2021 car rental

Information and questions about driving in Andalucia, buying or importing cars and motorbikes plus legal issues surrounding taxes and licenses.
User avatar
costakid
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5754
Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2005 11:55 am
Location: malaga este

2021 car rental

Postby costakid » Tue Feb 16, 2021 9:43 pm

Now brexit is done we will not be driving down and leaving the car for 6 months so now its back to renting for the 1st time in 8 years. Any recommendations for descent car hire companies at Malaga airport? Ive heard some horror stories with big deposits etc and rip off companies. Obviously not many will have rented since Brexit.

Pamela1
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 2542
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:30 am
Location: Co Durham/ Granada Province

Re: 2021 car rental

Postby Pamela1 » Tue Feb 16, 2021 11:41 pm

Apart for malagacar.com which many forum members including myself have given a :thumbup: to ( except i once had a problem ) i have used cargest which is next door to them. So far no probs at all after 4 rentals, their excess is no more than 600euros so it's one of the most reasonable and their cars are in good condition. They also give you the 2nd driver free, more important is the 24hr road assistance, something many of them don't include, i always make sure. They are reasonably priced and on par with some of the other more reputable rental companies.
Other than that i have hired with Centauro, Marbelsol, Marbenjo and Ok, never had any probs...I would recommend looking on Zestcarrental , they use good companies and often have good prices, their top up insurance is very reasonable and my son had no problems when he had to make a claim due to the windscreen being smashed..like everything else the timing of booking makes a big difference to the rental price, well in advance or sometimes the price is good at around 10 -12 weeks before.. but the closer you leave it to travelling it tends to be expensive.
Hope this helps costakid. :wave:
Ps..I buy my own annual insurance.

User avatar
spanish_lad
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 6218
Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2005 10:13 pm
Location: Alhaurin el Grande since 99, cartama campo since 2022

Re: 2021 car rental

Postby spanish_lad » Wed Feb 17, 2021 9:35 am

Should pop in and say hi, we are 3 doors down from them :wave:
Alhaurin el Grande since 99, working at the airport since 2011.

elusive
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 3275
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 11:49 am
Location: East of Malaga

Re: 2021 car rental

Postby elusive » Wed Feb 17, 2021 9:44 am

Hellie hollis are always highly recommended on sites. . Malaga car as said above are very popular.one to avoid like the plague is goldcar although europcar have bòught them out so whether they have improved?? Just look out for excess rules. Which is why we used zest as everything was covered

We always used to use zest aswell when living in the uk aswell. Its going back 8-10 years but we have used hellie hollis centauro, cargest with no issues.

User avatar
costakid
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5754
Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2005 11:55 am
Location: malaga este

Re: 2021 car rental

Postby costakid » Wed Feb 17, 2021 10:56 am

Thanks everyone.

Pamela, i think the annual insurance that you refer to is now void since we are not EU members. This is what I was told anyway.

Paddy Pumpkin
Resident
Posts: 895
Joined: Mon May 01, 2017 12:06 pm
Location: Madrid

Re: 2021 car rental

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Wed Feb 17, 2021 11:14 am

Re the insurance

I think it is based on where you live. So if you live in the UK and buy a UK policy for worldwide then it is good for everywhere

If you live in Spain then you cannot buy the policy from UK provider.

So anyone coming to Spain on holidays it is fine but those who are Spanish residents have the problem
If anyone comes across a policy for Spanish residents please let me know

Pamela1
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 2542
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:30 am
Location: Co Durham/ Granada Province

Re: 2021 car rental

Postby Pamela1 » Wed Feb 17, 2021 5:33 pm

It's ok costakid, it's like PP explained. If you book with Zest you are full insured apart from glass, tyres etc, you can opt to add their top up insurance if you don't have your own insurance which is what my son has done..It cost him £38 extra on top of the 2 weeks car hire.

casita-bonita
Resident
Posts: 1202
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:32 pm
Location: Sayalonga,

Re: 2021 car rental

Postby casita-bonita » Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:48 pm

Thought t I'd take a look at Zest, just to get an idea of their deals. Tried 3 different sets of dates to rent a car from gatwick. For every inquiry it came back with no cars available. Same searches on carhire300 produced dozens of available cars...

Also interested if anybody comes up with a rental insurance company that is available to non uk residents. Had a policy with insurance4carhire for years. But was notified before Christmas that they would not be able to renew the policy when it expired as we are spanish residents.
Regards

Bob

User avatar
Wicksey
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5879
Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2004 1:21 pm
Location: Axarquia coast

Re: 2021 car rental

Postby Wicksey » Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:14 pm

casita-bonita wrote: Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:48 pm Also interested if anybody comes up with a rental insurance company that is available to non uk residents. Had a policy with insurance4carhire for years. But was notified before Christmas that they would not be able to renew the policy when it expired as we are spanish residents.
I think there is an earlier thread mentioning this. We too always used a similar company and cannot now due to living in Spain. We really only need it for the UK because usually we only tend to go to the Canaries and most of the companies there don't have an excess, so I don't need the insurance (and if I wanted the extra insurance to cover glass and tyres it is only 2 or 3€ per day). Goodness knows when we'll ever be easily able to go to the UK again so I'm not worrying for now. Last year my OH was added to his dad's insurance quite cheaply so he drove his car whilst there (at that time they said any EU driving licence was acceptable, but not sure if it's the same now).

casita-bonita
Resident
Posts: 1202
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:32 pm
Location: Sayalonga,

Re: 2021 car rental

Postby casita-bonita » Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:23 pm

Likewise for us it's primarily UK. One day, although not making plans we will be able to go back to the uk. Wife is bereft as we haven't seen our kids and grandkids for over a year, and it's looking likely that we will have to cancel our daughter's august trip here for the second year running.

Have taken a bit of a flyer and booked a 6 week trip to Asia next Feb. Hopefully that will happen.. Full deposit returned if it doesn't.
Regards

Bob

Pamela1
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 2542
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:30 am
Location: Co Durham/ Granada Province

Re: 2021 car rental

Postby Pamela1 » Thu Feb 18, 2021 2:07 pm

How come the trip had to be canceled last year? I was over in Spain during last August, as were all my family and many other brits and tourists.

User avatar
Wicksey
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5879
Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2004 1:21 pm
Location: Axarquia coast

Re: 2021 car rental

Postby Wicksey » Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:26 pm

I think the price of the air fares put some people off. With things changing all the time I had friends who may have booked to go back last minute for August if they could, but found the prices very high. It's impossible in the near future if you have to keep having the tests done before and after travelling there, and then for coming back home. Even the Canaries need a test from here, so any travel for us will probably be within Spanish mainland when restrictions are finally allowed. If we do a road trip here, at least we don't have to worry about car hire.

User avatar
costakid
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5754
Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2005 11:55 am
Location: malaga este

Re: 2021 car rental

Postby costakid » Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:44 pm

Plenty of cars on Zest for the summer. not as cheap as malagacar but still ok. Not as many expensive add ons.


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests