Hire cars abroad, am I the only one that does this?

[E-bmw]

We frequently go to the same place for a fortnight most years & when we do we book up early & stay in an appartment of a friend, when we do, we get a hire car just for simplicity & a bit of flexibility.

As soon as we book the appartment & flights Ido a trawl round all of the usual contenders from a google search for "cheap hire cars abroad", this will be the likes of Skyscanner/money supermarket/the Meerkats/Auto Europe/Doyouspain/Amigo autos etc.

While getting a quote from each one I sign up the their "offers" and then book the cheapest that offers free cancellation, on terminal pick up & full to full fuel.

This year the starting price was £350 for a Fiat 500/similar and the actual company supplying the car was Goldcar.

Every week or so, I get an email from one or other with an "offer" and if it works out cheaper I cancel & swap to the new company.

This year by the time we flew (5 months later) and after around 6 changeovers (3 in one week) I actually paid £108 for the same car supplied through the same company on the same terms.

[psi310398]

I used to, going to my holiday home in Italy, but so many of the firms are cheating spivs - invented damage or missing bits, hidden charges, worse vehicles than ordered, inefficient collection/deposit, refusal to take Amex, fuel fiddling, etc that I now just go with the most reliable and fair firm I know at Malpensa (noleggiare, FWIW).

There’s seldom such a thing as a bargain in car hire.

[croyde]

I just use the companies that are reasonable and don't make up damage or some such. You just drop off the keys and head to the airport check in.

I use Cicar in Tenerife and have a couple of local companies that have always been easy in a couple of the Greek islands.

[E-bmw]

I understand what you both mean. Alas at the airport I use the choice is Avis, Goldcar or Hertz, so I always do a video lap of the car and have always been successful in arguing their attempts at additional costs.

[dundarach]

I just do one search, pick the car I fancy, that I can afford, pay for the optional ste, do a video of everything when I collect and return it, drive really carefully, try and obey all the laws always and enjoy my holiday.

I do what I can to engineer out as much stress and worry as possible, especially on holiday!

[Griffith4ever]

E-bmw said:

I understand what you both mean. Alas at the airport I use the choice is Avis, Goldcar or Hertz, so I always do a video lap of the car and have always been successful in arguing their attempts at additional costs.

I tend to find the price is cheap from the start (I also book the cheapest possible) - are you travelling in school hols time ? (I don't).

I use Goldcar etc, am careful and thorough, have my own insurance, and have never been stung for anything extra. Play the game ;-)

[//j17]

I'm not as hard core as the OP but also book something early with free cancellation but check prices every few months when I think of it to see if there's a better deal. A few times that's seen the price drop, then climb up and past the original one and rebooking's saves a couple of hundread Euros.

[loudlashadjuster]

Sounds like a lot of hassle.

I have used aggregators in the past, and still do occasionally, but having been stung with things like

• being unable to add days to a hire ("Bookings made via third party cannot be extended, sir")
• being refused a car because the hire company ran out of the cars in the class that was booked and their contract with the aggregator "doesn't allow any upgrades, sir", leaving me without a car and having to hire one from another company
• complications following a challenge of the condition of a car picked up in an out-of-hours collection (there was a crack in the windscreen which I videoed and took photos of, but and both the aggregator and the hire company were insisting me and the other party were responsible for sorting it)

So now to avoid this kind of stress I book direct with the renter and take the minor hit on the upfront hire cost. It's usually more but rarely more than 10%, and sometimes the same price. Plus, I can use loyalty/airmiles schemes when booking.

My time and peace of mind is more important.

[SoliD]

Generally use Avis via BA Holidays for Europe as it gives free second driver and will check every few weeks and cancel if the price comes down, depending how far out we book.

[Griffith4ever]

I just book so cheap its not worth following up (I don't travel during school hols FWIW).

Hire car insurance, stress free, cheap as chips. Not picked up an extra charge, ever. I go in with eyes open, relaxed, and stand my ground.

Out of interest - I'm hiring in Montenegro in 2 weeks.... let me check if I can better the deal now... BRB (really).

OK, Tivat, 8 days, £131.73, VW polo or similar, Full Full "U-Save Tivat" - on site/terminal

New search, same dates and times, £250 cheapest, £320 for same class of car.

Guess its a school hols / last minute thing?

[lost in espace]

I use Discovercars and always Goldcar in Gran Canaria, the price usually moves down a bit. I take my own insurance and pay by credit card, usually with a £1k excess. The one time someone reversed into the car in the car park and caused £200 damage I just paid it and the excess company paid straight out.

[//j17]

loudlashadjuster said:

Sounds like a lot of hassle.

Not really, just pop open an app while watching something boring on TV, quite often find it still remembers your search details so you click "Go", and while it's running check how much you paid for your current booking. If more expensive go back to half watching TV/if it's noticably cheaper, just click a few buttons.

And this doesn't just apply to aggrigators. I done the same thing with bookings direct with car hire companies and saved.

[E-bmw]

loudlashadjuster said:

Sounds like a lot of hassle.

My time and peace of mind is more important.

Not really, best I ever did was £8.81 for 10 days. Well worth my few mins a month to save from the initial £250 ish.

Yes I did say £8.81.

[alangla]

I do it with hire cars and hotels as well if the free cancellation option is reasonable. Sometimes you hit situations where hotels.com or one of the other booking sites will either have a sale or enhanced cashback and you get it for significantly less than you originally paid. I’ve also found that if plans firm up nearer the time of travel, you can sometimes save a bit by cancelling a free cancellation booking and switching to a no refunds one, this one often works well with Travelodge or Premier Inn.
Usually you’re just replacing a booking like-for-like (apart from the booking conditions if they change obviously), so it’s literally free money.

[bigandclever]

It's a good use case for agentic AI. Just let the robots do all the legwork.

[s p a c e m a n]

https://book.autoeurope.com/en-us/flash-sale-augus...

I always end up using autoeurope as I rarely find a better deal elsewhere. I either buy the full insurance from whoever is giving me the car or separately depending on who is cheapest and then I can go on all of the off road excursions, dump the car where I want and not worry about any damage or punctures for the sake of £50.

They'll always have multiple deals on throughout the year, I just wait until there's one that I want and book it

[Shnozz]

E-bmw said:

Not really, best I ever did was £8.81 for 10 days. Well worth my few mins a month to save from the initial £250 ish.

Yes I did say £8.81.

I often pay similar outside of school hols. Was quoted €0.26 a day last trip but was a fiat 500. I upgraded to a Kia suv thing for €36 for the 10 days.

[TheHeadhunter]

20yrs ago I used to use HolidayAutos to get the best price, they were great. I've now discovered the cheaper providers are often more trouble than it's worth.

Always pre-book as early as possible, have 'Gold/VIP/whatever' free memberships with the main providers, and spend 10/15mins shopping around. Usually end up with Hertz, Sixt or Budget/Avis. Contact the area manager beforehand, and usually score an upgrade of 2 or 3 levels, and often pay very little more than a cheap provider would charge anyway.

It usually saves time at the airport when collecting, gets a far far newer car and save a lot of stress and hassle. I'm travelling either on holiday (when ease & relaxation is key) or business when time is key.


The only time I've deviated from that was 3 years ago, landing in Pisa to go to Florence. Booked late so only had the option of a local provider. Paid c€120 for 6 days in a fiat 500. Ended up being a shagged example, 90,000km on the clock, dirty and a knackered clutch. Then a month after I got two charges, one for a speeding ticket on a road I didn't drive on and a date I wasn't in the country for, the other for damage on a car that was a different colour to the one we'd been given.

[Griffith4ever]

//j17 said:

loudlashadjuster said:

Sounds like a lot of hassle.

Not really, just pop open an app while watching something boring on TV, quite often find it still remembers your search details so you click "Go", and while it's running check how much you paid for your current booking. If more expensive go back to half watching TV/if it's noticably cheaper, just click a few buttons.

And this doesn't just apply to aggrigators. I done the same thing with bookings direct with car hire companies and saved.

You are preaching to a crowd , that often on here, will gladly admit paying significantly more for a holiday car hire so they don't have to go through the "hassle" of providing their own insurance and standing their ground at the car hire booth.

[RDMcG]

In the end I just go to my usual provider so I can skip the lineup and go straight to the car. (Avis in my case). Check car out and photograph any defects. Never any hassle.