it EMPTY. However it really doesn't matter to the car-hire company whether it is empty or not because you've paid for it all anyway. There are no refunds for returning it 3/4 full and this practice is a blatant RIP-OFF!

We need a car for usually no more than 1 week, we do very little mileage and we barely use 1/4 of a tank. And yet we, and presumably everyone else, are required to pay 60 euros up front for FUEL WE DO NOT USE. The car hire companies are ripping us all off because, let's face it, unless you are doing a very high mileage, the tank is never empty on return.

I cannot believe that this situation has arisen. I've never come across it anywhere else and have hired cars in a number of countries - the standard policy was and is FULL-FULL which is perfectively fair: you pay for what you use and at pump prices. But not in Spain now - you pay whether you use it or not and, at an extra 60 euros usually on a 120 euro hire cost, it amounts to a huge additional cost if you don't use it.

There is only one company we know of, Record Rent a Car, who does not operate this rip-off. They are represented at Alicante Airport but not at Murcia where it seems there is no choice whatever: ALL the car-hire companies at Murcia charge on a Full-Empty basis.

And I just cannot bring myself to accept this. There should be more customer resistance to this dishonest policy - our lone battle is unlikely to alter very much.

And if anyone knows of any other honest car-hire companies in Spain, especially at Murcia, I would be very glad to hear of them.

Hi Matt

I would recomend using the Car Hire search on travelsupermarket.com to find your Car Hire as prices are compared between over 25 companies giving you a great selection of vehicles to hire.

Answers to yuour questions are:

1) If you hire the vehicle with a full tank then you are expected to return it full. If not you will more than likely be charged to fill the tank bacback up which usually will cost you more as an extra service charge will be applied.

2) All hire companies will supply a reflective vest where legally required. Some will charge a deposit of around 30 euros (as they were often never returned) I would advise you to ask on pick up of the vehicle or even call the company to see if they charge a deposit or not, and check they are in the vehicle before driving away.

3) I am not aware of any company who guarantee the exact make and model but again it might be worth asking them as some will give you an upgrade if the selected class is not available.

You should be able to find the above in the terms and conditions of the companies sites.

Enjoy your trip!!

Pete

I'm looking to book car hire in Spain (Malaga) this weekend, and have a few quick questions which I hope somebody can help with...

1) Do all hire companies charge you for a full tank of fuel when picking the car up?

2) Do they supply the reflective vests which I believe are now required by law, or do you have to get your own?

3) Anybody know of any company where if you specify the exact make and model of the car when you book, that is guaranteed to be the one you get (rather than a similar car)??

Thanks!