Are you planning to rent a car during your vacation? Please note:cheap is expensive, Grand Theft car in the car rental sector. Ruining your holiday before it has even started.
Do you need a car on holiday? Where are you going to rent? Many people then immediately start Googling. Search terms such as:cheap car rental, car rental holiday or car rental + place of holiday destination are often used. For our holiday we went looking for a car rental on Kos.
These were the promising advertising slogans:
“Car Rental In Kos €5 p/d – Fully Insured €6.45 p/d”
“Car Rental Kos from €7/day – Unlimited Kilometers”
“-70% Rent a Car – Kos Airport (KGS)”
You then end up with apparently cheap providers, with stunt prices from 5.00 euros per day.
If you then compare these prices with a reputable company like Hertz, you sometimes end up with double that. The choice seems to have been made quickly. Rent a car for a few hundred Euros, even though it's only for a week? Or do you choose the tenner option? Because then there is more money left over for the holiday itself.
Unfortunately, that's where the trouble begins. A misery that can ensure that instead of saving a few tens, you later have to pay an amount with which you could have rented several cars!
Unfortunately, when renting a car, cheap almost always means expensive. Not surprising if you know what the car rental companies are up to. Usually this happens after renting the car or when you bring it back.
High insurance costs are used to drive up prices. This concerns, for example, an insurance policy to cover you against any damage. If you don't, you could be confronted with extreme costs when returning the car. Extreme amounts are charged for the smallest scratches. Worse, unscrupulous staff use scare tactics to force their customers to buy insurance. This ensures that the final rental costs even more than double.
If you are going to use certain car rental companies, then I recommend that you take out insurance online. In most cases this is much cheaper and offers more security. For example, you can ensure that your deductible is bought off.
We have used Allianz Global Assistance for the rental of our car. We have taken out an Excess Insurance Car Hire there for the duration of 8 days. This cost 44.00 euros. This covered me in case of damage to the rental car. I didn't have to pay anything myself, because the deductible (this is often in the price range of 400 – 800 euros) takes over the insurance.
Other shrewd tactics employed by low-cost rental companies include systematically charging for accidental damage. Or make customers pay for damage that was already there!
Many companies seem to have established policies to pass on overdue maintenance/repairs to unwitting customers who just want to focus on their vacation.
Customers are sometimes billed for microscopic scratches, which they pay after they have been put under great pressure. Many rental companies leave all kinds of damage after payment by the tenant until the next major maintenance moment. On to the next victim and big profit for the company!
A study by Which.co.uk found:Car hire companies charge as much as 300% for repairs that were never made. And that is what you as a tenant pay for. Defense is of little or no use and as a consumer you draw the short straw.
Many people who rent a car are hit with false extra costs for cleaning, over-mileage, fuel and even administration costs. Many people are shocked when they check their credit card statement when they get home. All kinds of expenses are deducted that they know nothing about. Then the drama of e-mailing, calling, being kept on the line starts. Frustrated for weeks or even months trying to get your hard-earned money back.
Unfortunately also a common problem with cheap car rental companies. Desk clerks who are pushy and unhelpful. In some cases, there is even a threat of physical violence. Long queues at counters mean you can spend a whole day or more trying to arrange the rental car you want. Cars that suddenly cannot be picked up at the pre-arranged location afterwards. This adds even more costs. And this is just the beginning of much more misery.
As you may have seen I recently went to Kos to enjoy a well deserved holiday. We rented a car to enjoy it as much as possible. Nothing planned in advance, but only decided at the airport. We first went to a cheaper rental company, but suddenly saw someone from Hertz Kos Airport walking in the parking lot.
In the end, the rent for a KIA with 200 euros turned out to be reasonable. There were no hidden costs and instead of 600 euros deposit we were only allowed to pay a 200 euro deposit. The only condition was that the car had to be returned with a full tank.
Before I got the key the car was inspected. Scratches were not considered, but major damage was. This was fortunately limited to quite deep scratches next to the bumper bottom, as if someone had parked the car on a curb. The damage was marked on a form, so that both parties knew where they stood and what damage the car already had.
After that I was able to take the car straight away. I've been riding up and down the island all week with no issues. Okay, the engine stalled once on a steep mountain, but I think that was more my fault than the car. Furthermore, we were able to see and visit everything we wanted. Just before departure I refueled the car (was 32.00 euros for this) and the car was returned to Hertz.
The return went without any problems. It was checked whether the car looked a bit good and it was important that it was fully fueled. The deposit was refunded within 2 days.
It's great that it can all be so easy and simple. No hidden extra costs. No problems returning and above all being able to go anywhere. The latter is especially important now with Corona. Buses and cars are only allowed to carry a limited number of passengers. Moreover, you do not want to be dependent.
Cheap is actually expensive when it comes to renting a car for the holiday. Following an appeal from the European Commission and EU consumer authorities, five of the industry's leading companies, Avis, Europcar, Enterprise, Hertz and Sixt, have changed the way they present car rental prices. This makes the prices completely transparent for the consumer.
But the agreement only applies to these 'big five'. There are many smaller companies, as well as brokers and price comparison websites, many of which apparently offer cheaper rates. However, don't be surprised if you have to deal with the misery as described above. This will eventually cost you hundreds of euros more.
So the big five always seems to be the better option. Keep in mind that one of the top brands, Europcar, recently paid almost 40 million euros in compensation to victims of systematically incorrectly calculated costs.
“The development is a victory for the Daily Telegraph, which first exposed Europcar for systematically ramping up repair costs through secret discounts from suppliers, which lawyers describe as 'fraudulent',” said Matthew Lloyd in the Telegraph. .
Europcar's subsidiary, Goldcar has been rated the worst in the UK by Which.co.uk. “Budget operator Goldcar has been rated the worst holiday rental car company for the fifth time in six years….”
Start your holiday in a good way. Look for a company with transparent terms and conditions, which may initially cost more, but prevent a lot of misery. Make sure you start your hard-earned vacation with peace of mind.
Have you ever had problems after renting a car?
