Best Hire Car Chania Crete

[Tim330]

Hello, can anyone recommend the best value hire car from Chania airport 1st week of August. I've had great experience with Cicar in the Canaries. Is there a Greek equivalent? The usual companies, Hertz, Avis, Enterprise seem quite expensive but not sure about selecting a cheaper unknown company that will charge for every scratch.

[Griffith4ever]

Used Abbycar a couple of years back, £155 for a week. No issues.

[omniflow]

I used 2 different companies last year and had zero damage type issues with either of them. I booked through Easyjet and took out the Axa additional insurance. We weren't sure how long we were going to stay, so I tried to extend the first hire car. They wanted €60 / day, compared to €12 / day for the original booking, so I just returned the car and rented one from someone else.

First car was with Greenmotion
Second car was with Right Cars

No spurious charges at all.

Holiday Autos appear to use the same booking engine as Easyjet and they have the same Axa excess insurance.

I ASSUME that the Axa insurance creates some kind of incentive for the hire companies as the rates do occasionally vary between companies for the same class of car - presumably Axa bump up the pricing for companies with a higher claim rate.

[Boxster5]

omniflow said:

I used 2 different companies last year and had zero damage type issues with either of them. I booked through Easyjet and took out the Axa additional insurance. We weren't sure how long we were going to stay, so I tried to extend the first hire car. They wanted 60 / day, compared to 12 / day for the original booking, so I just returned the car and rented one from someone else.

First car was with Greenmotion
Second car was with Right Cars

No spurious charges at all.

Holiday Autos appear to use the same booking engine as Easyjet and they have the same Axa excess insurance.

I ASSUME that the Axa insurance creates some kind of incentive for the hire companies as the rates do occasionally vary between companies for the same class of car - presumably Axa bump up the pricing for companies with a higher claim rate.

For info, if you have an annual excess car hire policy, most companies will not cover rentals with Green Motion. They have a pretty poor reputation and our one and only experience with them in the US was shockingly bad.

[omniflow]

Boxster5 said:

For info, if you have an annual excess car hire policy, most companies will not cover rentals with Green Motion. They have a pretty poor reputation and our one and only experience with them in the US was shockingly bad.

Whereas my personal experience with them, in Chania Crete as per the enquiry by the OP, was absolutely spot on. Zero issues.

One good, one bad and one annecdotal.

[Griffith4ever]

omniflow said:

Boxster5 said:

For info, if you have an annual excess car hire policy, most companies will not cover rentals with Green Motion. They have a pretty poor reputation and our one and only experience with them in the US was shockingly bad.

Whereas my personal experience with them, in Chania Crete as per the enquiry by the OP, was absolutely spot on. Zero issues.

One good, one bad and one annecdotal.

Greenmotion is excluded on every single car hire excess policy I've ever taken out. Including the cover I now have with my bank account (perk). Whilst you may have been fine (and I get it, I use all sorts of bargain basement companies with little to no issues) the evidence points strongly to them making many spurious claims. Also, its important to be aware that using them will likely void any insurance you took out independently.

[MattyD803]

We used ANNA cars back in 2022 - they were great. Zero excess etc. Little hut out in the car park to do final paper work and pick up keys, it was all plain sailing. Reviews appear to still look good.

Downside is it probably won't a quite as new and shiny a model as you might get from Hertz etc. On the upside, there will be no worries about them scamming you for damage claims etc on return....and the way some of the roads are and how some people drive/park in Crete, this is probably a good thing.

[Doesitdrive]

Griffith4ever said:

omniflow said:

Boxster5 said:

For info, if you have an annual excess car hire policy, most companies will not cover rentals with Green Motion. They have a pretty poor reputation and our one and only experience with them in the US was shockingly bad.

Whereas my personal experience with them, in Chania Crete as per the enquiry by the OP, was absolutely spot on. Zero issues.

One good, one bad and one annecdotal.

Greenmotion is excluded on every single car hire excess policy I've ever taken out. Including the cover I now have with my bank account (perk). Whilst you may have been fine (and I get it, I use all sorts of bargain basement companies with little to no issues) the evidence points strongly to them making many spurious claims. Also, its important to be aware that using them will likely void any insurance you took out independently.

If you have taken it out for the duration of your hire at the same time of booking. How can they exclude the company you have booked with?

It may well be different for an annual policy, going to check mine now, but the poster didn't use an annual policy?

[Griffith4ever]

Doesitdrive said:

Griffith4ever said:

omniflow said:

Boxster5 said:

For info, if you have an annual excess car hire policy, most companies will not cover rentals with Green Motion. They have a pretty poor reputation and our one and only experience with them in the US was shockingly bad.

Whereas my personal experience with them, in Chania Crete as per the enquiry by the OP, was absolutely spot on. Zero issues.

One good, one bad and one annecdotal.

Greenmotion is excluded on every single car hire excess policy I've ever taken out. Including the cover I now have with my bank account (perk). Whilst you may have been fine (and I get it, I use all sorts of bargain basement companies with little to no issues) the evidence points strongly to them making many spurious claims. Also, its important to be aware that using them will likely void any insurance you took out independently.

If you have taken it out for the duration of your hire at the same time of booking. How can they exclude the company you have booked with?

It may well be different for an annual policy, going to check mine now, but the poster didn't use an annual policy?

I was referring to independent insurance. I never, ever , take out the hire car co's insurance (which would of course be valid with greenmotion as its their policy).