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Going to be booking a hire car for a few days in Ibiza and have a memory that some providers are better than others.
Bar the usual hire car rules (take out your own excess protection, take pics of the car, drive it like you stole it, etc.) is there anything else I need to know?
It's a lottery, but for the Balearics I've had good service from Centauro .
As above, total lottery. I think we've had more issues with the bigger brands than the little guys but mainly in Italy, which from reading up seems like a common occurrence there.
I've used holiday autos in the past and only pay the excess when I'm in a non-english speaking country. They sorted the local companies for me.
I've found them all to be good when you take their top insurance, and lottery when you don't
Last time I was on a spanish island I just used a local company. They chuckled when I mentioned having a look at the car, I soon realised why when every panel already had a mark on it - perfect!
Goldcar is the main one to avoid. In fact the cheaper it is the more likely you want to avoid it - they're making their money through hidden costs.
Quite often you'll find some recommended local suppliers.
Local suppliers. A quick search on tripadvisor will yield a list of favourable no-faff suppliers. Look for those who meet you at arrivals and walk you to the car in the short stay car park. No queues or buses. I have no specific recommendations for Ibiza but had only positive experiences taking this approach in Mallorca, Menorca, Crete, Portugal and Canaries.
NOT Gold
Big brand. All insurance. Drive it like you stole it. Hand back the keys. It's a system and trying to avoid compliance is just wasted energy.
If you prefer to use a larger firm, Enterprise have a 'Damage Evaluator' tool that they use to measure any marks and charge accordingly (they won't charge for any marks under a certain, and quite generous, size) - just make sure the local operator knows that you know about the policy - it saved me on Rhodes a couple of years ago when the local guys thought they could try it on. When I asked them to get the Damage Evaluator tool out, they just wandered off muttering under their breath in Greek at me and accepted the car as it was.
I'd agree on the concensus of avoiding Goldcar.
Never had issues with Hertz, Avis, Europcar et al.
wot tired said - one of th ebig international firms. Don't skimp for a few quid and end up with issues
Goldcar ****ers - fleeced my mum on insurance even when she had own insurance and booking didn't require taking out further insurance. Same insurance scam also happens in Ireland surprisingly.
Never really had a bad experience with an international chain or any other local firm to be fair. Booking through Holiday Autos etc often ends up with a local firm anyway.
It's worth looking at Expedia and Kayak and other websites as there can be huge differences in price - it's a pain.
As a provocative question: do you need a hire car if Uber works? With current high prices and hassle, it probably would have been cheaper and easier to take Ubers everywhere on my last trip.
As a provocative question: do you need a hire car if Uber works? With current high prices and hassle, it probably would have been cheaper and easier to take Ubers everywhere on my last trip.
A fair question. Sadly, no Uber in Ibiza and where we're staying is a bit out of the way so not loads of taxi's around.
In truth, the hotel is in the wrong place and we shouldn't have booked it, but we have, so a car it is.
Goldcar is the main one to avoid
hell yes, a delayed flight to Majorca meant we didn't land until late, and the queue to get a car looked like something from a refugee camp...never again. It was chaos, but managed to get an upgrade simply by not being an asshole to poor overworked staff!
Yep avoid Goldcar.
Last time I was in Ibiza I used Auto Reisen. Not the cheapest but provide things like child seats FOC and don't take the piss trying to find the tiniest bit of damage on return. Judging by the time they spent looking round my car I think they just counted the wheels.
I used Thrifty in 2019 and the service was quick and no hassle, they have a depot in the multi storey car park across the road from arrivals
I've used Zest Car Hire before quite a few times, they just get you reserve you a car with a local company but their top insurance is much cheaper and you deal with a UK based team. Their insurance saved me £550 when Goldcar (see the theme here?) decided I had scratched a bumper on the car I'd hired from them.
Not that you need me to reinforce the message but Goldcar are a bunch of parasitic bastards. Defrauded me in Bilbao as was asked for a credit card holding payment on collection which I specifically asked if it would be returned after the booking was returned. In fact it was for their “premium” additional insurance. Ultimately my word against theirs and they had my signature so even the credit card company eventually gave up even though they’ve had endless complaints. Kind of wish we’d written the car off now, best we did was beach it on some boulders and gave the underside a good whack.
Goldcar are awful - Europcar is the parent company though and they can be hit and miss.
Enterprise have been the best big name for me over the years, followed by Avis and Hertz.
Centauro in Spain can either be great or poor, depending on the particular location.
Like others have said, local providers can be the best in Spain and Italy. We hired a Fiat Tipo estate a couple of years back in Almeria (Spain) through a local company and the service was above and beyond anything the big boys have ever provided. No issues, no faff, no "am I going to lose my deposit because of a tiny scratch?" moments.
Ibiza is great for "don't worry if you scratch or dent it" local firms.
I’ve used Zest Car Hire before quite a few times, they just get you reserve you a car with a local company but their top insurance is much cheaper and you deal with a UK based team.
+1 for Zest. I've used them loads, just read the reviews of the providers they come up with and chose the one you like the sound of.
Be very careful and check prices, you might get the best price from a small local business, as de ash said above. There’s been a lot of talk about the huge escalation of prices for hire cars, because all the hire companies sold off their fleets during the Covid crisis, and then found they couldn’t source new cars due to the shortage of microprocessors causing the manufacturer’s to slow or stop production.
I’ve seen figures like a week’s hire going from around £250 to over £1000.
Goldcar are awful – Europcar is the parent company though and they can be hit and miss.
I was surprised to see thus because Europcar have always been good for me in the past but I'd rather walk than rent Goldcar again.