Malaga airport car hire required

[H100S]

Can anyone recommend a company? Requirement is for two cars Astra size, child seats too for one week.

[Pothole]

I've used carhire3000 all over Europe. They deal with all the majors and are usually cheap.

[The Leaper]

You may need to be aware that most of the car hire companies at the airport are based some significant disatnce off site, household brands excepted.

R.

[Original Poster]

The Leaper said:

You may need to be aware that most of the car hire companies at the airport are based some significant disatnce off site, household brands excepted.

R.

As above although I have never had an issue getting to any of them, there are regular buses.

[Ranger 6]

DoYouSpain is currently showing the cheapest from the ones we use. They give you a voucher/code which you print out and take to the desk/rep at the airport and voila....
We've booked a Golf for a month in the summer €760.

[WWESTY]

Carjet (broker) always been good for me. Alternatively UKM Espana in Fuengirola are a great local company - biggest they have though is a Focus estate. Both will supply car for airport pick up.

[Steven Quas]

I have always found that car hire companies in Spain are reluctant to check the car over with you on your return. I'm not sure why this is, but it has happened several times and they will not sign anything to say the car is back without damage. I have once had a problem of a large damage charge on a credit card a week after a hire so I now take photos of the car on my return including some that show the plates of the neighbouring cars just in case they tried to claim this wasn't taken at the end of the rental.

Some of the rentals are so cheap that I imagine they must need an extra source of income....

Steven Quas
Hamburg

[H100S]

Thanks for all the replys

Ranger 6 said:

DoYouSpain is currently showing the cheapest from the ones we use. They give you a voucher/code which you print out and take to the desk/rep at the airport and voila....
We've booked a Golf for a month in the summer €760.

This website has just quoted me a good price, £162 for a golf, and very reasonable prices for the child seats.

[Ranger 6]

We've used them for our summer holidays for the last 5 years and they've always been the best broker. We're always suspect of paying up front just in case they go bust and the first you know is you've a CC claim and no car when you get there.

Look on the voucher for the company supplying the car they may be one of the desks down the ramp with cars in the multi-sorey or they may have reps just outside the arrivals doors who will then bus you to their depot.

The boosters can be a bit tatty so push for another is they give you a crappy one.

[john_p]

The offsite stuff at Malaga isn't *that* far away (2-3 mins by bus), but if you don't fancy a shuttle bus the onsite ones are listed here -

http://www.malagaairport.eu/carhire.php

Some of the offsite ones will still have the car onsite and a rep will meet you off the plane

http://www.malagaairport.eu/carhire/malaga-car-hir...

[sneijder]

I just used Hertz, joined the free executive club thing before I went and got upgraded from a Focus sized estate to a showroom fresh Audi.

[johnfm]

auto europe.

Their call centre are Americans - so they understand customer service.

Never had a problem ever, they are usually the cheapest, adn you can ring them and confirm pick up is on the airport (not via a courtesy shuttle a mile down the road), make sure the car is guaranteed the right size etc.

[Nickyboy]

http://www.malagacar.com/uk/car/car-hire-malaga-ai...

[Petrolhead_Rich]

try http://www.economycarhire.com - they seem pretty cheap, haven't used them personally (yet), but was going to until they sold out of the cars I want as I was waiting until the last minute!

ETA:

Opel Astra
4 Doors, 5 Seats, Air-Con
£113

Edited by Petrolhead_Rich on Monday 28th March 12:10

[GreatGranny]

And remember to take out third party excess insurance instead of the hire companies hugely inflated rates.

I took out a yearly policy when I went away last year. It covers for any hire car in Europe for a year.

[Ranger 6]

Who with? a link would be useful

[The Leaper]

Do try and avoid the well know "full petrol tank, sir" scam at Malaga airport. Having booked and probably paid for the car from the UK before you go, on arrival you're then told that before you can have the car you must pay 50-60 € or so as the car has a full tank. Then when you return the car there's no repayment for whatever is left in the tank, so the hire car makes the money, unless you somehow manage to return it just about empty.

From several mates who are going to Malaga in a few days time who are very much aware of this scam based on our past visits, the only car hire at Malaga not doing this scam is Avis and car hire with them is competitive, surprisingly. A Seat Leon is around £85 per week with Avis if you have a BA Executive membership card.

R.

[.Mark]

Although not at Malaga I've used Easycar who use the major renters, and always seemed pretty good, generally get upgraded too.

[dave328]

The Leaper said:

Do try and avoid the well know "full petrol tank, sir" scam at Malaga airport. Having booked and probably paid for the car from the UK before you go, on arrival you're then told that before you can have the car you must pay 50-60 € or so as the car has a full tank. Then when you return the car there's no repayment for whatever is left in the tank, so the hire car makes the money, unless you somehow manage to return it just about empty.

From several mates who are going to Malaga in a few days time who are very much aware of this scam based on our past visits, the only car hire at Malaga not doing this scam is Avis and car hire with them is competitive, surprisingly. A Seat Leon is around £85 per week with Avis if you have a BA Executive membership card.

R.

Yeah, I got done by the full petrol tank scam - no way was I going to use an entire tank in a 1.3 Diesel Lancia thing (requested petrol but never mind). So I drove it from Gibralter to Malaga along the motorway in 2nd/3rd. Handed it back with bugger all in the tank. Gits.

[NorthEast]

dave328 said:

The Leaper said:

Do try and avoid the well know "full petrol tank, sir" scam at Malaga airport. Having booked and probably paid for the car from the UK before you go, on arrival you're then told that before you can have the car you must pay 50-60 € or so as the car has a full tank. Then when you return the car there's no repayment for whatever is left in the tank, so the hire car makes the money, unless you somehow manage to return it just about empty.

From several mates who are going to Malaga in a few days time who are very much aware of this scam based on our past visits, the only car hire at Malaga not doing this scam is Avis and car hire with them is competitive, surprisingly. A Seat Leon is around £85 per week with Avis if you have a BA Executive membership card.

R.

Yeah, I got done by the full petrol tank scam - no way was I going to use an entire tank in a 1.3 Diesel Lancia thing (requested petrol but never mind). So I drove it from Gibralter to Malaga along the motorway in 2nd/3rd. Handed it back with bugger all in the tank. Gits.

I have been looking at hire cars at Easter in Mallorca, same scams there, and is common practice, except for the larger international companies like Avis, Hertz etc. However the price difference between the local outfits that run the the full to emty tank scam and the big companies may outweighs the cost of having to pay for a full tank of fuel, unless you get a special deal with one of the larger outfits.

In my case I have gone down the road of paying for a tank of fuel on a group A car, included in the rate is zero excess cdw. Alamo were the cheapest offering full to full for fuel but an extra 70 euros or so, plus 600euro CDW excess. Plus you still have to top the tank up when it goes back.