Car rental in Spain

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Thu 25 Mar 2010 20:37
Car rental in Spain - Pat L

We're going to Northern Spain in July/August and want to rent a car for15 days. I have normally used Hertz in the past and got an on-line quote from them back in January for a Fiesta-sized car and it was about £320 (as far as I recall). Checked again today and it's over £700!! I've looked at Avis and Europcar and they're a bit cheaper but still £600+. However, holidayautos quote £411.

I know there may be slight differences in insurance etc but I still wonder why:

1. the cost has increased so much in 2 months

2. why the holidayautos quote is so much lower

Can anyone cast some light on this situation?

(car to be picked up and returned to Bilbao airport)

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Thu 25 Mar 2010 21:03
Car rental in Spain - WellKnownSid

Normally the hire companies borrow money from the banks to refresh their fleet, then sell the cars on at the end of the season (or in Spain lease them to people who will ultimately buy them due to tax reasons).

Last year the banks all ran out money... so no more nice new cars... hence no more availability and silly-season pricing.

If you leave it any longer you may even find there are no cars left to hire!

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Thu 25 Mar 2010 21:06
Car rental in Spain - Pat L

Thanks for the response, WS

Maybe I'd better book it asap!

I've never had this problem before - if anything the price has decreased.

Cheers

Pat

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Thu 25 Mar 2010 21:42
Car rental in Spain - rtj70

HolidayAutos is an agency and will source the car from one of the companies. An advantage of using HolidayAutos is their collision damage waiver insusrance which is a lot cheaper. You would pay an excess and claim it back from Holiday Autos.

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Thu 25 Mar 2010 22:36
Car rental in Spain - colinh

Even people who had booked a car last year were having problems - if a car was in an accident there were no replacements, and people who were allocated that car later were unlucky. My neighbour who comes out 5 or 6 times a year and always uses the same airport-based company, was one of the unlucky ones. For his main fortnight in the summer had to use three different local companies with a couple of days hire from each, and take a taxi to and from the airport.

May be a slight improvement this year - report 1-02-10 - "Meanwhile car sales in Spain over January were 18% higher than in the same month last year. 70,294 cars were registered over the month according to the vehicle import association, Aniacam. It’s the fifth consecutive month to see an increase, and improvements were seen in all sales channels – to individuals, to companies and to car rental companies, the latter up 28% recovering after being hard hit last year."



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Fri 26 Mar 2010 00:20
Car rental in Spain - Bilboman

I hope prices (and the exchange rate!!) stabilise before you get here, Pat! (I've been living in Bilbao for 15 years now.) My own recommendation for car hire is National, always reliable and usually cheaper. Hertz fobbed me off with a Friday night special (lilac-coloured Seat Altea with no clutch) at the airport last year and I really let them know about it - I finally got an upgrade to an impeccable Verso estate. I park at the airport nearly every month and drive past rows of hire cars and the ones in the "National" bay seem to be the best cared for and generally newest.

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Fri 26 Mar 2010 06:04
Car rental in Spain - oldtoffee
>>If you leave it any longer you may even find there are no cars left to hire!

That happened to me last summer in southern Spain. Hardly anything available and those who had cars were quoting ridiculous prices - €1200 for a well worn Clio for 2 weeks.
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Fri 26 Mar 2010 06:36
Car rental in Spain - WellKnownSid

and to car rental companies, the latter up 28% recovering after being hard hit last year."

I fail to see how rental companies could have avoided doing well last year - tired fleets from 2008 being hired out in 2009 at 3-4 times what we'd paid in 2007 for a brand new car!

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Fri 26 Mar 2010 18:42
Car rental in Spain - Pat L

Many thanks for the useful replies. I was beginning to think I'd imagined the previous lower prices!

I tried National but they're over £100 more than Holidayautos.

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Fri 26 Mar 2010 18:57
Car rental in Spain - rtj70

Pat L I used Holiday Autos once and had good experience. An accident within 40 minutes of leaving the airport nearly killed us but the total experience of using them was excellent. I even got my excess back even though it was a lot cheaper than the hire companies!

You never know, HA might give you a National sourced car.

Edited by rtj70 on 26/03/2010 at 19:00

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Sat 27 Mar 2010 00:42
Car rental in Spain - Pat L

Thanks, rtj. Seems like Holiday Autos is the way to go this year.

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Sat 27 Mar 2010 09:28
Car rental in Spain - loskie

Have used Holiday Autos several times in several different countries including Spain. It has been a consistently good experience. Cars have come from various sources Hertz, Sixt, Europcar and Record rentacar in Spain who i had never heard of but are a large Spanish company. Mostly I book the base model and usually find an upgrade offered. in Ma***illes booked booked a base model and given a Citroen C5 Diesel which was nice for our touring holiday.

Have normally booked my Holiday Autos as a CSMA customer which gives a bit more discount.

Would recommend

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Sat 27 Mar 2010 09:29
Car rental in Spain - loskie

Have used Holiday Autos several times in several different countries including Spain. It has been a consistently good experience. Cars have come from various sources Hertz, Sixt, Europcar and Record rentacar in Spain who i had never heard of but are a large Spanish company. Mostly I book the base model and usually find an upgrade offered. in Ma***illes booked booked a base model and given a Citroen C5 Diesel which was nice for our touring holiday.

Have normally booked my Holiday Autos as a CSMA customer which gives a bit more discount.

Would recommend

Obviously that French city is a sweary word!

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