Hire car rip off - watch out (1 Viewer)

[Cossieg]

picked up a hire car today from Gold Cars at Faro airport. Latest scam is they give you the car full of fuel and charge you for the fuel and an admin charge for filling it up. You take it back empty. The cost............50litre tank costs..........130euro! Petrol at the moment is 1.05 euro/litre!
It's totally outrageous and clearly the latest method of ripping people off. Beware, check the paperwork when you book a car as it isn't clearly obvious in the terms and conditions.

 

[wanderer]

Rented from Gold Car last month at Almeria Airport , yes the fuel was expensive for a full tank but they credited us back with any unused fuel and the actual cost of rental was half of other companies . The only rip off for me was giving me a diesel car and charging me extra through the fuel charge without telling me as they debit your credit card before you see whats gone on , which i suspect has happened in your case.
I booked the rental online through an agency used my own third party insurance policy (cost £39 per year) and got an extra driver free , so shared the car with another camper for the month which brought the cost down to 2.15 Euros each per day .
So no rip off for me

 

[pappajohn]

No other reason to charge for a full tank on collection other than to rip you off with excess fuel cost.

Usually collect with full tank and return with full tank....f you dont they fill on your card at an increased price.

 

[Nirvanauk]

Agree with the above. Take it back full.

 

[pappajohn]

shared the car with another camper for the month which brought the cost down to 2.15 Euros each per day .

'ang on a minute.....

You hired a car at around £3.50 a day.....then you complain about having to pay a premium for fuel on collection.

I doubt you could hire a car in the uk for £25 a week.

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[Judge Mental]

Always found airports offer cheaper hire than resorts!

 

[chaser]

Rented a car in albufiera last year , can't remember what they were called but their office is at the top of the Main Street, not a name that is among the popular ones but excelent service brought the car to the hotel and we dropped it at faro and they shuttled us in , no extras at all even said it isnt full but if you bring back something like it will be ok ,bit dubious but yes , no extra , thoughly recommend them , way cheaper than the main ones , just wish I could remember what they are called. Could find out if desperate.

 

[Bailey58]

Rented a car in albufiera last year , can't remember what they were called but their office is at the top of the Main Street, not a name that is among the popular ones but excelent service brought the car to the hotel and we dropped it at faro and they shuttled us in , no extras at all even said it isnt full but if you bring back something like it will be ok ,bit dubious but yes , no extra , thoughly recommend them , way cheaper than the main ones , just wish I could remember what they are called. Could find out if desperate.

Google Street View?

 

[chaser]

Google Street View?

Just tried that , it goes more or less to the door but then stops before it goes past.

 

[ukbill]

thats always been goldcars terms you should have just used a company that does full to full

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[chaser]

Found it , auto jardim , excellent

 

[ukbill]

yeah i used them 2 years ago when i was at pedro's great company

 

[Wombles]

Goldcar ripped us off too for 2nd driver charge even though part of our policy when booked - never again.
We use UK company Economy Car Hire which are rated as best car hire broker for the last 2 years by Which? & they have a Fair Fuel Policy. You can see which car company they use for each price quoted too so can check them out online as well.See http://www.economycarhire.com/ . So far their prices & service have been excellent

 

[Wombles]

For anyone going to Portugal - Travelrent booked through Economy Car Hire have their drop off & collection in Faro airport so very easy - out the front doors then far side of car park at the front within a stones throw of fuel station

 

[chaser]

Found it , auto jardim , excellent

Even told what was the cheapest fuel to fill up

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[Abacist]

Always found airports offer cheaper hire than resorts!

Car hire from city airports is always at a premium charge due to the high cost of the premises etc. You can quite often get car hire from outside the airport and they collect you from the airport and return you there.

The point about charging a premium for fuel is because someone from the staff then has to go and fill it up so its not just the fuel cost but a charge for the staff time for the inconvenience etc.

Most companies warn you that its full and you should return it full!

 

[wanderer]

'ang on a minute.....

You hired a car at around £3.50 a day.....then you complain about having to pay a premium for fuel on collection.

I doubt you could hire a car in the uk for £25 a week.

You got it wrong i,m not complaining , i had great service and at 2 euros a day it did not matter if i used it daily or not

 

[Cossieg]

If you take it back full they credit you with the cost of the fuel but not the admin charge they apply! That's the rip off! In addition look at the cost of the full tank at the start! 50 litres at 1.05/litre yet I've been charged 95euro! So add the difference of the fuel price to the admin cost and you can see the size of the rip off! It is outrageous & I'm furious about it cos I didn't spot it before I paid!

 

[Landy lover]

Currently have a vehicle on hire here due to an accident and on that it quotes £1.99 per litre if they fill it on return !!

 

[Minxy]

No different to the UK - when I worked at the Uni I used to hire cars for our staff and ALWAYS told them to fill it just before it was returned otherwise the companies added about 20% to the cost of the fuel to top it up!

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[Cossieg]

Thanks Minx but you miss the point! There's no benefit in filling the car up when handing it back. They don't give you back the price that they charge to fill it up & you still have to pay the admin cost!

 

[Cossieg]

Forgot to say they also gave me a real hard sell on taking their excess insurance but I have my own so they charged me a deposit of 1200 euro which of course they hold for the duration of the hire!

 

[callumwa]

We have been in Albufeira for the last 3 Christmas's.
Hired through Economy Car Hire and the supplier was TravelRent.
This year we had a car for 12 days, picked it up and dropped it off at Faro Airport.

Fair Fuel Policy, free 2nd driver, when I got it the car had 7/8th of a tank, I just filled it to the same upon return, no problems.
There is even a petrol station right next to the Car Hire Car Park at the Airport.

Full collision damage waiver and full theft waiver was included (with no insurance excess).
We were given a very nice 4 month old 5 door Clio with Air Con and Sat Nav built in.

Total cost for 12 days was £73. Sorted.

 

[The Wino]

When we hired in Teneriffe this year looked out for this scam some companies are ok but well worth looking at the fuel policy before booking found the trip adviser reviews helpfull as the co. we used hire older cars so a bit dubious ....worked out fine we also had the rear wiper nicked but no bill yet

 

[Happycampers1]

I´ve been in Portugal since Oct and rather than run our MH we hired a car through . They are brokers and deal with several companies out of Faro (and other) airports. We hired a car for 5 weeks at a cost of €159 plus €20 for the extra driver. That was with MasterKings. We've since used "enjoy" three times with other companies in Faro Airport and always found the service excellent. We went home for Christmas and hired a car for 8 days and it cost me £210. Currently have a car from 5 Jan to 23 Feb cost €220.

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[gozomike]

Gold Cars

I see a few of their cars on this Island, quite a few have the 'G' missing. I guess that shows what customers think of them.

 

[2657]

I think the word scam/rip off is a bit strong, on every car hire comparison website that I have looked at a range of fuel policies is offered. The cheapest is always pay for a full tank and return empty, the most expensive is nearly always full to full. The cheapest initially may not work out the cheapest in the long run, a bit of homework is required.The Goldcar website has a link to the following page https://www.goldcar.es/en/sdr/.

Whether this system is really a 'fair fuel policy' is open to debate when you consider the inflated fuel price and administration charge.