Thanks Peter, I would recommend getting a taxi from the airport to your accommodation if you are off on holiday to Malaga this summer. There are a couple of interesting articles on how the credit crunch lead to the car shortages in Malaga here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/5826247/British-tourists-warned-of-car-rental-shortage-in-Costa-del-Sol.html

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Timmy Simpkins

Just to expand on the advice Timmy, unfortunately this year has turned in to a bit of a nightmare for car hire. Unless you had booked well in advance there are going to be a lot of dissapointed people who will either have to pay through the nose or go without car hire on their holidays.

Spain has been hit the worst some prices in excess of 100% more than last year in some resorts and it's all down to the economic down turn where companies are finding it difficult to get credit to renew fleets and companies also planning for a huge downturn in passenger numbers in to Spainish based resorts on last year downsizing their fleets (so effectively retiring more cars and not renewing them).

The message is to book early if planning on going away and needing car hire for the rest of the year but prices will still be high up until the end of September beginning of November.

If you are struggling to get what you need have you thought about getting a transfer from/to the airport?

I'm afraid lots of people leave it until the last minute to book their car when they go on holiday, you are much better off booking well in advance, and as the car hire companies often raise the prices as they start to run out of cars you usually get a better price booking early.

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Timmy Simpkins

Timmy,

Thanks for the info, wish I had known to book in advance for larger cars, everywhere I'd tried has been unavailable, guess its back to two cars.

Hi Ali

I don't think it will be easy to get hold of an 8 seater in Spain, most companies have either 7 seaters e.g. Ford Galaxy or 9 seaters e.g. Opel Vivaro. This is really due to the ergonomics of the car. Why dont you just book a 9 seater the price will not be any different.

I went to Malaga in May, and booked a 7 seater online at malagacarhirespain.com - always book in advance for larger cars in busy periods as the companies tend to run out of these types of vehicle or charge high prices.

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Timmy Simpkins

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a hire company who can provide 8 seaters pick-up/drop-off Malaga, all I'm finding is 7 or 9 seaters. I've found one through Atlaschoice but their website has limited infomation and I'm not sure if they're legit.

Thanks

Ali