Goldcar / Record Rent-a-car

[emmess]

eJust thought I would make this post as a warning to anyone that maybe thinking of booking with the above. We booked last minute for car hire for Easter and although we normally always use Autoreisen with no problems at all, we booked via an agent for Goldcar. We specifically asked the agent on the phone if that price included ALL charges, insurance etc and were told yes, it includes everything but petrol. When we got to the airport to collect the car we were told that we had to upgrade the insurance or leave a £300 deposit via credit card. We only had a debit card with us so after much arguing we had to pay an extra 70 euros for additional insurance. On top of this we were told the car was already full of petrol and had to pay 50 euros for that. Everybody seemed to be having the same argument with them which meant it took us over an hour to collect the car!

To add insult to injury, friends of ours wanted to rent a car for 4 days. We said - don't book with Goldcar!!! So they booked with recordrentacar (which we had used previously) and it said they had to collect the car at Goldcar. Here we go again!! So not only did the friends have to pay the extra insurance, they were told they had a bigger car than us and had to pay for a full tank of petrol (for 4 days!!) - cost? 65 euros! What a ripoff!

We will never book with either Record or Goldcar again. Both cars went back with half a tank of petrol at least. :mad:

[tfs1]

On the odd ocassion I book a car (on the mainland) I keep well away from Goldcar/Advantage/Centauro etc and in Tenerife use AutoReisen every time.

I'm told Goldcar 'force' staff to get extra insurance payments from customers and also play the 'you didnt return the tank full/returned the car with a new dent (if not taking the extra insurnace) and then taking extra penalty payments from your credit card after you have returned the car. Not a very nice thing to happen.

The problem is that GoldCar, probably like many others, make so little profit from the actual hire when customers book through a third party ie Carjet/Bravo/DoYouSpain they have to make money some other way.

Even if you end up with, say GoldCar, the T&Cs are different depending who you made the booking through. Carhire companies offer different options depending on who they are using.

I recently had a car from Solmar (on the mainland) booking through BravoCarHire, if I booked the same Solmar car through DoyouSpain I would have had different T&Cs and a different and higher 'extras' payment structure!

So I could have 'saved' money booking through DYS but went to Bravo and paid a little more for the hire but saved a lot more on much lower 'extras' payments

The more times we hear about poor service maybe the sooner they will change their ways but that of course doesn't help those who have been affected in the meantime.

Chris

[poker]

We used goldcar already several times and never had a problem .
Yes I declined the extra insurance eatch time and you pay for a full tank at a bit more expencive rate than at the tankstation .
And all the fuel left over is in their profit.
But still for our use they were cheaper .


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[emmess]

The problem for us was that we were not ALLOWED to decline the extra insurance. We only had a debit card from which they wanted to take a 600 euro deposit, i.e. physically take that out of our account. Alternatively, if we had had a credit card, they wanted to secure 300 euros from that which they made clear they would not return fully if there was any damage to the car. Knowing the state of cars in tenerife, we fully imagined the car would have some pre-existing bumps and dents. Each to their own, but never again for us.

[tfs1]

emmess,

Did you get back to the agent who you booked the car through to get their views as to why you were told all costs were included and clearly they were not - to possibly help others who did you book it through ?

Regretably the 300€ deposit, if not taking extra insurance, is now becoming the norm. Autoreisen seem to be holding off - but for how long ?

Goldcar petrol charges include an additional 10-15€ charge (plus tax !) to pay for Goldcar to put the fuel in the car, thats why their fuel costs are higher than if you filled the tank up.

Chris

[gibjl]

Hi
i was thinking of renting a car whilst in tenerife, and gold car rental seem to be the cheapest i could find, but just before i go ahead, could anybody give me comments on dealing wih gold car, as i have heard rumours customers have had problems.
If this is true can anbody recomend a good car hire company.

thanks,

[Vortex Wake]

Autoreisen car hire may not appear the cheapest , but there are *NO* added hidden charges such as additional insurance or fuel charges unlike other 'cheaper' companies.

http://www.arcarhire.com/car-hire/car-hire.php



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOGQ2j86t08&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Kande]

A friend of mine hired a car with Goldcar recently and was not too happy. She paid for it in the UK, fully comp but on arrival at the airport she was told to she needed to pay an extra 30 euros to insure for tyre damage, windscreen and other stuff i cant remember. She also had to pay 70 euros for the tank of petrol and bring it back empty.

[tfs1]

Many people have had good hires from GoldCar, but many many others havent. Personally I would steer clear of them and go for Autoreisen.

As mentioned before some carhire companies lure customers in with low initial cost and then hit you with extras that many times you are intimidated in taking.

With Autoresien what you see is what you get, I have never had any extra payments pushed my way - just the car keys ! You pick the car up with say 1/2 a tank of petrol and if you return it with the same amount you will not incur any fuel costs. I have hired cars in Spain, Tenerife and Autoreisen are a breath of fresh air, pity they dont hire cars in our part of mainland Spain.

Others will charge you a full tank, this charge will be inflated to include costs for them to fill it up, around 10-15 extra. If you retuirn it 1/2 empty you dont get a refund on unused fuel - just more profit for those hire companies.

Your choice !!!!!!

Chris

[emmess]

Hi

Yes, we emailed on our return and had a reply which said that we should have read the small print terms and conditions which state:

"The following payment forms are accepted at the start of the rental to cover the deposit
Credit Card - Mastercard / Visa"

"You will be required to leave a deposit when collecting the vehicle"

"This deposit usually takes the form of a credit card, although cash is an option at some locations so please contact a member of our team if you require this facility as this must be confirmed prior to collecting the vehicle"

I've emailed them again to say that these terms and conditions are not much good once the booking has been made and that since we specifically asked could there be additional charges and were told "only the petrol" that the agent mislead us. I'm awaiting further response.

[barryk]

Headline rates may look cheaper but when they charge you 75 euros for a tank of petrol for a Ford Fiesta (only holds about 45 litres, the rest is a refuelling charge) on a full empty basis it is easy to see whay the rates are so low.

We always use Autoresien. the rates you see are what you pay. Cars are sometimes a little tired but if not happy, complain and they will usually change. Fuel policy is return with what was in the car at the start of the hire. We never use more than about 25 litres with moderate running about and airport transfer.

Also keep checking website as sometimes prices are reduced, just rebook and cancel original hire in comments box

Barryk

[sharpy]

I used them once. Go bussed out to Las Chafiras and okay a lot of the cars you hire over there have some damage but they obviously hadn't checked this one properly as the whole of hatch back was caved in.
When I went back to reception they didn't know what my problem was as it was still running and then said they didn't have another car. All in all I was at Las Chafiras for 2 hours to be told this. I then walked down to the taxi rank got a taxi to Los cristianos went on the internet and booked with old faithful autoreisen and got the bus backto airport next day and picked up the car.

[mcroft]

good article in todays daily mail about car hire sharks
gold car are the worst company i have ever dealt with,
all it says happened to me in tenerife ripped me off for another 80 euros on arrival.
stay with autoreisen .....no problem at all good value

[Dan747]

Years ago I used to use 'record rent a car', although they required you to either leave an imprint of your credit card or pay for additional insurance, they didn't charge extra for fuel and it was a return as given policy, didn't have any issues with them, it transpires record closed their Tenerife 'base' a couple of years ago and are now sending any Tenerife customers through Goldcar, which I was told to avoid by others who had used them.

Autoreisen has won my business since.

[mcroft]

did anyone see the tv last night about car hire in spain,
gold car were ripping people off again.
this company should be avoided at all cost(usually a lot).
can add 125 euros on top of hire charge.

[casabonny]

We used them in the mainland a few years back and they were by far, at that time the best prices and cars available.That could all have changed though.

[tfs1]

You can add € 80-120 for fuel.

A further € 6-10 a day for 'extra insurance' they twist your arm to take (with a minimum charge of around €50 even if you only have a hire for 1 day) or if you don't take the insurance you leave a mandatory €400-600 credit card deposit in lieu of any (and I mean any) damage that wasn't on the car when you collected it.

So if someone puts a minor 'shopping trolley' dent in your door or you get a stone chip on your windscreen and you didn't take the insurance you can kiss goodbye to some/all of you €400-600 deposit !

I would never hire from Goldcar, I knew someone who worked for them and their motivation is to hook people in on low carrental cost and then screw them for fuel/insurance - staff are pressured to sell sell sell or find another job.

For Tenerife we use AutoResien and Solmar(while they are still trading !) on the mainland.

[universal]

I used Goldcar a couple of weeks ago in the mainland and apart from charging you for fuel (a full tank at pick up) there were no extras. I left a €700 card swipe as I declined extra insurance and got a brand new (4,000km) Peurgeot for 60 pounds for a week. Took the car back with empty tank and had nothing to pay, I had the deposit returned automatically.

[Westminster]

We use Autoreisen several times each year, and have always found them first class.

On one occasion we had our spare wheel stolen, and they supplied another vehicle with absolutely no quibble.

It is always worthwhile when hiring cars to take out insurance for the under body, and wheel damage, etc.

A UK company called Insurance4CarHire has such insurance for not very much money.

[tfs1]

from the 5-12 July we hired a Ford Fiesta from AutoReisen at TFS - total cost €71, fuel charges=0 (take it back with the same amount as you picked it up with), extra insurance charges=0, credit card advance in anticipation of possible car damage=0, customer satisfaction=100%

my son and family are joining us here in Spain tomorrow, will we get the same deal ? - not a chance !!!

[golazzo]

I booked a hire car with autoreisen for 30th Aug. cost for 2 weeks €207 ( 5 door A/C Seat Ibiza ). Price now reduced to €170 so just cancelled previous booking and made new booking. Absolute bargain

[tfs1]

http://www.costa-news.com/latest-news/item/1538-multimillion-fine-for-car-rent-a-car-price-fixing

from our local mainland paper, maybe they havent got a picture of a goldcar office !

[Tom and Lesley]

Hi all
We have an annual excess insurance and so we never want the extra insurance, steer clear of Goldcar we always use Autoreisen. Book online for a good rate, no extras and a workable fuel policy. If the car is half full when you get it you take it back half full, easy.

[tenerifebird]

They're never gold!